Those Doll Related Christmas Gifts I Mentioned

   Hello! I haven't disappeared. We've been getting electrical work done at the house, so we've been there. I'm still clearing up things that were thrown around after the fire. I'm also finding more damage than I thought. We had wonderful pocket doors between the foyer and the living room, and I discovered the other day that they won't pull out any more. Another area of the wall in the foyer has gone from looking fine, to looking a bit bulgey, to the plaster being ready to drop out. At least the lathe is still there, so I think I can plaster that, unlike Fuzz's room, where the lathe has been chopped out. That will have to be drywalled, which I really hate. My sister tells me that I am not capable of plastering, "even if we do have it in our blood". (Our grandpa was a professional plasterer.) All I can say is, I'm going to try to channel Grampa and do it myself, because we can't afford  to have it done.

  As it has been so dark, with no electricity and the windows boarded up, there are other things I come across. With no windows in Fuzz's room for a few days, and the boards that are on them not really sealing the windows up, 'things' get in. We've had at least two birds in the house while we've been out. Ken got one out of the house, but he found a dead one in the basement. (We've had to keep the basement door open, because our cat Arky won't come upstairs, or let himself be caught. He's been down there for a year now! I got him upstairs twice, and since then, he won't come up.) So, what do birds do? Besides singing, I mean. I keep finding more places the birds pooped all over the house. And mice. It's going to be a lot of work when we get back in!

  But enough of that. I said I'd show you my doll related Christmas gifts. Here's the first one. Ken bought me this cute pig ornament when we went shopping at Jungle Jim's, a huge store where they have everything, including foods from around the world.

 

    Ken also got me this Calico Critters Tea and Treats set.

I want real yard furniture like this.

  Since it's for Calico Critters it's more dollhouse sized than fashion doll sized. It fits Tammy World's brother, Gareth, quite well.

  Not too long ago I showed you some Smiskis. Ken got me three.

One of them was an adult and a baby Smiski.

They glow in the dark, and they do it much better than the Boo Berry he also got me.

Emma got me this Alice in Wonderland Tea Party set by Re-Ment.

  It's not the whole tea party. You buy it in pieces. I got the set with the rabbit.

She also got me a World's Smallest Scrabble. I already have two, but I didn't want to tell her that. Maybe I can trade one for a different game at some point.

And Emma also got me an actual working mini Rubik's Cube type puzzle.

And this mini mini golf set.

And in non doll related news, she also got me tickets to see an Alice in Wonderland ballet in February.

  Ivy was making something for me, but it isn't finished yet. But she brought me my other gifts: three Miniverse Make It Mini Food sets.

 

There were two pumpkin pie ones. Ivy didn't know they said what they were on the label. That's okay though. You can have two pumpkin pies.

There was also a coffee set. I'll pretend it's chocolate milk. I hate coffee.

The packages were decorated with Halloween things.

Oh, Emma also got me this mini box set, with mini labels and packing tape.

  The set of boxes comes from Temu, because I liked it when I saw it on there. I wouldn't buy it though, because it was one of those things I reacted to with, "I  could make something like that."

  My sister got me this cute tiny turtle, because, how cute is this guy?

  And of course you already saw the amazing hand made Pee Wee Herman doll my sister made for me, and the cool 11" Pee Wee doll that she bought for me, and the Muppet Christmas Carol Gonzo, and the Made to Move Barbie Ken got for me. I am hoping to get back into our house sometime this month, but it's a race. Our windows are supposed to be installed on the 23rd. Yay!

Doll-A-Day 2023 #65: Bratz Flashback Minis Plus Totally Tiny

   Today's doll is a bunch. They're Bratz Flashback Minis.

  Have you seen these? I never liked Bratz dolls, but these are pretty cool. They have replicated the old Bratz dolls in mini form, right down to their original packaging! They're perfect little 1/6 scale, or Barbie sized miniatures. I was lucky enough to get the empty display box in a store recently. I say lucky because, as with many of the mini toys and blind bag toys displays, this box has some of the actual toys right on the box. That's them at the top of the picture above. You might want to check stores for the empties, because when the box comes in, it has these toys on it for display. When the box is empty, it's thrown out and a new box, (also complete with example toys), is put in it's place. I assume a lot of them go to employees, but you never know when you're going to be given the empty. Just ask.

  The toys come two to a blind pack, at a price of around $8. (You can still get the advent calendar on Amazon for $22. It includes 25 goodies. But be forewarned.  Five are the mini cosmetics, ten of them are the dolls, and ten are the boxes for the dolls- excuse me, the 'mini replica packages'. So really you're getting 15 things. But $22 is still a better price than for 15 things than the $8 for 2, as long as you get free shipping.) As the display box says, there are 24 to collect. The series includes individual dolls, (including one guy), a doll double pack of twins, a car, a styling head, a motorcycle, and make-up sets. And even more neat, since it's mini: the make-up is real. You can actually use the tiny make-up.

  But anyway, let's look at the stuff I got for free on the display box.

I ripped the display bit out of the display box so I didn't bring the whole thing into Emma's house. We bring enough stuff in here. The picture of the box above is a stock photo. This plastic shell full of toys tears off the box. It contains four toys: three dolls and a car.

The mini packages are replicas of the real thing. 

 The only difference is that the toys are hooked into the display box with plastic flaps that slide into the cardboard backing. (Unfortunately, they are taped on too.) To make them look exactly like the real packaging, those flaps need to be carefully cut off.

But look. They did even bother to make the back of the package too.

The packages are shaped just like the real things too. Some have the rounded edges and some are flat on the sides, depending on how the real thing was. Pretty well done.

And the packages do really open...but it's not easy without tearing them up. I don't think I'll try right now.

  Since I was never into Bratz dolls my favourite thing is the car.

  The other freebies I got on display boxes recently were these Totally Tiny ones.

Dollar Tree has these. This is the display box for the first series blind bags. 

The sample toys displayed on the box are a piece of toast and a pair of eggs, which are one piece. I've gotten two empty display boxes so far, so a couple of dolls can have free breakfast. As you can see there three sets of food, in the blind bags, available. But they really aren't much of a surprise, because it's easy to tell by feel what you're getting. The eggs and toast feel flat.

The taco and churro can be identified by the feel of the churros especially. And the cookie and macarons are the easiest, because those three stuck together macarons are pretty distinctive.

  So there you are. Freebies await you. Go forth and collect them. See you tomorrow for another doll.