What's New In December 2023
This month we're open every day until Christmas Day. Here are our holiday hours...
- Monday/Tuesday: 11am-2pm
- Wednesday-Friday: 10am-6pm
- Saturday: 10am-5pm
- Sunday: 11am-5pm
We expanded our book section! Check out our handsome shelf...
We also expanded our plush selection! Instead of having Douglas spill out all over our store we now have it contained in two towers.
Black Friday & Small Business Saturday
Happy Thanksgiving! I wish I had time to make a more detailed post, but here's the basics.
We're having massive sales on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and the following Sunday.
Here's what's on sale...
- All Board Games: Sales range from 10% to 50%
- All Jigsaw Puzzles: Sales range from 10% to 50%
- All Books: Sales range from 10% to 50%
- About 50 different toys are 33% to 66% off. More will be discounted as they sell.
What's New In October 2023
Too much is new. So much so that I've been procrastinating on making a new post. I hope to add pictures soon, but for now, here's a list of everything...
- As of today, new Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty in Large and Mini tins.
- Pokemon 151 trading card game sets arrived last week.
- New keychains and stickers, mostly from one of our Japanese and Korean distributors.
- New blind boxes including Japanese ones featuring cute animals and some Kirby & Mario ones.
- Screwball Scramble is on display. We have versions 1, 2, and the brand new vertical version.
- Farm sets plus a John Deere ride-on tractor and a John Deere balance bike.
- New soft dolls. They're very cute.
- Mad Mattr Bags, Pods, and Mini Packs. We'll be getting some deluxe sets before the holidays.
- A TON of new arts & crafts kits, including Diamond Dotz.
- The new Mushroom Airforts are in.
- Two Bros. Bow's new Juggling Sticks.
- New Wooden Puzzles by Creative Crafthouse. The Idiot Stick is also back in stock.
- A few STEM & Robitics Kits.
- A bunch of retro toys.
- Many many many many more things I don't know how to classify.
We placed a huge order for Douglas Plushies. We also plan on ordering books, additional plushies, squishies, fidgets, sea monkeys, lava lamps, and a whole mess of stocking stuffers this month.
We had our last outdoor event of the year at Heritage Farms last Sunday. Super fun!
Alton Mainstreet's 'First Fridays' are on. The next one will be on November 3rd. Always fun!
We have a semi-devoted clearance section. Toys are anywhere between 40-75% off.
The Toys for Tots bin is already in.
Uhh, that's off the top of my head. All right, I gotta get back to work!
~David
What's New in August 2023
First off, we now have a 3rd Toy Tower! We also restocked our squishy, fidget, and novelty toys.
We added two new makers to our "Made in Alton" collection!
Steph Plant is an Alton-based artist/author/musician and Montessori teacher. She wrote the children's book 'Slithering Snake' and also put out an album of children's music called 'Moth Wings & Other Things'. You can now buy them both at our store!
Evan Merli hails from Bethalto and has put out his first game entitled 'What's Your Excuse'. This party game is a ton of fun and takes less than a minute to teach. The reader draws a card with an accusatory statement, and then each other player has one minute to word-vomit an excuse. The reader then votes on which excuse is the best. Sage and I recently played the game with a group of four and it was a blast. We've got family visiting us this month, and I'm excited to play it again.
We've got a ton of new magnetic-based toys, including Mix & Match Animals, Mix & Match Cars, Magnetic Build-a-Car, Electro-Magnetic Experiment Kit, and a cool Magnetic Ring Game.
We restocked our Maisto Diecast! We've got all kinds of new 1:64 vehicles, some pullback monster trucks, and some nice looking motorcycles.
New Blue Q bags are in! We really like the new designs. We also brought in some of Blue Q's catnip pouches.
We've got a lot of orders on the horizon. This month we're expecting new stickers, keychains, tabletop games, blind boxes, and old-school wooden novelties. In September the new Pokemon Scarlet & Violet 151 sets drop (very excited). I'm also hoping to order massive amounts of plushies, books, and science kits.
~David
Closed Until Aug 9th
We're closed for the first week of August. We'll reopen Wednesday August 9th at 10am.
Funky Planet 2 Year Anniversary!
