Calico Critters Help

[katydid1971]

DD loves to play with the Calico Critters at a local toys store and I was thinking they would make a nice gift from her grandparents. I was wondering what you think are necessary items. Obviously she needs a family but what else are must haves? I was looking at the houses on Amazon and they get mixed reviews plus they are pretty expensive, are they worth the money or are there other choices you think are better? Do you have favorite play sets? And most importantly, how popular have Calico Critters been at your house? Are they played with and loved or just collected and looked at occasionally?
Thanks for your feed back!!!

[Seitvonzu]

last christmas (really last nov) dd (2y11m at the time) got the manor house (yes, the big huge mansion) and about 9 rooms of furniture, a family, and a couple of the more random accessory sets. this was all from my inlaws. they have a need every year to give a "big" present-- and my child's bday is 2 days before christmas-- so, eh! we went BIG. i didn't mean for my MIL to buy ALL the furniture sets, i was just giving suggestions-- but.... well, i sorta knew she'd buy them all.

on top of that-- we bought her the green car ( i couldn't resist when i saw it at a local toy store). her best friend gave her the hedgehog family for her birthday (a month after she got the house) and there have been odds and ends since then ....the dentist set for her first dentist appt (so she actually got that BEFORE getting the dollhouse), the "teacup ride," the bunny grandparents that were about to be retired (for easter), some playsets,etc.

long story, less long, we have TONS. i recently picked up 3 playsets at toysRus because they were buy 2, get 1. dd picked out the tent set, she ALWAYS asks me for the bunny with the ballet outfits, and i picked the sparky/melanie playdate set (it was really cute to me). then the other day i went completely nutso and bought the new motorcycle. this is all for christmas/birthday...i also am really liking the new penguin triplets and the deer family. and on another thread in bargains i've admitted that i reallyreally would like to use the b&n 40% coupon to pick up the townhouse.

that all said-- what does she seem to particularly like when she plays with it at the toy store? our local toy store has the townhouse. i almost wish we'd gotten that, and less funiture (at least to start). the townhouse has a staircase that moves (the manor house does NOT have a staircase...as an adult, this can bother ME if i think about it too much...it does NOT bother my 3.75 year old...yet). the townhouse is smallish (the manorhouse is NOT). the townhouse has two workable lights (lightswitches vs. the chandelier which you basically have to TAKE DOWN to operate in the manor house). it has an expandable floor thing, so you can play with furniture "outside" where it's easier to manipulate.

our dollhouse is beautiful, but i think the other one has an "edge" in some respects, and it's cheaper! less rooms = less pieces = less overwhelming (for kiddo and mommy picking up). less anxiety when your child decides she wants to play with the house on the ground and the whole thing goes CRASHING DOWN to the floor and your thinking "great, i hope she didn't just break that because ILs are coming in a month." (can you guess what happened at our house today while DH was on the phone with aforementioned ILs? ;))

other favorites-- the dentist set (this might be retired or retiring? my local toy store was out and made a comment that they wouldn't be getting it back... my child sat for 30 minutes the other day with the chair/tools and pretend to be "dentist lucy checking for cabities"--5 of the 6 babies she checked had them! ack!)), the CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this combined with the loving family minivan my mother gave her takes the calico critters/loving family all around our house...to grandma's, to hotels, etcetc), and babies-- lucy LOVES the babies. i don't think we could possibly have enough of those tiny little critter babies :) i love them too, but i don't like that she figured out how to get their little clothes off (because i haven't figured out how to tie them back on!). oh, and don't bother trying to keep their clothes on.....off they come! and even though my child is super good at clothes....she has trouble with these and they are delicate.


but does she play with this stuff? yes. she does. she'd rather we play with it with her...but she'll do it by herself too. i was worried that she would when she got it because having so much was overwhelming...but she does. (we took lots of the little accessories and but them away...it's still too much, but it's less than if we had EVERYTHING out)

