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Anime Girl #10

For my soon to turn 6 year olds birthday this year, she decided that she wanted to have a stuffed animal party. A stuffed animal party basically means that all the little girls invited will bring their favorite plush toy so that they can all play with them together. This is a great theme, but in order to keep the young ones attention, I knew I would have to be very inventive when it comes to creating games in order to keep everyone happy.

We had ten girls invited as guests, and I knew that with those kinds of numbers it was quite possible that someone would forget their plush toy at home. So that is why I decided to have a couple extra stuffed animals and teddy bears on hand. And sure enough two girls forgot their toy. One of the girl's forget her favorite teddy bear in her mom's car, and the other had just lost her favorite plush dog at school. Luckily, my extras managed to head off the tears at the pass, and then we could get to the games. Here are some of the games we played, and hopefully they'll be able to help you if you want to create your own stuffed animal party.

The Stuffed Animals Treasure Hunt

This one I had to think ahead for, as before the party started I hid a teddy bear somewhere in our house. I then used post-it notes to write down some clues. The first post-it note I gave to my daughter's plush dog, Fluffy. This clue would lead them to the next and so on, until they (and their companion stuffed animals) finally found the teddy bear. But the game didn't end there. The teddy bear himself contained another clue. You see, I had gotten some teddy bear cookies (to continue the theme) and hidden them also. This was a great game and all of the girls had a lot of fun.

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Pin the Tail on the Bunny

While not as inventive as the treasure hunt, this variation of pin the tail is a classic for a reason. My daughter had a big stuffed bunny she had gotten for Easter. Realizing this would be perfect, I turned the bunny around so it's back was to the girls, and made a tail out of Velcro and some bandannas. That way, the girl's could be blindfolded, and whoever got the tail in the right place would stick with the Velcro. We played in teams, and the team that won (by pinning the tail the most times) would get to be the first to take a picture in the bunny's lap. This kept the girl's busy, and the prize was benign enough that we didn't have any jealousy issues.

Stuffed Animals Fairy Tale

After stuffed animal crackers and cake, we had time for one last game. We turned their plush toys, every plush dog, stuffed cat, stuffed raccoon and teddy bear, into a character in a fairy tale. This really let them be creative, and I was careful to make sure that each little girl's plushie got an important role. Since everyone wanted to be princesses, I let everyone do that and then they had to work together to overcome obstacles and get to the palace in time for the queen's birthday. This imaginative game was a great success.

Anime Girl #09

Teen girls still love getting stuffed animals for Christmas. However, they aren't interested in something too babyish. Girls between the ages of 8 and 12 like stuffed animals that are a little more high tech and sophisticated. The following suggestions can help you navigate the tricky terrain of buying stuffed toys for young ladies in the teen age group.

A large number of major malls across the country have a Build-A-Bear Workshop where you can take your teen girl and let her custom design her very own stuffed animal. A gift certificate and a promise to take her on a date to build the ultimate teddy bear is a present that's sure to please. Let her work the mouse and click the keys as she picks out her own stuffed animal on the Build-A-Bear website. She will never forget the fun time she had making her furry creation.

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Webkinz are stuffed animals that come with a computer code that allows the owner to register their pet on the Webkinz website. This site offers teens the chance to interact with their stuffed friends in a virtual realm. They can pick a name and gender for the pet and then spend time on-line taking care of it and play games on the site with children all over the world. This is the ultimate mesh of traditional stuffed toy and technology age gadget. The stuffed animal itself has an electronic meter on it that tells your teen if it is happy or sad, so it could arguably be a good predecessor for the responsibility of a real pet.

Unusual animals. Larger than life teddy bears are a big hit with young girls. They also still like old fashioned stuffed cats, dogs, and bears, especially if they come with accessories such as perfume or lotion. Girls this age love purses in the shape of stuffed animals. Many teen girls love craft projects or are in the process of learning how to sew. A great gift would be to order the traditional red heeled "sock monkey" socks and gather all the items needed for her to construct her own sock stuffed animal.

Teens often struggle with wanting to be grown up while they still see the world from the eyes of a young child. Many girls this age don't want to admit that they still are into stuffed animals. By making your stuffed toy gift creative, personal, and cool, you give your teen permission to enjoy being a little girl just a little while longer and that is a precious gift indeed.

Anime Girl #08

Little girls often have an affinity for animals and not just horses. Puppies, lambs, kittens and basically anything cute and cuddly - young girls just seem to go all lovey-dovey when confronted with beautiful animals and toy animals are no different. So if you have a daughter or young friend who loves animals and want to offer her a suitable gift then this list of great animal themed toys will help you.

Generally girls who love animals love to care for them as well. Being a veterinarian is a natural step and there are a number of role play costumes and kits to help kids get into the feel of playing vets and caring for their animals, plush or otherwise.

Learning resources has a great veterinarian dress-up kit as do Melissa and Doug. Most dress-up kits include a regular blue vet's uniform with a few medical instruments while others include paperwork and a couple even come with animal carriers and a sick plush animal to care for. Whichever you choose, your animal loving girl is sure to be healing her stuffed animals in no time.

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If dress-ups is not her style, try these play figures instead. Calico Critters is a brand of animal figures that wear clothes, live in houses and drive cars. The brand has been around for more than twenty years and proven to be popular with girls of all ages. The critters live in families and animals featured include mice, hedgehogs, frogs and monkeys. They are very cute and durable and can be played with using dollhouses you may already have.

Girls also like more realistic animal figures and no one comes more realistic than Schleich. Schleich animals are better known for being the makers of the Smurf PVC figures but they also have an extensive range of small hand-painted animal figures of all kinds including a large horse theme. Collectors value the Schleich range for their accuracy and durability and at a low price point it is easy to build up a collection quickly.

These are just a few of the best toy options available to encourage a young girl's love of animals and perhaps even spur her on to a future as a veterinarian or zoo keeper!

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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Anime Girl #10

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Anime Girl #08