Kids' Gift Guide Giveaway
The holidays are upon us and no one is happier than Scotch Mommy! My little monkeys are already busy compiling their lists, the invitations to holiday parties have started coming in, decorations will be going up this weekend, and there's actually snow on the ground (in Toronto, at least!). The slice.ca Sassy Girl's Guide to the Holidays is full of great tips and gift guides to help you get through the holiday season on time and on budget.
To help spread the joy, I'm going to play Santa today! Answer the question at the end of this blog correctly and you could win ONE (1) of these four gifts (listed below) that were included in my Sassy Girl's Holiday Guide, "Top 10 Gifts Kids Want". And because we want to spread even more joy, our manufacturer and retail donors have kindly provided an extra gift of each item for us to give to the Toronto Fire Fighters' Toy Drive.
Bakugan Battle Brawlers Bakutin: This game was created by Sega Toys and is based on a Japanese television show. It features cool collectible characters and competitive action that most boys ages eight and up love. The brawlers themselves are small marble-like spheres that pop open into powerful Bakugan monsters when rolled onto the game's Gate Cards, so to play you need the brawlers, sold individually or in sets, and the game arena.
Available at: www.mastermindtoys.com
Thames & Kosmos Candy Factory: What kid doesn’t get a thrill messing around in the kitchen, either cooking real food or just making vile concoctions? (Or is that just my kids?) This candy science kit comes packed with recipes for sweet treats and even sweeter experiments. And as they bake and create, the kids will learn fun and interesting facts, such as who created the first marshmallow? (I actually don’t know; you’ll have to buy it to find out!)
Available at: http://www.mastermindtoys.com
MEGA Brands’ MagNext: Since time immemorial, children have loved building with blocks. Now they can build and have what they built stick together through the power of magnets! Don’t you wish you’d had these when you were a kid? Featuring more powerful magnets than before, the set comes with dual, quad, and tri bars that allow kids to easily transform a build from a cube, to a house, to a spaceship, to whatever their little brains can come up with. There are starter sets and sets of specialty parts.
Available at: Most Retailers
Corolle Les Dollies: Les Dollies by this renowned French dollmaker are tres adorable. Located in the storybook region of the Loire Valley in France, the Corolle design team creates dolls that look and feel as real as possible with faces that are often inspired by real children. Since its creation in 1979, Corolle has won more than 30 international awards, including two Doll of the Year awards. Les Dollies have soft cloth bodies in cute outfits and come lightly scented in Licorice, Toffee Apple, Rose, Violet, and Marshmallow.
Available at: Chapters Indigo stores and online at chapters.indigo.ca
Answer this question for your chance to win: What are the first (#1) and last (#10) toys listed in the gift guide, "Top 10 Gifts Kids Want"? Send your answer to webmaster@slice.ca to win! (Check out our giveaway rules here.)
Be sure to come back next Friday when I'll be giving away gifts from my "Top 10 Gifts for Mom" gift guide!
Style Thursdays: Luxe Grunge
Ladies and gentlemen, I am experiencing what every fashionable woman both dreads and secretly relishes. For the first time, the clothes I wore as a teenager are coming back into style in a big way. Being a child of the '80s, I wasn’t bothered by the return of leggings or fluorescent colours (a trend I call “neo neon”) because it just doesn’t count if you’re 8 and your mom still has a major part in dressing you (although unsurprisingly, I always had pretty strong style opinions). But when I was 14, to my parents’ dismay, I liked to dress myself a bit like a deranged doll in baby-doll dresses, striped tights and Doc Martens. When not donning a dress, I swathed myself in boxy (sometimes tie-dye) t-shirts and leggings with the ubiquitous plaid shirt tied around my waist (accessorized of course, with Docs or Converse). For reasons I cannot explain because I had never listened to an album, my friends and I were obsessed with Jerry Bears, the psychedelic mascot of the Grateful Dead and bought anything we could find emblazoned with them.
Luckily, these exact looks aren’t being replicated anywhere but I’m definitely seeing a sort of oxymoronic grunge revival — oxymoronic because these days it’s being done in a more haute way. And while it’s scary to think I’m old enough for this to happen, it’s delightful because I get to return to the days when fashion first became really exciting for me.
I recently became the proud owner of a new pair of Doc Martens bought at Neon in Toronto (Neon has other locations in Ontario and Quebec and Docs are available in Montreal and Ottawa, if you’re looking for your own pair). My old navy blue eight-hole versions with the rainbow laces are in my parents’ basement or attic somewhere. My new Docs fit the luxe grunge trend much better. Instead of opting for a simple pair of black or cherry boots, I went a bit crazy and opted for the 14-hole silver variety. A friend of mine hilariously commented that they look “like Ronald McDonald goes to a rave,” but I adore them. Paired with opaque tights and a mini dress I feel like I’ve stepped off the set of Gossip Girl and onto the Marc by Marc Jacobs runway. (Sure, I realize that the girls on Gossip Girl are supposed to be in high school, but professional grown up stylists dress them!)
While Marc Jacobs showed stripes, plaid and cute dresses with tough buckled boots, Frida Giannini for Gucci represented the hippie elements of my grade-eight wardrobe with suede fringe and boho prints but she mixed these with rocker-inspired rivets and tough leather. Ahead of the trend, last fall designer Paulo Melim Andersson did chunky, platform versions of Doc Martens for Chloé. Christopher Bailey’s fall collections for Burberry Prorsum have always held a touch of grunge for me. While being totally pulled together, there’s always a feeling of slouchiness, whether it’s represented in an oversized scarf, big woolly toque or comfy sweater. There’s also a great mix of hard and soft elements, mixing luxurious hardware with supple leathers and knits and finally, his palette for fall is always moody, like an angsty teenager.
Off the runways, if only slightly, your favourite grunge footwear is making a major comeback. I will admit that my hankering for Docs was influenced by supermodels-of-the moment, Agyness Deyn and Daisy Lowe (the love child of the leader of former grunge-era band Bush-X, Gavin Rossdale). Lowe is the new face of the brand and Deyn just wears them everywhere. Meanwhile, I know that Converse are considered classics, but with their new All Star Lights (a thinner, more streamlined, almost ballet flat silhouette for ladies) and sequined holiday versions, they’re becoming even more wearable and definitely exude that luxe grunge feel. Converse also come in a music-inspired collection, one that includes Jack Purcells inspired by the pair that grunge king Kurt Cobain wore as well as a series of Grateful Dead Chucks featuring, who else? The Jerry Bear.