Shopping Mayhem

Wow, the year's Christmas shopping has started out with a bang. It's being reported that people are getting injured and even shooting each other during this weekend's sales. Jeez! Stay safe out there, please.

Newsletter News: ToysRUs has started sort of a pre-Cyber Monday sale today, with savings of up to 50% off on selected items.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm just a few weeks into this blog but Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who happens by.

Update: The GoldieBlox vs. The Beastie Boys story has been resolved with GoldieBlox taking down the offending video and apologizing. Well done, GoldieBlox for doing the right thing.

If there's a lesson here, it's something about some startups being so desperate to make it big and to find every possible angle for cheap, viral marketing that they cut corners like engaging in copyright infringement, hoping that no one will notice. It's about wanting to make it big, as quickly as possible. Understandable, but maybe taking things slower will mean fewer missteps.

Newsletter News: Playmobil is offering 25% off this weekend on selected sets.

GoldieBlox vs. the Beastie Boys

Sounds like some sort of strange sci-fi fairy tale, doesn't it?

No, sadly, it's just a legal battle pitting two otherwise admirable organizations in an unfortunate public squabble.

Laughing and Playing is a new blog, but since it's about all things kid's toys, we can't miss out on this high profile bit of toy-related news.

Follow the story here, but long story short, GoldieBlox has been getting a lot of great free press lately for their line of toys for girls. Honestly, the company's line isn't very big and the sets they're selling at the moment don't seem that impressive beyond the novelty of selling building sets for girls, but nonetheless they've been getting mentions on national TV and online coverage all over the place.

All seemed rosy except for this misstep: GoldieBlox made a promotional sort of jingle sort of song based on the Beastie Boys tune "Girls." The lyrics and the video are clever and catchy with a girl-positive message that only the curmudgeonly of curmudgeons could take issue with. Problem is, they didn't pay for the rights to use the song. When the Beastie Boys asked what was going on, GoldieBlox made a preemptive legal strike and sued the Beastie Boys claiming the right to use the tune as "fair use."

Wow! Is it just me or should GoldieBlox have quickly backed down, apologized profusely, offer to make a donation to any charity of the Beastie Boy's choice, and then sat back and hoped for the best? Now they're in a drawn out, potentially high profile legal fight. They're probably not going to look good in the eyes of the public because, well, they're wrong, so.... what do they think they're doing here? For their sake they better find a solution to this problem that's "just right" - and soon!

American Girl Free Shipping and More...

In newsletter news, American Girl is offering free shipping from now until Nov. 26th on all orders of $100 or more. Sign up for the newsletter to get the code you're supposed to enter at checkout.

Also, good news for AG fans - American Girl is offering up to 40% off on selected furniture and accessories.

Last but not least, in cooperation with Shutterfly, American Girl is offering a free photo book valued at $29.99. Find out more at the American Girl store.

Christmas Planning

Yeah, it's that time. Maybe I'm not quite ready to pull the trigger and start ordering everything on my list, but I've definitely got a list. The list might be a work in progress, but many of the items on it are things that are done deals - just gotta order them.

The rest of the list is in the middle of a brainstorm.

The Playmobil is all picked out and ordered. Done!

Art supplies, yes, but which exactly? Pens, yes. Paper, yes. Prismacolor markers? Hmm, maybe. Tempura paints? Maybe.

Games? Yes. Card games? Sure. Checked out the GameWright site today, but nothing jumped out at me.

Browsed board games some today. It's a wild world of games out there! Interested in one called Celtica. Also interested in a very popular one called Carcassonne. We'll see...

Perhaps I'm the one more interested in remote control toys than my daughters are, but I foresee an RC helicopter in our future...

Reviewing the market for building toys inspired a full on rant which I started writing tonight but which won't be done for a few days. Suffice to say I'm not pleased with the selection. Currently, I'm weighing the merits of the varying competing wooden plank toys. I can't say I'm thrilled that picking between 3 very generic, and rather blah looking wooden plank systems has me that thrilled, but here I am, determined to get something in the genre.

So that's where I am as of today. Can you feel the suspense build? Christmas 2013 here we come...

Playmobil Free Shipping

So we're a little late, but there's still time to take advantage of a great free shipping deal from Playmobil USA. Ends on Nov. 18, and you have to spend more than $25. In my experience, this will probably be the last free shipping deal of the year from Playmobil. Don't wait!