When we go to my parents’ house to visit, we walk in the door and Little Miss immediately starts requesting to “watch videos.” My dad works in his home office and to keep her busy one day, he played some YouTube videos on his computer while he worked. Well it only took about 30 seconds for her to get hooked.
Little Misses favorites are, FunToyzCollector, Disney Cars Toy Club and Rosanna Pansino. Warning: DO NOT go to these YouTube pages if your kids are in the room unless you want your future to be full of demands to make Play Doh dresses or Unikitty Snickers pops!
The majority of these channels specialize in videos of people’s hands, opening toys and talking about them. The ones that Little Miss finds the most appealing are the ones where people open “blind bags,” which contain teeny tiny, or as I said and now Little Miss calls them, microscopic mystery toys. We have had My Little Pony blind bags, Mickey Mouse bling bags, Kinder Eggs, Lego and Littlest Pet Shop blind bags, all of which have been a big hit.
The good thing about these things is that they tend to be relatively cheap, around $2 or $3 each. The bad thing is, thanks to these YouTube shenanigans, no stores have them in stock for very long.
I am not one of those parents who goes crazy over Easter baskets. I am a fan of the bunny dropping off some candy, because one day of sweets can’t kill you, an Easter book and maybe a few trinkets. Mr. Man was easy to shop for this year. He will be getting some snacks, two tiny board books, a ball that lights up and some new pacifiers. Little Miss, however, is proving to be a problem.
All she ever talks about is “squishy ponies.” These My Little Pony Fashems, as they are actually called, are little rubbery ponies that come in a pink capsule so you don’t know which one you get until you open it. She also likes Shopkins, which are teeny tiny food or household items with faces. You get two mystery characters in a tiny shopping basket for about $3. I, as an adult, do know understand the appeal of these things. I get the fun of the mystery, but lets face it. Shopkins are ridiculous.
Apparently every kid on the planet wants these things though, because this Easter Bunny can’t find them anywhere. Everywhere I go, they tell me they sell out the day they get them. So with three-ish weeks left until Easter, I have become that parent. I did this before, looking for an Elsa doll the Christmas before last, and now I am on the hunt for microscopic choking hazards for Little Miss to play with during Mr. Man’s nap.
Thank you YouTube. I am thrilled to be wasting my time going from store to store to find these silly items. And while I’m at it, thank you for making my daughter convinced that I am able to make a cake with a Barbie sticking out of it, or build elaborate cake pops with twelve different types of candy, melted chocolate and fondant sculptures attached to them. I hate you YouTube.