***BIRTHDAY BASH-Green Toys Review and GIVEAWAY***

To save my sanity I have always loved toys that have no batteries, flashing lights, carnival sounding music, or annoying high pitched voices. Toys that my kiddo has to use his imagination with.....and that don't drive us absolutely bonkers from all of the noise.  A few days ago at Monkeys birthday party he got a few toys that make all kinds of noise and racket. He absolutely loves them.....but me on the other hand.....lets just say the songs get stuck in my head and drive me crazy.

As a mother, I want my son to have toys that help his imagination to blossom and grow.  He does learn new things with battery powered toys......but these days with video games and movies sucking kids in, a lot of kids don't even know how to use their imagination and play with a simple non-noise making car without getting bored in two minutes. We decided long ago that we were going to keep toys that need batteries to a minimum in our house so that our kids would learn to use their imagination (and for our sanity sake). We do have some noise making toys, but all of the ones that we have were bought by family and friends as gift.  I when I do buy him toys I try to focus on getting ones that Monkey will need to use his imagination with.

Green Toys is my new favorite online toy store. They use recycled milk jugs as the main ingredient in creating all of their toys. All of their toys are made from recycled plastic, so that milk jug that you throw in your recycling bin might just end up being turned into a toy that can be played with instead of sitting in the dump for who knows how many years.

Environmental Packaging
Green Toys environmental mission even extends to our packaging. We strive to minimize packaging, and all of our boxes use as little material as possible. All Green Toys products are packaged in recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties, and are 100% recyclable. So, not only are they earth-friendly and ready for your recycling bin, they are really easy to open for those little fingers just itching to get at the toys!!

Toy Safety and Testing
Green Toys products are tested by nationally recognized, independent, third-party labs (located in the USA.) They contain no traceable amounts of Phthalates or BPA. They are also designed without any external coatings, eliminating the fear of lead paint.

Green Toys products are very safe since they are made of 100% recycled plastic milk containers. They also save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Safe toys are very important since they are going to be played with by small children.  The plastic that all of the toys are made from is just colored when the plastic is made so you don't have to worry about lead in paint on the outside or any sort of other harmful chemicals.

Green toys was wonderful enough to send us their Tugboat and Stacker for review.

There is no end to the fun with the Green Toys Tugboat! The boat is made of hard plastic so it can be played with anywhere. It is very sturdy and will easily withstand the abuse of being smacked on random things by a two year old.  We love to play with it in the bath tub, outside in the sand, in the pool, or wherever else a two year old can find to play with a boat (which can really be anywhere.) The thing that is really nice about it is you can fill it up with water and use it for rinsing suds off at bath time or just for general play in the water. It has a handle that is the perfect size for an adult and a child. There is a grate looking area on the top of the boat that lets you fill up the boat with water (it will also fill up with the pour spout) so it is easy for a small child to figure out how to pour water out of it  The tugboat has NO BPA, PVC, phthalates or external coatings making it a great choice for your kids.  This toy is recommended for children 6 month and up.
You can pick up your own tugboat for only $13

We also received the Green Toys stacker set to review. Monkey has always LOVED stacking toys, even if it is not made to stack he will somehow find a way to make it work.  It is amazing how fast he catches on to the different sets and which order they go in. These are very different than all of the other stacking sets that he has tried.  He has another set of stacking tubs that look very different.....but he knew exactly what to do when I gave the new ones to him. It only took him about 15 minutes to be able to stack them in the right order all by himself.

Like all of the other Green Toys they are made of a hard plastic that is 100% recycled. They are safe for kids and fun for all!

BUY YOUR OWN:

Head over to Green Toys and check out their amazing toys!

WIN SOME : 

Green Toys has offered 1 of my readers a chance to win a Tug boat of their own!

Mandatory Entry: First you need to be/become a public follower of my blog (on right sidebar- click follow) and then head over to Green Toys and tell me your favorite toy (besides the ones listed here).   Make sure to do both parts! (Mandatory entry has to be done before ANY others are valid)
Be sure you leave me your email address in your comments so I can contact you if you win. 

EXTRA ENTRIES: 

-Subscribe by E-Mail, RSS, or grab my blog button (2 entries each)

-Grab my Birthday Bash button and let me know where you posted it (2 entries)

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-If you earned extra entries by blogging early or suggesting companies and commented on this post you can claim however many you earned (i will verify your entries)

-Blog about this giveaway (3 entries-Must link back to this giveaway and to Green Toys)

-Enter in my other current giveaways (1 entry per) 

-Sign up for Swagbucks through my referral link (5 entries)  Just click below and sign-up!!

-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (you may tweet 2 times daily-must be atleast 4 hours apart-you must leave a comment with the link for each tweet)

Enter to win a 100% recycled plastic 

Green Toys Tugboat!!

#giveaway @Gravsie3

http://bit.ly/bwRkz5 (9/23)

-Fan/Like Green Toys on Facebook (1 entry)

This giveaway will close on Sept 23rd, 2010 at 9pm CST and is open to U.S.  addresses. The winner will be drawn via random.org - Winner will be contacted by email when their name is drawn and will be given 48 hours to claim their prize before another winner is drawn. I will also post the winner to this blog when their name is drawn.      

Thank you to Green Toys who provided us with the previously stated products at no cost in exchange for our review and will be providing the winners item as well! I was not given and monetary compensation for write this review. All opinions expressed are my own.