- Artisan cotton candy pop-up shop from 10-4 (or until sold out)
- Free concert and book reading with Steph Plant at 12pm
- Free kid's yoga with Stephanie Greenhalgh at 2pm
What's New in June 2023?
We've got a lot of new stuff, and a lot more on the way...
We just received a Quercetti shipment! This Italian brand might be the kings of marble-based toys. We've got a new Marble Run, a new Marble Race Set, and a new Marble Roller Coaster. We also got some unique artsy toys, and some super cool interactive baby toys...
And here are some other new things...
I just placed orders for some amazing looking tabletop action games, a bunch of new preschool toys, a ton of diecast vehicles (cars, trucks, tractors, jeeps, motorcycles), new creative buildings toys, and some new collectable figurines. I might have to make another post in a week.
We had our first Pokemon Trade & Play night last Friday. I learned a lot! It's a bit overstimulating to have battling and trading going on in the same corner of the store, so next time I'm going to have trading on one side of the store and battling on the other. Also, now that I know how to play the trading card game (shoutout to Theo) I can help teach it at the next event.
The Alton Night Market on Broadway started last week... and we have a booth! We've done 2 nights so far and they're a lot of fun. There are a ton of cute shops, live music, cool dogs to pet, and an all-around chill atmosphere. The Night Market takes place in the alleyway next to the Jacoby Arts Center every Thursday from June through July. Come check it out!
[Picture coming soon]
We're also going to have a booth at the Godfrey Family Fun Fest at Glazebrook Park! That's on the 4th of July. I'm excited to see some fireworks.
Last, WE'LL BE CLOSED WEDNESDAY JUNE 28TH for Clover's first Birthday. I've got family from Minnesota and New Jersey visiting us, and I want to make sure I can spend time with them.
~David
What's New in May 2023
As always, we have a bunch of new stuff in the store.
We now carry Hot Wings! Each die-cast aircraft also comes with a foam piece of runway. The runways connect together like a puzzle, so each time you buy one you get a bigger and bigger runway. We also sell runway expansion sets, and a big control tower.
Tons of board games are still on sale. We have about 20 titles at 25% off and 10 titles at 15% off. Most of them have only one copy left. A lot of the titles are strategy based, but there are a few family and kids games mixed in too. Some of them are 50% off of what you'll find on Amazon.
We've got a bunch of new arts & crafts. Some of the new arrivals include Diamond Dots, a variety of Macrame Kits, extremely cute DIY Miniature Houses, and Wooden Model Kits.
We've got some cool space-themed playsets. You can choose between a Rocket Ship, a Rover, or a Space Capsule.
Volleyball is back in the arcade cabinet. It's one of my favorite 2-Player games.
We also have a bunch of new keychains, stickers, squishy things, and old-school novelties I didn't take pictures of. We'll be getting a small Pokemon Card shipment soon too. We just placed a book order with Usborne and Kane Miller, so those should be arriving soon. Once we sell through some more old stock I'd like to once again expand the book section. You really can't have too many.
That's all for now!
~David
What's New in April 2023?
I skipped March so a lot is new.
Yesterday's post was an April Fool's joke. We still have the Playcade, and some new toys are being featured. We just got a PicassoTiles shipment so our mini tiles are on display...
We've got a Floating Bath Block Engineering Set...
We've still got the Rubber Band Guns on display...
And we've got a Dinosaur Gear Playset...
We have some new Glow in the Dark Track Sets. Each set comes with a battery operated vehicle that zooms around the flexible track. You can now choose between Dinosaur, Construction, or Racing sets. When people come in looking for a gift for a 3-5 year old we almost always suggest these. They never disappoint.
We have a Rocket Ship Tent on display...
We have a bunch of new wooden puzzles and playsets for preschoolers...
And we have a ton of new jigsaw puzzles for older kids and adults...
New Pokemon Scarlet & Violet boosters are in. We also have a bunch of deluxe sets.
We also have a lot of new Board Games and Books too. Tons of the old Board Games and Books are 25% off.
I really can't cover it all. There's a ton of other stuff like new plushies, NeeDoh, cap guns, playsets, diecast planes, baby and pre-school toys, and a bunch of other random stuff I'm forgetting. Come on in and check it out!
~David