Category: Toys

Mama, let your children grow up to be pizza-makers

Curious Chef Pizza Kit (7-pc.)

There’s a new breed of pizza-maker out there: one that appreciates the tradition and culture of pizza. Like what microbrewing did for beer drinking, artisan pizza-makers are doing for the classic pie. Restaurants are popping up dedicated to the craft of pizza-making, and the results show in a quality menu. However, for all this attention heaped upon dough, sauce and cheese, the average slice still lacks soul. To be able to partake in this new pizza culture requires a commitment of an entire pie; sometimes I just want to go down to the corner and grab a slice.

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The chemistry set you eat

Molecular Gastronomy Starter Set

This is the chemistry set of today. Those semi-dangerous labs-in-a-box are a thing of the past. Nowadays, they aren’t going to pack anything remotely dangerous into those learning kits, so you might as well look elsewhere for real fun. Since Junior no longer has the capability to produce searing acid baths for his action figures, the modern chemistry set might as well produce something useful: food!

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How to jazz up a popcorn maker

blinQ Popcorn Factory

I can just see the conversation now:

“Hey Hal, we got a warehouse full of these crappy air poppers that didn’t sell.”
“Well, Tommy, you know cooking with kids is big…”
“Yeah, but these ain’t made for kids.”
“Tell you what, slap a big ol’ “FUN!” sticker on it and they will be. But not too big, stickers are expensive.”
“I dunno… it’s still kind of… ugly. Maybe the boys will like it.”
“No problem, but a pink hat on it for melting butter and problem solved.”
“Hey, you just doubled our target market!”
“That’s why I make the big bucks. Call it the blinQ Popcorn Factory and we’re done.”
“You’re a genius!”
“You’d be surprised, Tommy. We haven’t got anything new in since 1993.”

For $29.95 you too can feel a part of the conversation.

Damn kids won’t set my porch on fire this Halloween

Pumpkin Pal Stake

Pumpkins must not mind being impaled by sharp objects. Around this time of year they do seem to always have that stupid grin on their faces. I’d say that’s proof positive that using the Pumpkin Pal Stake to illuminate the carcass jack-o’-lantern this Halloween is a-okay. Besides, using two AAA batteries won’t set the porch on fire when those damn teenagers knock the pumpkin over. Get off my lawn!

Carnival in your kitchen… and on your sofa… and in the carpet… and on the drapes…

Nostalgia Electrics Retro Series 50's Style Cotton Candy Machine

The carnival has packed up and is heading off into the sunset. The sounds of the midway are faint in the air. A slight breeze carries the scent of fried foods and roller coaster grease. You take a step forward, hoping to capture one last taste of the county fair and all that it has to offer. Instead, you find a sticky paper cone attached to the bottom of your sole; a piece of pink-stained detritus left over from the summer carnival.

Lucky for you, you can take that crumpled tube of paper and breath new life into it with your very own cotton candy machine. The Nostalgia Electrics Retro Series 50’s Style Cotton Candy Machine is a countertop appliance set to spin all year long. Just add sugar mixture and use the included reusable plastic cones to catch the freshly flossed cotton candy as it spins out of the machine. Now, that sticky and goopy mess that you thought you left out in the fairgrounds can finally be made at home. Lucky you.

Spooky gingerbread house is a home for candy corn

Fox Run Halloween Gingerbread Haunted House Kit

As far as gingerbread houses go, Halloween seems like the perfect holiday for them. Candy flows freely during this time of year, a happenstance that offers mounds of sugary treats just waiting to be converted into building supplies. Alas, the fat man in the red suit has usurped this logical practice, turning gingerbread houses everywhere into gumdrop-adorned travesties of tradition. Well, no longer!

The Fox Run Halloween Gingerbread Haunted House Kit offers the ability for kids of all ages to decorate a gingerbread house the way it was meant to be. Plastic pumpkins and pillowcases full of chocolate treats finally have a place to end up aside from turning into a melted glob of goo found under the mattress months down the road. Perhaps most importantly, this gingerbread house finally supplies a place to put all that horrible candy corn. Comes with seven cookie cutters, a cardboard base and an icing set for decorating.

***Update 10/21/24: The candy corn escaped! Product above no longer available. But lo! What do we spy here? A Halloween Haunted Gingerbread House with reviews on par with candy corn!

Halloween Haunted Gingerbread House, Cookie Decorating DIY Kit with Sour Candy, Instructions Included, 26 Ounces Brand: Bee International, Inc.