Now that school is back in session there are going to be more birthday parties that we, as parents, will need to buy gifts for. Since I just returned (about a month ago) from Blogger Bash/Sweet Suite 2014 I have all of these great toys, games, and art supplies fresh in my mind. I decided to have my girls play with a few awesome items and let them tell you what we should all be buying for the birthday parties that are bound to come up this school year. Here are three of the girls’ favorites.

Birthday Gift Round-Up

My Little Pony Equestria Girls Dolls with Accessories from Hasbro

These dolls go along with the new movie that comes out in September. Three out of four of my kids are so excited to see the movie when it comes out. The only one not interested is the 16 year old boy. Abi (10), Haley (11), and Jason (13) will be there sitting top row center of the theater for opening night. We will probably be going at least once more while it is theaters. (Did I mention that I live 30-45 minutes from a theater?) But this is the movie that they are all so excited about this fall. We will then have to buy the movie when it comes out a little over a month later on DVD and watch it over and over. We already own the first movie, and all of the series that are on DVD. What can I say? We are a My Little Pony family.

We already owned one doll, Fluttershy (from the first movie) (front), I got Rainbow Dash from my Sweet Suite Box of awesomeness (back right), and Hasbro sent us the new DJ PON 3 doll to review (back left). Each of my 3 kids that like MLP got to choose one of the dolls each to keep in their room. My son allows my girls to play with his “action figure” whenever they want, as long as they put her back properly.

Mom Review: WINNER $19.99 retail makes it a good price point for a friend’s birthday party gift or for a cousin’s Christmas present.

First of all I played with the original MLP when I was a kid. These are obviously an updated version that has been humanized to follow along with the movies. I LOVE that these dolls are not so tiny that you lose pieces. They are not large either, so they fit into the toy totes in my girls’ rooms. We don’t lose pieces like shoes, or clothes like we used to with the typical 12” doll.  The feet have peg legs so the boots snap on and we haven’t lost one yet (BONUS!). The dolls are bright, colorful, pose-able, and able to stand on their own. Each doll comes with a very colorful outfit and interchangeable shoes. DJ PON 3 came with markers and stencils so she can be customized as the girls want. They all come with assorted accessories that can be used by all the dolls. We set up a little stage area and had a concert with the dolls. The girls played together nicely for about 2 hours without getting bored. For me that is a total win!

Kid’s Review: WINNER They are fun to play with, and when I am done they can stand on my shelf as a decoration. They come with lots of accessories, including microphones so that they can sing in the band. They come with lots of cool items like wings, and stamp pads because their shoes can be stamps. These dolls are really getting me excited for the movie. I really liked the first movie and I am looking forward to seeing the next one as soon as it comes out. I can’t wait!

Little Live Pets Bird from Moose Toys

This bird looks and acts like a real pet, responds to touch, and fits easily in the palm of your hand.  The bird makes 30 different sounds including chirping, tweeting, and whistling popular nursery rhymes. It has a chatter back recording function that is very easy to use. You press a button and talk to your bird for up to 10 seconds and it will repeat your phrase back to you. There are 8 different birds to collect. you can also get cages to put your birds in.

Mom Review: WINNER  At $9.99 retail you have a perfect under $10.00 gift for a birthday, or white elephant party.

Let me just give you two words: off button. This toy is totally cute and you can pet it and it will sing to you. But the thing I always hate about these toys is waiting for them to time out and turn off. We have had cats meowing from the toy chest at 3 in the morning. This toy is great because it has an OFF button so that it won’t chirp when you are trying to sleep. The voice recorder is really good too. The bird repeats your saying in a clear chirpy voice. It is almost as good as having a real bird but bonus; no bird cage papers to clean up. We put our bird in a decorative cage that sits by the fireplace for fun, until the girls felt bad and took her back out to play with her some more.

Kid’s Review: WINNER I like how the bird speaks back to me. I can tell her anything and she repeats what I said, like a real bird would do. Mom likes that she can turn it off, but I like sitting and doing my homework with her. She will sing me a song when I pet her back. She doesn’t want to be in the cage, she like to be free and go from room to room with me. She fits in the basket of my bike so I take her with me out to play with my friends.

GoldieBlox

GoldieBlox’s goal is to get girls building. We live in a world where men outnumber women in science, technology, engineering and math. GoldieBlox wants to level the playing field when it comes to these subjects. By tapping into girls’ verbal skills with construction sets that come with a story book to follow and a construction set to build with, they can bolster confidence in while literally giving girls the tools they need to build and create amazing things. In the book there are different places to stop during the story to build something. Ours came with a booklet that had suggestions like: Build a see-saw out of 3 wheels, 8 cubs, and 10 pieces.

Mom Review: WINNER  Starting at $9.99 and going up to $99.95 for the everything this is perfect for a friend, relative, or daughter who is in need of a gift. The price range is so wide it can cover any gift giving need.

First of all my girls could not get enough. How did I not know that these existed? I had to make them put the toys away so that they could go to go to bed the first time we used these. They just kept using their imagination and making more and more items. I hated to cut them off because as we all know when the kids are playing quietly and nicely e never want to disturb them. They made everything in the booklet and then moved on to making animals. Here is their version of Gary from Spongebob:

Kid’s Review: WINNER I like how I can use the book to make things but then when I just want to use my imagination I can. I like how it comes with a story to read and that I can pause reading to work on my project. Plus, these are made for girls, and that is way cool!

As you can see I only posted the winners. We didn’t play with any losers but these were by far our favorites! I hope this round-up helps you choose something great when you are out picking up birthday party gifts this fall and winter. It is good to have a go-to toy weather you are looking to spend $10 or $100.

*I received some, not all, of the toys in this review from brands. I was not compensated financially in any way and all opinions and the review of these toys are my children’s and my own.