The Play Kitchen seems to be the most popular activity toy at the minute and Kidkraft’s Red Retro Kitchen is the one to have. Retro is cool and it seems the parents like this little kitchen as we sold out mid December during the Christmas rush and Kidkraft themselves sold out of all stock! All probably down to being the best quality kitchen around.

Well its taken 3 months but the Red Retro Kitchen is finally back in stock and when we say stock, we mean actual stock. Unlike most other sellers of Kidkraft, we actually stock our products so we can guarantee the lowest prices and fastest delivery.

A big thanks to all our patient customers who pre-ordered this from as early as January! New customers, if you want one, be quick as they are selling fast!

Mickey Mouse has got himself a new car. He opted for a 6v electric ride on car complete with Mickey Mouse clubhouse graphics finished in his famous red colour.

Sure to be a hit with the kids, Mickey’s car is available now and comes in pedal and 6v electric varieties. Made under license in Italy to high european standards, complete with deep injection paint so scuffs and scratches can be buffed out .

Take a look here and browse our huge range of ride on cars.

If your a parent and wondering “what to get my child this christmas” then why not take a look at Mickey’s Car.

We thought it was time we did a review on the cheap 12v Electric Hummer “style” Ride On cars available in the marketplace at the minute. Mostly found on eBay, these Hummer style unlicensed replicas are of extremely poor quality and should be avoided like the plague.

Q. How do we know this?

A. We had the samples over from China earlier on in the year and tested them. Here were our findings:

On first glance it looked great, “these will sell like hot cakes” we thought. However after assembling the thing it appeared apparent why these cars were so cheap. Firstly the paint was so thin that by the time we had assembled the wheels the front bumper was scratched to high heaven. Not what we were expecting at all.

After getting over the problem of the plastic wheel brace snapping off in my hand under light pressure and the missing bracket for the steering rack, I managed to have the car fully assembled. Although I had that feeling inside that you get when you know you have just bodged a DIY job and it doesn’t feel quite right.

After charging the battery the car sat waiting for our chief test driver to get home from nursery. Sat next to it was the competition! A fully licensed Ferrari F430 Scuderia 6v Electric Car (made in Italy). the “Hummer” looked slightly nervous. - Please ignore the pig, it was Sunday’s roast de-frosting.

4pm arrived and so did our chief test driver. His face lit up with excitement when he saw the “Hummer”. Now for testing time, all started good, a decent speed down the street saw a gathering of kids appear as from nowhere itching for a go. We welcome all the local kids to test the toys out although our chief test driver is not always so keen to share. After some gentle persuasion, in jumps a 6 year old….. the car seems unable to cope with the weight even with its 12v motor. Seems odd we thought, the 12v car should cope just fine with a 6 year old but is barely moving on a slight gradient of maybe 2%. Only one way to test its capabilities…. a drag race!

We set up a 20 metre (approx) drag race between the 12v “Hummer” and the 6v Ferrari F430 Electric Car. Now really the outcome of this race should be obvious, the 12v should win by a far. We set up our 3 year old racing drivers on the line and off they went… the 6v Ferrari taking an easy lead, no sign off the “Hummer” catching up, in fact it was slowing down, would it even make the finish line? It would seem not, the battery was flat after 7 minutes of use! The 6v Ferrari took victory and turned around and headed back to the start line. It even did a lap of honour.

We thought it was strange that the battery was flat after 7 minutes so we charged it up again overnight and tried it again the next day. However it only made the bottom of the drive before dying out again and never really worked again. Not good for a brand new toy! We were especially unhappy as it cost us £300 to ship the sample from China.

So, please be aware of these cheap unlicensed replica’s found on eBay and elsewhere as they may seem a bargain but when they break after a couple of go’s it may not seem such a good deal. Always make sure you buy a licensed Ride On Car which comes with a 12 month guarantee as standard. And please don’t be fooled by companies putting there own branding on the cars, they are still the same only with a sticker on them!

All My Treasures toys pass European Safety standards and are tested to unsure high quality. Most our products are European / UK / US made and are of the highest standards and all come with guarantees to back up the quality.

After listening to people Twitter on about “Twitter” for the last few months, we have decided to jump on the band wagon. Thanks to Stephen Fry and Demi Moore’s bum, the social networking site has become massively popular.

We’re using it to let people know about new products, discounts, special offers, stock clearance, safety information and just what’s going on at MT HQ

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Out of the window goes girls only in the kitchen!! now we even have boys as young as 2 years of age wanting to be in the kitchen using their imagination (thank you Gordan Ramsey) and what better way to help them along with a Step 2 50’s Diner Play Kitchen, oh yes! they can even wash the pots after making a lovely meal.

