Scott’s Toy Box: My Christmas List
This month’s article is so jammed packed with toys, let’s skip the intro paragraph and dive right in.
Once Upon A TreeHouse
Once Upon A TreeHouse is a company that builds handmade, wooden dollhouses. Not only do they offer houses but also furniture and dolls, so you can build your own home. Another great thing about the company is that when you buy a doll, you become a Fairy Dollmother, and Once Upon A TreeHouse gives away a doll to a child in need. Their website,onceuponatreehouse.com, also has several crafts that you can download. The treehouse version costs $120, but with its high quality and longevity, the price tag is worth it.
The Game of Life zAPPed Edition
The Game of Life zAPPed Edition brings technology into the old board game by adding your iPad to the mix. The game is played the same as before: a peg version of yourself gets into a car and drives through life collecting or losing money until you retire. The new aspect of the game is the app you download from the Apple store. Your iPad sits in the middle of the board and takes the place of the spinner. There are also several places on the board that have a corresponding button to press on the app if you land on it. These places may lead you to a minigame or a video from America’s Funniest Videos for your family to enjoy. The game costs $19 on Amazon.com, and sorry, the iPad is not included.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Complete Collection
A blast from my past, the 1980’s cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is now available as one complete collection. This collection has all ten seasons from 1987 to 1996 in 23 DVDs. The DVDs are stored in a replica of the Turtles’ van, which isn’t the best way to store them but does work. You may think about storing the discs some other way, and give the van to your children to play with their action figures. This is a great gift for those who are fans of the Turtles. The collection costs $89 on Amazon.com, which is less than $10 per season.
The Amazing Spiderman
The Amazing Spiderman video game from Activision is possibly the best Spiderman video game since Spiderman 2. Manhattan is your sandbox, and you play as Spiderman web-swinging your way through the Big Apple. The game starts where the movie left off. Oscorp has been experimenting with Dr. Connors’ formula that turned him into the Lizard, and now a whole group of bio-mutated humans have broken out and are spreading a virus. Spiderman is tasked to fight both the mutated humans, Oscorp, and help find an antidote to the virus. The web-swinging is fun, the combat is great, and racing is not mandatory. The content is a little scary, which earns the game its Teen rating, so it’s recommended for older fans. It costs $44 on Amazon.com.
The Sims 3: Seasons Expansion
The Sims 3 has always been a great game for creating your own world, and the newest expansion pack, Seasons, adds weather and festivals to the mix. Now your Sims can experience summer, fall, winter, and spring. You can even adjust how long you want each season to be. The expansion comes with the standard fair of new outfits and new objects, but it also gives you a new set of clothes for outerwear. Another new feature is blueprints. Blueprints allow you to lay out your house and have it built pretty quickly. This is a great middle ground between starting your house from scratch and altering a premade house. You do need the Sims 3 to enjoy the Sims 3 Seasons. The game is rated Teen, and the expansion costs $40 on Amazon.com.
