We received free products in order to host the Bright Starts Play Date. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Between my best friend and I, we have six kids under 10. Yes, 6. She makes my life look like a ball of sunshine and I honestly have no idea how she manages, but anyway… because of those six kids and life in general, we don't see each other nearly as much as we'd like. I mean, sure, there's a little chat window open pretty much all the time with her, but that's not real-life sitting down and talking.
When Bright Starts sent us a package aimed at the 6 to 36 month crowd, I knew I needed to schedule a playdate with my BFF! Out of those six kids of ours, three of them are in that age range!
During the holidays, things get crazy and scheduling playdates feels impossible. Don't stress about making sure the house is perfect, planning a bunch of activities, or having a big spread to munch on.
True friends don't care that the house looks like a tornado came through (they usually have their own tornadoes). Best friends can talk about the pile of clothes on the couch and compare who's pile is bigger.
For our playdate, Owen and I popped over with a box of new, shiny toys from Bright Starts! New toys are always a distraction and keep the kids entertained so the Mommies can actually visit!
The first toy the kids were dying to get out of the box was the Bright Starts™ Learn & Giggle Activity Station™. It's a window full of activities for baby to explore and learn!
Little ones can sit and play or stand and play. There's a flip book that interacts and each window pane tells stories about different times of day. There is so much to do on this activity station! Owen's favorite part was the cat trying to get in the fish bowl, while the two and a half year old's favorite was the dog that pops up when you play with the dog bone.
Don't worry about the big kids, they'll get in on the fun, too! I'm sure it was just to “help” though!
In the picture above, you can also see the Bright Starts™ Learn & Giggle Fish™ under the blurry pink child. This fish is not like any other fish! It is the perfect way to help baby discover letters, numbers, and shapes while entertaining baby with lights and music! This little fish has two play modes: numbers, letters, shapes and colors or sounds and music. With the easy-to-grab handle, it makes for an easy on-the-go toy, too!
The kids also loved the Bright Starts™ Spin & Giggle Puppy™! Owen really did giggle about all of the balls flying out! The two and a half year old seriously shrieked with excitement every time they started to go! Bright starts sent us a Bunch of Balls™, ensuring we had plenty to play with for the toys and for the kids to just carry around. I realize most of my pictures are a blurry mess, but these kids were all over the place chasing balls and playing with the toys.
The little girl (10 months old) was the first to go after the Bright Starts™ Giggables™ Frog! They giggle, they roll, they talk and they make babies laugh! They tell baby what kind of animal they are and make fun sounds as they wobble and roll. There are six different characters available. You can spot the green frog in a few pictures.
With the kids occupied with so many fun toys, the moms were actually able to catch up and socialize instead of chasing kids around or having someone constantly climbing on our lap. Fitting in mommy time when you have little ones is hard. So often we see fancy playdates on pinterest, but that's really not very doable on a regular basis. If every playdate is like that, we'd never have playdates and I'd never see my own friends.
Bright Stars sent us a couple of recipes for fun snacks for our playdate. Charlie helped me make these Turkey and Hummus Pinwheels.
They're perfect for our little friends to snack on while playing!
As you can see, a simple playdate means Moms can socialize like adults, kids can play, and no one is judging houses, the mess, and the food needs to be easy! We have enough on our plates as moms that throwing a playdate shouldn't be an extra stress event!
When was the last time you threw a playdate?
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