Littlest Pet Shop

We hosted a playdate at our house yesterday with 5 girls between the ages of 4-7. There was only 1 adult - ME! At first, I was a little hesitant at the idea of 5 girls together in 1 room for 2-3 hours - okay, maybe dubious is a better word. I imagined the worst - they would start crying and fighting or they'd be bored. But surprisingly, the opposite happened. The reason..... The Littlest Pet Shop.

I've always know that my daughters love playing with the Littlest Pet Shop. My oldest one started playing with them when she was 4 and the youngest started even earlier at age 3. And the amazing thing is that they still love playing with them - years later. It doesn't matter how many of the littlest pets that they have - they always want more. It is their top requested item on their birthday list and their Christmas list. The older one has this product brochure (which comes with the toys) and would study the entire collection of pets. She would pick out which ones she has and which ones she wants to add to her collection.

So, what is the Littlest Pet Shop? Technically, Littlest Pet Shop is a toy brand that is owned by Hasbro. Their products all revolve around these miniature little animals. There are dogs, cats, owls, birds, frogs, giraffes,snails....etc. The common denominators are that they are all very colorful and have these huge eyes (which seems to be very popular in toys these days). My daughters' personal favorites are the owl and the butterfly. You can buy playsets for these animal such as the Get Better Center, Playful Paws Pet Daycare and Pets Only Clubhouse. Our household has 6 of these playsets and despite my dislike for clutter, I must admit that they are definitely worth their value given how often my girls play with them.

To get back to the story of the playdate, all 5 girls played really really nicely with each other for the entire time. They pulled out all 6 of our play sets and the 30+ animals and they spread them out on the playroom floor. They each took on different roles and started acting out stories with the animals. Occasionally, I would hear a kid crying and think something was wrong but when I checked, it was only one of the kids pretending that the animal was crying and then another animal would comfort her. Sweet but the cries were a little too real for my comfort level!

I've found that I can't go wrong if I am out trying to buy a birthday gift for one of my daughters' friends. There's usually enough playsets and accessories that kids don't have all of them (although we're fast approaching that limit). I also find that they're great motivators for my kids -- I've used them as rewards for my older one if she does "extra credit" homework. A single animal (with an accompanying small accessory) can be purchased for under $5. Not a bad price for encouraging positive behavior!