Lalaloopsy Love

When my oldest daughter was about to turn four, she fell hard into the world of Littlest Pet Shops. I always thought that that was kind of fitting since my youngest sister, right around age four, discovered an undying love of the original Littlest Pet Shops. Even now that Peanut is 10 years old, she still has quite a collection of the tiny little plastic pets all over our house. Sometimes, quite literally. SweetPea discovered her sister's pets around age 2 and fell hard for them... especially when she learned that she wasn't quite old enough to play with them yet. This past summer though, the girls enjoyed dumping our all the storage containers of pets and spending hours playing side by side together. I really felt like this was going to be SweetPea's first big non-book obsession. I was so wrong.

About a month before Christmas, while asking the kiddos what they wanted, SweetPea brought up another avenue completely out of left field. She wanted a Lalaloopsy. I honestly had no idea at the time what that was. See, we don't watch much mainstream television, preferring instead to just scan shows off of OnDemand or Prime. So not only did I not have a clue what a Lalaloopsy was, I hadn't the vaguest idea where she learned about them either. Not that it really mattered because what I saw of them wasn't offensive or ghoulish so I just added it to a passing interest.

I was so wrong....

Ace Fender Bender's being brave!

Starting right after Thanksgiving, SweetPea received her first mini Lalaloopsy.. and she was hooked! A second followed soon after. More came at Christmas, along with the coveted "Lalaloopsy with spinning hair and spinning feet" and a play set. Most nights now find SweetPea at the kitchen table (so PorkChop can't reach the little toys) happily creating complex story lines for all seven of her little minis.

Lalaloopsy has become such a hit that she has already requested that to be her theme for her fourth birthday next month. I try never to do mass produced themes so instead of hitting the nearest Party City, I have already started brainstorming how to make the world of Lalaloopsy come to life for her. A special handmade dress to match Bea Spells a Lot for SweetPea, a little outfit to match Ahoy Matey for Porker. Button candy molds to decorate the cake and button suckers for the treat bags. Learning how to make bows for the favors along with clips made with felt and buttons. Our own version of "pin the button on the doll" and either a crafted BINGO or musical chairs (singing featured by Harmony B Sharp). I think that I can pull it off for her. And I think that I might even be able to pull it off well.