our home made store

[Mommaof2]

Wanted to show off pics of my favorite "toy". I really wanted to buy one of those cool stores that double as a puppet theater.

http://www.childcraft.com/index_itmdtl.asp?GEN8=21063

But I couldn't justify the expense or permanent space. So I used a stool and shelf we had up in our attic. It was really inexpensive to put together, just adding some wooden bins, canvas bags, a scan gun and a shopping cart. I bought a store starter kit from Learning Resources that has a clerk apron, coupons, basket, etc - really cute. I set it up in the dining room so she could "go" to the store rather than having it right in the play room. It's been a big hit with her and her friends.



http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/19132.jpg


http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/19133.jpg

[parkersmama]

VERY cute!!! That is just adorable. You are very creative! That is really a great way to save some money and is quite flexible. Thanks for sharing! :)

[nigele]

What a great idea!

[Joshuasmommy]

That is adorable! How creative of you and I think it looks as good as the expensive one.

[new_mommy25]

Wow, good job mama! The store looks awesome and you won't be stuck with a big piece of equipment a few years down the line. I also LOVE the color of your walls :)

[redhookmom]

What a good Mama keeping her baby from getting wet. Your store looks like lots of fun.

[Mommaof2]

I LOVE Learning Resource, they have the best cash register I want to get for her next Christmas. But for this year we started with their scan gun. It was my husband's favorite part of doing our wedding and baby registry so I figured it would be a big hit with a 2.5 yr old. She scans everything! Then must have just had a price increase because I only paid $10.50

http://www.learningresouces.com/Product.pasp?txtCatalog=Toys&txtCategory=&txtProductID=2640

It's also where I got the store "starter" kit. Wearing the apron makes it seem so much more official. They sell them over the phone for $12.95

http://www.learningresouces.com/Product.pasp?txtCatalog=Toys&txtCategory=&txtProductID=2646

But the best discovery is their food! It's really great sizes, comes with the shopping basket. I highly recommend the sandwich set and picnic set. Between those two it was most of what we needed.

http://www.learningresouces.com/Product.pasp?txtCatalog=Toys&txtCategory=&txtProductID=7230

http://www.learningresouces.com/Product.pasp?txtCatalog=Toys&txtCategory=&txtProductID=7223

So if you have extra cash from presents and you're looking for a place to spend it to compliment your new play kitchen.... Learning Resources is offering free shipping for $50+ by Jan 31st. Code is FH0410

[Mommaof2]

LOL, we spent a fortune this year and her favorite gift by FAR is the $10 Dora umbrella :)

[jennifer_r]

Wow, I love the "store" you set up - I think it looks even better than the Childcraft version. My DD is only 4.5 months old now but I'll have to remember that for when she is bigger.

Kind of OT but, my DS who is now 15 (Years that is) absolutely loved playing store (when he was much younger ofcourse). I took him to the Please Touch Museum in Philly a few times when he was a toddler and I could not get him out of the store exhibit. They had a miniature store with carts, the kids would play at the register or do the shopping and they would then drop everything off at the pretend kitchen. That was probably the most popular exhibit there. One thing I will remember from that is they took ordinary food boxes (like you did) but then covered them in contact paper so they were alot sturdier and could wipe clean. Thought that was pretty good idea.

Anyway, here is the web info for the museum, incase anyone is interested. Glad to see that after 12 years they still have the supermarket and expanded it - they didn't have a bakery when we went there! Highly recommend the museum for anyone near Philly.


http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/exhibits.html#

Jennifer

Mom to:
Christopher 12/29/89
Adelaide 8/23/04

[Phoebe]

That is so sweet! I love the play store, but what really caught my eye is your wall color. That is a beautiful blue and looks so good with your carpet, floors and white built-in. Do you know the color name/manufacturer?

Phoebe,
Susan 4/01
David 6/03

[Mommaof2]

Thanks! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the oclors in our house. I swore I'd never live with a white wall again after not becoming a home owner until I was 30. LOTS of apartment white.

We renovated an older house and I put a website together but just realized I don't have the paint info on it. I'll have to pull it from my book but here are more pictures. Pre-decorations
http://www.roverlife.com/house/din2.htm

[Mommaof2]

Thank you! That's exactly where I got the idea. We live in Richmond, VA and have a really nice Children's Museum here. She loves the store. We've had the opportunity to go to a few other major cities over the past year and I have to say the nicest museum so far is the one in New Orleans. If you ever get the chance it's worth the trip.

[Phoebe]

Thanks for the link. Your home is gorgeous! What a great project.

Phoebe,
Susan 4/01
David 6/03

[Phoebe]

Angela, I pm'd you

Phoebe,
Susan 4/01
David 6/03

[jennifer_r]

What's the name of the one in New Orleans? We're not planning a trip there anytime soon but for future reference. We looooove New Orleans. Hey did you check out the aquarium when you were down there? I though it was one of the better ones I've been to.

Forgot to mention in my last post that The Please Touch Museum is a sister museum to the Franklin Institue if that is any indication of the quality of this place.

Also, your house is beautiful! We have a 1968 house that we loved for multiple reasons (great town, great schools, back of cul-de-sac, on 4 acres of land, etc.) but it needed a lot of work. We've been in the house for over 8 years now and we still haven't done everything. We're about to start the first of two big additions though - enlarging the master bedroom to make it more of a suite. It's great that you've been able to be so ambitious and get so much done in a relatively short time.

Jennifer

Mom to:
Christopher 12/29/89
Adelaide 8/23/04

[Mommaof2]

The one in NOLA is http://www.lcm.org/ VERY nice, really enjoyed it. My family lives there and they are in an organization with the one in Richmond so we get free admission with our Richmond membership. We did go to the aquarium too but within a week of visiting family in Texas and going to Sea World. So it wasn't as cool as Sea World, but really nice. My husband had never been and he didn't get to go to TX with us so he enjoyed it more than I did.

We love that my family is all there. We plan on going every year for Mardi Gras once we're out of the baby stage of life. The kids will love it and we'll have free babysitters for enjoying some of it alone.

I have a friend with kids the same age outside of Philly. So hopefully we'll get to that museum soon. We went to Sesame Street Place twice this summer and had an awesome time.

We are so lucky to have gotten so much done on our house when we did, it was totally great timing. Our good friend is an architech and was going through a lonely breakup so he worked with us a lot. My brother came and lived with us for 6 months before starting boot camp (being from LA he didn't want to join during cold months) and we didn't have kids! Now we have the screen porch to finish and it's sat for over 2 years. We will never move since we put so much of oursevles into it.