Monday, April 13, 2009

Toys that Annoy: Buy at your own Risk

Easter's just passed so I'm in that clean up mode where I embody the ServePro motto, "Like it never even happened" with a full vengeance. Various colors of plastic grass are strewn about--too much for the dustbuster and in too many places to lug around a full-size vac, compliments of my 4-year old twins.
But to take liberties with Dr. Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" verse, "Oh, but that is not the worst, no that is not the worst of it!" The worst of it are the actual toys that were nestled in the plastic grass that various Easter bunnies (you know who you are) thought my darlings must have. Two deserve special note here: MoonSand and PixOs.


MoonSand and PixOs belong on a DNB (Do Not Buy) list. Unless you're invited to a birthday party at Chucky Cheese's (payback's a bitch), these toys have no place in your or anyone else's home.

Your first clue as to why-not-to-buy should be that they are both advertised on t.v.--on the "As Seen on TV" commercials. The ones where you get the toy plus the ginsu knives for only $19.95 and you can pay in 3 easy installments.


Assuming you missed that clue, MoonSand is sand that sticks together a'la PlayDoh, but if tapped, smushed, or crushed will disintegrate into its original sand form. It is fun to mold, but as "it never dries out" it also will always follow the dust-to-dust progression, never solidifying into something that will leave no mess. MoonSand also has a proclivity for getting stuck in carpets, cracks in hardwood floors, and marble floor tile. I've noticed that the more recent MoonSand ads now include various trays for little hands to create and house there works in--sounds like customer feedback in action to me. Unless you're absolutely going to keep MoonSand an outdoors event, do yourself a favor and steer clear of it! Definitely a MotherWouldn't.


Next up, PixOs. As with MoonSand, I'm all for creative play. At first, PixOs seem like a parent's dream: you stick little plastic-looking balls into a template grid, spray with water and the balls meld together to create little pictures. No iron or oven required! No supervision needed! Safe! Sane? No. See those little balls, which are the size of those little balls you get when you break apart Styrofoam, roll and bounce and fly all over the place. You'll step on them, waste countless hours picking them up by hand (the dustbuster does not always like them and if you try that route I guarantee crying and wailing that you're "taking away my PixOs!") and rue the day they entered your home. You'll find them everywhere except where you want them to be. Another MotherWouldn't.