At some point pre-Christmas, when I was still experiencing the endorphin rush of an unstoppable toy-shopping spree, I read an article titled something like “Top Ten Hot Christmas Toys.” That’s where I learned about Printies

Printies is another creative toy (yes, ANOTHER one) that promises not only the joy of creation, but a pretty cool payoff when you’re done. In a nutshell, kids can design their own stuffed animal using the Printies software (this is downloadable) and when their creation is done, they can print it on special fabric sheets that are designed for ink jet printers.

How cool! (I thought to myself) – I have two stuffed-animal loving children. They’ll LOVE this. I’ll be a hero! They’ll have tons of fun with their Printies creations!! What could possibly go wrong??

So, in my pre-Christmas induced state of euphoria, I picked up my $20 box of Printies at Target figuring my girls would share it, happily wrapped it, labeled it from “Santa” even though my 8-year-old no longer believes and waited excitedly for their reaction on Christmas morning. I even bought a box for my 7 & 9 year old nieces.

Well here’s the thing – I’m sure a few of the terms above tripped off some alarm bells in your head – I know they did in mine. “Download the software” for one and “print your creation on an inkjet printer” for another. I mean, even if by some small miracle everything worked like it should, I’d still need to supervise the entire operation since my children are using an old laptop that literally groans when you turn it on (thus forcing me to download the Printies application onto MY laptop).

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I let my 8-year-old create the first animal after registering on the Printies Web site. I should actually be very happy I had no trouble registering, since my sister-in-law said her code didn’t work when she tried registering and at least one poor Twitterer had the same experience. Well, actually, the first time I entered the code it didn’t work, but my daughter was reading it to me and she’d confused “O” with “zero.” It was easy to do, so if your code’s not working then give that a shot.

Okay, so, out of the box…here are some positive things before I taint you all with my cynicism.

1) The toy is only borderline pseudo-creative. Children can get very creative with their designs, as long as they stick with the four pre-cut animal shapes that come with the toy. This was disappointing to my daughter who is old hat at designing her own stuffed animals (on paper) but she still had fun.

2) When it came time to print, it worked! It really worked! I didn’t even have to align anything on the printer – everything was centered properly and aside from a few smudges which I’m hoping doesn’t happen with the next animal, it looked pretty good (though not as good as the above picture would suggest).

3) My daughter loved finishing off the Printies animal and was very happy with it. Smiles are all that count with Christmas toys since they so often generate tears.

4) There’s absolutely no sewing at all, thus making instant gratification a big perk with this toy (although the way they got around this is questionable)..see “cons.”

Now the cons…

1) You do have to download software onto a computer. This is a very quick process, but it still must be done. So the toy requiries parental hands on assistance for most kids and it helps to be a bit computer savvy, which not all of us are.

2) The Printies design interface was very frustrating to my daughter (and to me, actually). It’s just not well-thought out and it didn’t always respond to a simple click. We trashed at least three designs before finally getting it right. Here’s a screen shot of the interface:

3) To finish off the animal after printing it and stuffing it (yes, the stuffing comes in the box), you have to attach it to little plastic feet. Hard plastic feet. Hard plastic is not very snuggly – sort of ruins the whole concept of a “plush” toy in my opinion. My daughter didn’t seem to mind though, but I thought it made the whole thing look kind of cheesy which it arguably is anyway. I know they did this to get away with saying “no sewing necessary at all!” but still, have they never heard of velcro??

4) When you’ve blown through all six Printies designs, you now have six new stuffed animals to deal with. My daughter hasn’t touched hers since she made it, although she is still quite overwhelmed with new toys from Christmas. She does seem delighted with it though, so I guess..that’s…all…that..matters…

My conclusion: For $20.00, it’s worth buying but the toy is not for everyone. If you are comfortable downloading software onto your computer, don’t mind helping your child through some moments of frustration due to the faulty design interface and are comfortable using an inkjet printer, then go for it! You also may want to plan out where the finished animals go. I personally have very little room for more tiny stuffed animals in my home, or in my psyche (as it turns out).

I found a cool box of Printies on Amazon for about $19.00..

I like that the Ocean Design Studio has templates with rounded heads so kids can make people if they want (not just animals) or just get more creative with their designs. I find built-in ears so confining, don’t you? This set also comes with 9 fabric sheets rather than the six mine came with for more Printies fun! (and more little animals around the house).

| Category Christmas Unwrapped, Pseudo-Creative Toys