As a dad who loves toys and who loves to share toys with my daughters (and my readers – can’t forget you) I was floored when I was asked to go to New York City this past Monday to be a part of the blogging Team that attended the Time to Play Magazine’s (@timetoplay) Time to Play 2011 Toy Fair.
Seeing that I have not attended many blogging events let alone a toy fair, I have to say that I did not know what to expect, but I was still very excited about the event itself and all of the fun new toys that I was sure to be introduced to.
Leading up to the event my anticipation mounted as I spoke with some blogging friends of mine Adam Cohen (@DadaRocks) and Drew Bettett (@BenSpark) and found out that they would be there along with Josh from @DadStreet and a number of mom bloggers that I had seen around the internet but did not know them much more than that (but now I do!). As I said I do not get to these events often and usually am confined to talking over the phone or via social networking so this was also going to be a treat.
The amazing people at Litzky PR treated me with utmost respect especially by Kaylie (@kayliegrace), she made every step of my trip amazing! I found out more about the trip itself and that I would be coming in the day before and meeting up with the blogging team. This was beyond my expectations and I was very excited to be sure!
Time to play, I came to find is an amazing company and website! They have amazing staff that go above and beyond to make toy buying easy for anyone. What they do best is get down to the basics with the toys and play with them like kids would so that they can share with their readers what the toys are really like and what their positive and negative aspects are. Their site (timetoplay.com) is amazing and so user friendly. In talking to the owners, they have so many great ideas about the future of the company, I know that I and I hope all of you will come to find that this will be your first step before purchasing any new toy!
The night before the event we all went out to dinner at a restaurant called Blue Smoke. It was amazing and I had the best Ribs that I have ever had in my life. If you are ever in New York City you should try this restaurant! We all had a great time getting to know each other and developing even stronger friendships.
Back to the reason I was going. I was going to see and experience the unveiling of the Time to Play’s Holiday 2011 Most Wanted Toys List. Every year Time to Play comes out with the top toys of the holiday season. Below I have linked to a video that unveils these toys to you.
The morning of the show itself was exciting, we got in a cab and went over to the Altman Building to experience the show itself. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was very well organized with a ton of great businesses. I started the day hanging out with my friend Drew from benspark.com , we started by learning more from Razor, Crayola and LEGO. I was amazed to find that there were so many new great toys on the market!
I could easily spend a long time today talking about all of the toys that I I learned about but I will be talking more about these in the following months as I review the toys and possibly even give some away as we prepare for the holidays!
After the show I had to catch my ride back to LaGuardia to fly back home. I was surprised to find that three great moms that I met at Time to Play were on my flight to Milwaukee and I got to sit by them on the plane as well. So thanks to @momstart, @OutnumberedMama & @RobynsWorld for making a long wait in the airport and on the plane enjoyable and I look forward to keeping in touch!
I had am amazing time and I have to say thank you SO much to a few people that made this happen. First to Adam Cohen (http://dadarocks.com) as he was the person that passed my name on to Time to Play and thus is the person that paved the way for me to have this experience. Second, thanks to Kaylie Nelson, a great PR Representative and a great person (and so organized!). She did an amazing job at balancing everything. I am completely hooked and know that I will be spending a lot more time on Time to Play Magazine’s Website and you should too! I made the video below to talk a little about my experiences…hope that you enjoy!
All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site’s Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.
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