I have recently noticed the amount of young lads wanting to use the Play kitchens when I go into a nursery, and all the Cooking Essentials that you can get to put with them as well, they love it, pretending to do what mum does in the kitchen. My little boy gets soooo much enjoyment making Mum and Dad some tea and a slice of cake, its great to watch.

It seems the credit crunch hasn’t effected Barbie! She’s got herself a new 2 seater jeep, you can probably guess what colour?…. Yes, thats right Pink

With a price match promise and free number plates! The only place to buy the new exclusive Barbie 2 Seater Jeep is My Treasures. The latest edition to our huge range of ride on cars.

A quick look out of the plane window as you come in to land at Manchester Airport will show you that Trampolines have become massively popular of late. Every other garden has one! We at MyTreasures think this is good news! Its about time Kids switched off the Playstation and got themselves outside. Although kids nowadays don’t seem happy with making razor sharp spears from bamboo canes, or leaving conkers in vinegar to make them rock hard, or climbing trees so high you never thought you would get down, like us parents did! And lets not forget the Death Defying Rope Swings that someones Dad used to make in the woods.

However, there is no excuse, as these kids are the luckiest generation yet. The amount of Outdoor Toys on the market now is unbelievable and the cost affordable to most. I mean, who ever had a Bouncy Castle or a hugeInflatable WaterSlide in the garden as a kid? I know I didn’t.

If you can’t get your kids outside there are options for inside the house too, kids can learn and interact with many great Activity Toys on the market. So there is an alternative to the telly!

Lets get them moving before they evolve with massive thumbs from texting and playing video games

Whether you are taking your children to a local play area or even if you are thinking about building a playground in your own garden, you can never be over cautious when it comes to safety.  With this in mind, we have come up with a few pointers for you to consider in order to make sure that your children’s play time is what it should be - safe and fun!

• First and foremost, carefully supervise children so that you can see yourself whether they are safe.  Have a first aid kid to hand or somewhere nearby just in case.
• Make sure that surfaces around play equipment have at least 12 inches of wood chips, sand, mulch or safety tested mats around them.  Cushioned surfaces should extend 6ft past the play equipment.  Concrete, asphalt or black top are unsuitable surface and don’t be fooled into thinking that grass or soil are a cheap alternative.  Weather conditions can greatly reduce the ground’s capacity to cushion a fall.
• Be wary of potential tripping hazards such as exposed concrete footings, tree stumps, rocks, bags, etc.

• Ensure that play structures more than 30 inches high are spaced at least 9 feet apart.
• Check playground equipment for sharp edges and points and keep the surrounding are clear of dangerous materials like broken glass or twisted metal.
• Check the playground regularly to see that equipment and surfacing are in good condition.  Wooden equipment should not be cracked or splintered and metal equipment should not be rusting.  Where applicable you can usually contact your local governing authority in a case where equipment needs to be repaired or replaced.

• Younger children shouldn’t play on equipment intended for older children as they are designed with different proportions in mind.  Playground equipment is usually designed with the following age groups in mind:  2 years old and younger, 2 to 5 years old, 5 to 12 years old.
• Take weather conditions into account.  For example, during Summer equipment can become hot.  This is especially true for metal slides so be sure to exercise good judgement.  If it feel a little too warm when you touch it then it’s better to be safe than sorry.
• Make sure that elevated surfaces like platforms and ramps have guard rails to prevent falls.

• It is a good idea to make sure that when on playground equipment, your children aren’t wearing clothes that have hoods or drawstrings that can get caught.
• Swings can be a potential cause of a child taking a bump.  To avoid this, children should always sit in seats and not kneel or stand.  When not on the swings, children should make sure they are well out of reach of those currently playing on them.
• Equipment that has moving parts should be checked to make sure there are no ‘pinch points’ where children could get hands or skin pinched or trapped.

We hope you find this advice helpful  so that if you are setting up your own plauground, your children will stack bump free!

If you think we have missed anything, or if you have any safety tips of your own then do leave them in the comments section!

Roll up, roll up!  Welcome ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls to the My Treasures blog.  Because the My Treasures website is so full of wonderful and exciting exclusive children’s toys, we didn’t have any room left to tell you about everything else that’s going on!

We’ll be telling you about our new and forthcoming toys as well as keeping you up to date with the latest toy industry news.  Of course we’ll be keeping this page full of  fun stuff that will inspire and entertain.  We’re a toy shop after all - fun is our business!

Come back soon to see what we’re up to - and while you’re here why not check out the toys we currently have in stock.  Don’t forget to leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

See you soon…

My Treasures HQ