toys | 4 Mothers

4Mothers is delighted to welcome Christine from just bella to share her tips on maximizing toy storage, while keeping it stylish. Christine, a soon-to-be mother of two, blogs about all things beautiful and is sure to put her own stylish twist on just about everything. Just check out these gold polka dot walls and you’ll be hooked on just bella too!

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I admit it, before kids I was one of those people that said, “I’ll never let toys take over my house”. Ha! I’m surprised that every mom I talked to didn’t laugh directly in my face because, you know what, it happens. The toys slowly creep in and before you know it they are everywhere!

To keep the sanity I do my best to limit the amount we have and to use smart and stylish storage solutions. Just because you have all these bright, shiny, plastic things everywhere doesn’t mean you always have to look at them. You can find adorable and functional bins, baskets and buckets that make cleaning up easy and reduce the visual clutter. Here is a roundup of some stylish toy storage that will blend in with your existing (and grown up) decor, though I can’t promise the kiddos won’t dump them! You’re on your own in that department 😉

Click to find: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

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Christine Shankowsky, just bella

www.justbellablog.com

twitter: twitter.com/justbellablog

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This week I had the fortunate experience of listening to John Levy, C.E.O. and head toy buyer for Mastermind Toys talk about toys. This guy is passionate about toys – think, Tom Hanks in Big. He gets as excited as a schoolboy about a battery operated remote control balloon but extols the educational virtues of good toys (versus bad toys) with the finesse of a true expert.

If your house is anything like mine it’s cluttered with toys. Junky toys, defunct toys with missing parts, battery dead toys, and my most dreaded, toys with a million pieces that seem to take over the house.

That said, I am quick to purge the toy room and I have been known to be ruthless. But I am hesitant to replenish the stash of toys. I rarely buy toys for our boys. They usually make their way into our home via a gift bag and a flurry of wrapping paper.

My thinking is simple: I don’t want to replace crap with more crap.

For the past few years, I have followed the suggestions of John Levy. After all he’s not only a toy guru but a parent. He gets that kids like toys that continue to captivate long after the initial rush of playing with something new. He understands that parents want value for their dollar and that poor quality and hazardess materials need not apply. Most importantly, he knows what is not crap.

This year I have John’s top new picks for toys for the holiday season and because I am nice person (not because I am getting paid or getting anything for free), I wanted to share with our readers and perhaps make this holiday shopping season stress-free.

Age 0-18 months

cloud.b Twilight Turtle, $39.95