Nibble Nibble Little Mouse, Who Is Nibbling On My House? $15,000 Gingerbread House.

The Edible Gingerbread Playhouse by Dylan's Candy Bar is one of the more outrageous gifts in this year's Neiman Marcus Christmas Book. The full-sized playhouse stands 6.6 feet tall by 5.25 feet wide and 4.1 feet deep.

It's handcrafted with 381 pounds of gingerbread and 517 pounds of icing and includes giant cookies, lollipops, gummies, mints, gumdrops, and a candy-encrusted roof. There's even a lollipop tree inside.

CEO and self-proclaimed Candy Queen Dylan Lauren (daughter of fashion legend Ralph Lauren) was inspired as a child when she watched the classic movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. With Dylan's Candy Bar locations throughout the nation, she's made all our dreams come true.

Edible Gingerbread Playhouse by Dylan's Candy Bar
Price $15,000.00

For all the delectable details, call 1.877.9NM.GIFT.

Toideloi Stackhouse - Modular Birch Plywood Dollhouses & Buildings.

Designed by Martijn van Tilburg for Toideloi, the Stackhouse is a series of modular building sets that can provide children with hours of play. Castles, Chalet, Villages and Skyscrapers can be easily built and rearranged from the various pieces which are all made from clear lacquered Eastern European Birch plywood. The rooms are large and spacious, measuring 14" x 14" (width and depth) and are 9.5" high. The house works great with 1:12 scale furniture.

Chalet:


Castle:

Village and Skyscraper:


Kids or parents can change the house by arranging and stacking the rooms, balconies and roofs into many unique structures. The Stackhouse is expandable; kids can bring along their rooms on play dates and build a mansion or build up a collection of rooms and roofs over time.







The stackhouses require no screws and have easy assembly. The walls of the rooms simply slide together. No tools required. Once put together the components are very stable. For longer term storage, the rooms can be disassembled in the same way.



Dutch Design. Made in the USA.



Toideloi is a small company specialized in well-crafted original toys. The Toideloi Stackhouse is designed by Dutch designer Martijn van Tilburg. Toideloi follows a philosophy of local manufacturing. The Stackhouse is manufactured in Kirkland, WA.

Build and buy your stackhouse here.

This Little Piggy Cried "Humanitarian" All the Way Home.

above: A philanthropic Piggy Bank set for children

Michigan-based Materious, in an effort to teach future generations about compassion and to help parents raise future humanitarians (Lord knows, we could use more), has designed a great-looking, fun and educational way to save money and turn your little ones into caring citizens.


above: the set shown in glossy pale pink (also available in white)

In an effort to teach their own child about compassion, kindness and caring, Stephanie and Bruce, the talented couple behind the design firm, came up with Piggy, a set of beautifully designed savings banks, in glossy white or pale pink, that nest together.

The larger “Momma” Piggy bank is for a child’s personal savings, and the smaller "Little Piggy" bank is for the child's charitable savings.





PIGGY FEATURES
* Hand-cast ceramic
* Set of banks: one ‘momma’ and one ‘baby’
* Modern, minimal design
* Glazed in pale pink or bright white
* Small pig nests with the large ‘momma’
* Removable bottom plugs on each
* Ships safely in fun “quote box”

The box in which the adorable nesting Piggies are packaged is covered with great quotes about compassion:


Quotes that embellish the box:
•If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. - The Dalai Lama
•We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill
•I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. - Maya Angelou
•It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. - Albert Einstein
•Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. - Mahatma Gandhi
•No one has ever become poor by giving. - Anne Frank
•Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival. - Dalai Lama
•A good heart is better than all the heads in the world. - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
•In separateness lies the world’s great misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength. - Buddha
•To care for anyone else enough to make their problems one’s own, is ever the beginning of one’s real ethical development. - Felix Adler
•The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

THE POWER OF PIGGY
This simple product, Piggy, can truly make the world a better and more compassionate place. Piggy helps teach kids about charitable giving, with the hopes of inspiring new generations of caring, sharing, philanthropic citizens. With 12,000 children born each day in the US, imagine the social impact if just a fraction of them learned powerful lessons of gratefulness and kindness to others.

USING PIGGY

Materious suggests that children learn to set aside 10% of their income to charity. Parents can discuss with their kids about who they would want to help most. When the baby bank is filled, a special event can be planned to deliver the money to the charity, or a trip to the bank and post office to mail a check.

The goal is to create positive feelings of doing good will make an indelible mark upon their character and place philanthropy as an important and intrinsic aspect of their life.


Buy the Piggy Nesting banks here (They donate 3% of the profits to charity)

For resources on possible charities, go to the 'Charity' tab of their site.
The designers want to know your own inspiring story, send it to them here.


above: Stephanie of Materious, with her inspiration.

Materious is also the company who brought us the fabulous Samurai Umbrella.

all images and info courtesy of Materious and special thanks to Stilsucht for bringing this to my attention.

Minjjoo's Small Door For A Big World.

The minjjoo children’s door is an interior door with an integrated small door. All three parts of the door – door leaf with built-in small door, doorframe and handle set (one for the small, one for the big door) – are available separately.



The minjjoo children’s door makes the little ones feel big. Via the small door children have access to their own room and their personal world…




This door can even be be painted upon. They have a waterproof white chalkboard-coating that can be drawn on or written on with chalks or water soluble markers which can easily be wiped off again with a wet cloth.



Suited for kids older than one and a half years, it's available in two sizes, each in versions opening either to the right or to the left.



You can order either only the door leaf or the leaf including frame and handles.

The door can simply be attached to an existing doorframe. You can also order a corresponding doorframe along with the door.

For installation of the door frame additional materials are required, which they do not provide. If in doubt, you should enquire with a professional.

Order the minjjoo door here.

Random Thoughts - Style from a childhood past

It's so much fun to look at photos of myself when I was younger.

I thoroughly enjoyed dressing up (much like now) and being in pictures (not so much). I grew up during the horrible fashion era that was the 90s, so it's hilarious to see the kinds of things I thought were cool back then.

I remember one of my favourite things to do was wear my hair in cornrows and put a ton of beads on the end. I would only be able to do this during the summer vacation as this style was not allowed during school time. I waited patiently for this time to arrive and when it did, I worked the hell out of those beads!

I know many mothers like their children to be as fashionable as possible but my mother let me wear what I wanted. That probably contributed to my constant inexplicable happiness and carefree demeanour in photographs. This unadulterated innocence only lasts for so long and being trendy shouldn't be something a child has to worry about.

Below are some of the "stylish" looks I sported as a kid.

The Activewear Ensemble

I don't mean to brag, but I did a masterful job of mixing clashing colours and prints here. Ah, well at least they both have boats on them. That has to count for something.


The Cocktail Dress

I felt like a Disney Princess in this one with the large puff sleeves. Look at those high ruffle socks!


The Summery Frock

Note the clashing orange, dark green and pink combination with matching socks and hair beads.


Classic jeans and tee

Check out the rips in the front of these hot baggy, faded jeans and the pom poms down the side.

As awful as some of these outfits were however, there is a lot that can be learnt from my younger self. Children have a sense of adventure and a fearlessness that many adults can only long for. That free spirited attitude is what I aim to recapture whenever I get dressed.

I don't wish to look like a fashion victim but I often throw on whatever I think looks good in the morning and, if need be, assess my outfits after I get dressed but never before.

I think spending too much time planning outfits can leave you looking a little too contrived and uninspired and I don't think that's not how any true lover of fashion wishes to look.