Consider this post a page out of our “brag book.” We were thrilled when one of our favorite local resources for families, Time Out New York Kids, wanted to include us in their Party Ideas issue. Along with two other NYC-based stores, GIFT HERO is listed as a place to “make buying gifts for your tot’s friends a breeze.”

Find us on p.39 of the April 2010 issue. In addition to Shopping recommendations, the issue’s Time to Party section is full of wonderful ideas for birthday party themes, venues, invites, activities, foods (we especially love the cupcake recommendations on p.28), favors, and entertainment. One of my favorite parts is the party ideas by season…I’ve already got ideas for Benjamin’s 7th birthday next December!

We’ve often said that toys make wonderful gifts when visiting family and friends. So…this year, consider bringing a kids’ gift if you are invited to a Passover Seder or Easter dinner.

At GIFT HERO, we’ve got lots of great options. I love the idea of bring a gift that is holiday “themed.”  Hoppers Jr. from Thinkfun is perfect for Passover. Frogs are the first plague and the most memorable one for children. This delightful single-player game is wonderful for boys and girls ages 5 and up.  There are 40 challenges all with the end goal of helping Red Frog Freddy win the leaping contest by being the last one on the pond.

Chickyboom from Blue Orange Games is terrific for Easter.  This new to the market, multi award winning game is for boys and girls ages 4 and up.  It’s a fun game of balance to get the chickens, wagon wheels and hay bales off the rocking roost before it’s too late.

I just love this new product, Eco Stars from Miss Brittany! These adorable, star-shaped crayons are made from 100% recycled crayons. Did you know that there is a National Crayon Recycling Program that has saved 52,000 pounds of crayons from landfills and turned them into recycled crayons? To learn how to send in your crayons and get your child’s school involved, visit the Recycling Program Page.

We also carry Miss Brittany’s line of organic fun dough products, for all of your eco-friendly children’s gift needs.

Central Park was delightful this weekend – sunny weather in the 60s and 70s.  The park was teeming with people celebrating the beginning of spring.  Josh and my husband played baseball for hours. Maya and I visited the Central Park Zoo and then walked home, watching the Park’s resident  jugglers and musicians perform along the way. Central Park is truly an oasis of calm in this big city.

One of the things Maya kept noticing was that some of the flowers and trees that have begun to bloom. Cherry blosssoms and also some beautiful white and purple flowers that we couldn’t name. The tulips aren’t quite up yet, although the green stems are up so flowers will surely follow in a couple of weeks.

Since we live here in NYC we don’t have our own garden, but this is the time of the year when many people are starting to work on theirs.  At GIFT HERO, we sell this wonderful Kids Watering Can Kit, which makes an ideal spring birthday gift for a boy or girl age 4 and up. We also sell the Kids Garden Tote, which has the same tools in a canvas bag minus the watering can.

Welcome spring!

At Toy Fair this year, Stefanie and I found a lot of great new products that we are adding to GIFT HERO.  One of my favorites is Yamslam by Blue Orange Games. The folks at Blue Orange really love their games – and at Toy Fair they invite you to play their games – literally. So I spent a decent amount of time playing their games (and enjoying myself!)

Not satisfied with that, when my friends at Blue Orange heard that I had an 8 year old son, they insisted that I take Yamslam home with me for him to try out – with spectacular results.

Josh loves Yamslam – and commented to me that it was “kind of  like Yahtzee only better”. He loves that he can play it by himself or with a friend. Very few games are designed this way – most are either single player or for two or more players. He told me we “definitely” need to sell it on GIFT HERO.  And now we do.

I think that Yamslam is going to be our new “go to” birthday gift for Josh’s 8 and 9 year old buddies.