Tea For Two... or Three...

ALEX Toys' blog has a contest each month, for a winning birthday boy or girl. So in June, I entered Little Z. And WON! Part of the entry process is to link to an ALEX Toys product your child would like. I assumed the winner got a pre-chosen prize pack, or else I would have been a little greedier more thorough in looking at all the options for my entry selection! There are TONS of Alex Toys I... err, I mean SHE wants. But the one that I came across first was a tin tea set.

My nieces each have different tin tea sets, and they love playing tea party together. And ALEX sent it! They even put her name on the shipping label!

She was BEYOND thrilled! We had an evening gym class and came home late-ish (a make-up class. Our normal class is Friday mornings, but we missed a bunch babysitting my nieces the past few months, and have a ton of make-ups left.) But we came home to find that box on the porch, with "ALEX" on the side, and I told her to look at the label to see who it was for.

Well. Even though it was bath time, she insisted upon getting it all opened and having a tea party first. It comes with a tea pot and lid, 4 cups, 4 saucers, 4 plates, a serving tray and a cardboard suitcase to hold it all.

For "cookies," she used some glass decorator stones that we found in the garage (cleaning. It's a long story. And yes. I did say "cleaning." Take a moment for the disbelief to fade. I'll wait.)

Rock Candy Cookies and Tea for "Dah-duh."
Mommy wasn't invited until later.

So after a short (30-minute-feels-like-eternity/it's-been-a-long-day-Mommy-needs-a-nap/"Mmm! I LOVE pretend tea!") tea party, off to bath, story, bed, etc.
First thing the next morning... does she want to watch a show while I sleep some more take my shower? No. Play games on my phone? No. Tea party with some random small toy "guests" (Little Mermaid figurine, squeezy bath turtle, stretchy spider, plus some others.) Super cute!

"That plate is for Daddy, when he gets home from work."
Awwww!

On a side note, for those of you with an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, ALEX Toys has an awesome app, and right now, at least it's free! Moody Monster Manor is one of Z's current favorites. ALEX's monsters are friendly monsters that help identify different emotions. We have a hooded bath towel, some bath puppets, build-a-monster face bath stickers, and a set of Moody Monsters games from them, so she's already a bit familiar with the characters. She likes doing the "Meet the Monsters" where she gets a description of each monster. There is also a monster maker, plus some other games. But I'm ALWAYS hearing the "That's Worried Wanda... blah blah blah" bits!

Disclaimer: I was not solicited to write a review on this product, or any of their products. But since we happened to win this toy, and she loves it SO much, I'm telling you about it, as a kind of thank-you to them for randomly choosing my entry. And for having this contest each month! (Look on the side bar under "Recent Posts" for each month's giveaway. July's is still open! And if you enter, be sure to check back on the post to see if you won! It was a total fluke that I even checked, since I was sure I HADN'T won!)