It's November already?!

I can't believe it's already November! This fall is flying by. We wrapped up October with a wonderful kids club event (painted pumpkins galore!) and a Halloween filled with awesome costumes and passing out tons of tiny toys. Almost 1,500 trick-or-treaters came down to celebrate the spooky occasion with us, and we saw everything from a mini Michael Jackson to a Port-o-potty.

Last Saturday workshoppers made miniature snowmen, and today Maria led the class in crafting felt ornaments. She used cool holiday colored felt and beads to make some of the most festive decorations I've seen so far this year! We also received the news that our Faber-Castell castle won the window-display portion of their contest, which is awesome! We were so happy to be able to participate in such a cool contest and we wish all the other winners and competitors a big congratulations! We were competing with some incredible displays and we feel very fortunate to have been chosen as the winner!

November is bringing many new events to the store as well, with Hape's "Play it Forward" contest wrapping up next weekend and Neighborhood Toy Store Day on the 12th. Stop by the store between 2:00-6:00 pm on Neighborhood Toy Store Day to participate in all kinds of crafts, game demonstrations, and juggling. We'll also be building a remote control machine, giving out prizes and cookies, and announcing the winner of Hape's play-kitchen contest. NTSD is sponsored by Astra, and all of their picks for best-toys-of-the-year will be on display!

The other great part of this day is that there will be an opportunity to help support a local charity, Blue Skies for Children. A silent auction of some of our most popular toys will be held during the week prior to NTSD and will conclude on Saturday the 12th. We especially encourage all of our customers to come in and check out this part of the event as Blue Skies for Children is a wonderful organization that does a lot of good things for our community that are especially important at this time of the year.

Last but not least, our free kids club will be happening on the 22nd of this month! Just in time for Thanksgiving, come in and make leaf-rubbing place cards for the holiday table with us! Using crayons and beautiful fall leaves, we'll make rubbings and then cut and decorate them as place cards. Space is limited so be sure to call and sign up! (Ages 5+ please)