[Seitvonzu]

i wanted to mention one last thing about the "houses"-- they have a very small house that comes with very little furniture. my friend just bought it for her daughter and has told me that she really enjoys it (but possibly she would like more people because it only came with one bunny...in some of the ads it looks like it has a whole family, so you have to be careful)


another option might be this:
http://www.liveandlearn.com/shop/calico-critters/calico-critters-oakwood-home/

that is new this year, and cheaper than the bigger houses (deluxe and manor)...still for that price, i'd probably go a little higher and get the townhouse...i think that's 79.95 at my local toy store. if you could snag it at b&n with the coupon i posted in the bargains thread -- the townhouse gets to under $50 (so the cozy cottage price) -- but you'd need to do that by tomorrow because the coupon will expire (and i'm not sure if every barnes and noble has the calico stuff-- ours also had a car in stock, so that would be another great way to use the coupon-- 27 if you're a member, otherwise 30...so same price as the toysrus red car, but it comes with THREE critters! it's really cute/fun)

[katydid1971]

I was looking at the Oakwood House today at the toy store, I liked that it wasn't super big. I will try and get a look at the Town House soon. This is going to be a gift from my MIL who always wants to give a "big gift" but doesn't want to spend more than $50 :shrug: I can guilt her into buying one of these houses though. I think I'm going to have the aunties give families and babies. I think I'll pick up a room or two a furniture. I was looking at the car online, its so cute I might have to go see if my B&N has that deal ;) I don't want to go over board, I have in the past and like you said they get over whelmed. I like that this is a set that can grow over time and from the reviews I've seen, it seems to have some longevity.

[Seitvonzu]

i definitely thought it would be more of a "collection" in the sense of something lu could "collect over time." then my mother in law came with a million things....and then of course i couldn't resist somethings....etcetc.

it snowballed :)

but i do think it has longevity. my neice who is 9 still likes her calico critters but it's more of a collection now, than something she plays with. i'd assume it really depends on the kid.

you could get the townhouse at b&n tomorrow, if they had it, for right around 50 dollars (with the 40% coupon). it might be a little less "open" than the oakwood house, but maybe not. i'm really tempted by it myself (trying to remind myself to NOT GET CARRIED AWAY!!!)

[katydid1971]

I just went to the BN website and it said everything I checked was "out of stock" so I'm thinking that my store doesn't carry Calico Critters. I don't go there very often (mostly when my dad is in town, he LOVES B&N) but I don't think I have seen them there. DD plays with them at a small independent toy store in the neighborhood. They often have 15% and 20% off coupons not 40% but better than nothing. I was looking at the camper online and it is soooo cute!!! But I'm going to try and restrain myself and let this be something MIL gets DD.

[wellyes]

DD was nuts about them at a small toy store, but when I bought some,they just got mixed in with the other dolls and toys for general play. No regrets in buying them but - I think the toy store experience was so special because it was on its own special table all together, more than the specific value of these playsets over little people, play mobile, legoes, squiggles, or any other set of toys.

[Seitvonzu]

to add to what Wellyes shared-- i do think a big part of our dollhouse getting so much attention is that we have it up on it's own table. because we got the manor house, we didn't opt for the special calico critters table (that's what they have the townhome on at the local toy store and it works well). we have it on a LACK coffee table from IKEA that i had already bought for the playroom. even with it being LONG-- it still barely fits the manor-- that thing is HUGE.

so you know how my kiddo pulled the whole thing over yesterday? well, it's taking a break sans furniture in our bedroom (no where else to put such a HUGE thing). the LACK table is now being used for some random playmobil play.... so that's a nice switch. i think the playmobil people can fit nicely in the calico critters house, but the calico critters are a little big for the playmobil (they wouldn't "fit" the house furniture, for example)-- we can use our pavillion and church with the critters....but they are definitely a larger "scale"

oh-- and the camper is ADORABLE! we get a 20% birthday coupon in december and i've considered that (esp since i already caved on the motorcycle ;)) . i like that it's self-contained and both house/transportation. i can see that getting TONS of play at our house :) it's a great compromise unless you really had your heart set on a "house" :)

[katydid1971]

She has the M&D princess castle that she got for her birthday. Right now the little disney princess reign in it but at first I was thinking that I could have the CC live there too. But once I started looking at the furniture I really wanted a house to fill with furniture :bag plus I think MIL would like to get her something like the house because she wants to get her a "big gift"