I know it’s January and we all just want to put the pain and stress of Christmas shopping behind us, but I got this bright idea to take inventory of all the stuff I got my kids and really evaluate what they’re playing with. Then I thought how exhausting it would be to go through that in ONE post, so I’ve decided to focus on one big win from 2010 and, one big loss. Then I promise I’m done with Christmas. Birthdays are coming in up in April and May anyway.

THE BIG WIN – Only Hearts Club Dolls

Only Hearts Club dolls are not new to my house – I bought each girl one of these dolls a couple of years ago hoping to pull the younger one away from the tantalizing temptation of Barbie. Alas, it didn’t work. Barbie’s charms are far too great, at least where Emily is concerned. Ana, however, is a different story. Ana is the child who loves to climb trees and dress up as Star Wars characters for Halloween. She’s loved stuffed animals since the tender age of one. In fact, I think we have more stuffed animals in our house than any other item, except perhaps my husband’s drum equipment.

So when Ana started playing Barbies with Emily (much to my intense shock),  she had only a grudging acceptance of the joys of pretend doll play. She did it for the greater good because she wanted to play with her sister and couldn’t tear her away from Barbie. It is my belief that Ana actually began to enjoy playing with Barbie, though she would not admit this to herself or to me. She also  couldn’t bring herself to ask me for a Barbie for Christmas, but when I suggested another Only Hearts Club doll (they come with their very own tiny animal), she was enthusiastic.

I pushed doubt aside and bought Ana and Emily each an Only Hearts Club doll for Christmas – I think it was the first toy I bought. The dolls are manufactured by OHC Group which seems to be an independent toy company (not affiliated with some of the bigger companies like Mattel). They sell the dolls at Target, which is where we stumbled across our first one. I was unable to locate them at our Toys R Us and the ones I bought the girls came from small independent toy retailers via Amazon.com.

These dolls are very affordable, ranging in price from about $14 – $20 and they’re made very well. The clothes are stunningly detailed. So much so that I really wish they made one of the little camouflage print hoodies in my size as it’s simply adorable. The best part? Ana loves the doll (I got her one named “Anna Sophia”) and she plays with it a lot. Emily still gravitates to Barbie, but she likes hers too. So, I’d say these were both wins. My one complaint is that the dolls are hard to dress, particularly for Emily (who is 5). It’s hard to pull the tiny little clothes over the cloth body, particularly jacket and shirt sleeves. Also, the feet aren’t really feet -they’re sort of fabric nubs and you kind of have to jam the nubs into the doll’s shoes in a way that’s borderline violent. Or that just may be how I handled it…

THE BIG LOSS – LEGO people set

Sometimes a great toy idea doesn’t materialize into a successful gift, and that was the case with the LEGO people set I ordered from LEGO.com and gave to both my girls with instructions to share. There were enough LEGO people in the set for both of them (31 to be exact). I know what you’re thinking. They fought over the set and it ended in tears, but actually, that wasn’t the case.

What actually happened was that all 31 characters and their tiny accessories got absorbed into our large LEGO bin and the impact of the 31 new LEGO characters was very minimal, when looking at the larger toy-related picture. I thought the girls would play with the LEGO people for hours, but in truth they barely played with them at all – even from day one.

Part of the problem was that Ana got about three other LEGO sets for Christmas from various sources, Santa included, and each set came with its own characters. Emily, as it turns out, isn’t all that interested in LEGOs. So, this was sort of a Christmas toy fail, mainly because it got lost in the shuffle and not because it’s not an awesome set – which it is! It cost about $50.00 from LEGO.com. That’s kind of a high price tag for a toy that evaporated once we put all the people together and removed it from the box.

| Category Christmas Unwrapped, Toy Box Musings