It’s been a while since I updated this site. With all the hubub of the holidays, life got hectic!

I made a couple of decisions about buying toys this year.

• I promised myself that I wouldn’t go overboard on quantity
• I promised myself that I wouldn’t purchase toys made in China.
• I promised myself that I would recycle by purchasing used toys.

I don’t think I went overboard on quantity. I tried to buy things that were fun to open.

I only outright purchased ONE toy made in China from a store. I didn’t even think about it as I bought it. After I got in the car, I realized what happened. KBToys does not allow you to return sale items so I was stuck with it.

I bought my daughter hats off Ebay for a dollar each (she loves them!). I bought handmade toys.

All in all, I’m proud of how I did this year. I’ll admit it was hard to walk through the store and see all these neat toys I knew my kids would love and then pass them by because they were made in China. But it really opened my eyes to our purchasing practices — and I deprived the manufacturers of my hard earned money.

Added to the blogroll:

• Healthy Toys – http://www.healthytoys.org/
• Toy Industry Association – http://www.toyassociation.org

Created new page:

• Close But Not 100% – this is a listing of manufacturers or companies who sell toys made in China but also manufacturered elsewhere. Buyer beware – check labels!

The Daily Green compiled a rather comprehensive list of toys made in the USA that are lead free.  Check it out.

To compile this list, The Daily Green started with “Made-in-the-USA” toy lists from specialty toy Web sites and toy stores. If “Made-in-the-USA” was not clearly articulated on each recommended manufacturer’s Web site, we contacted the company directly. The list relies on the information provided by individual toy companies, their distributors and public relations representatives.

• Zome Tool Toys
• Rosie Hippos – Made in the Americas
• Rosie Hippos – Made in EU

Not added to the list but worth checking out:

Nico & Zoe – they state that 1/3 of their products come from China but are clearly labeled as such on the product pages.

A Note about China made toys:

We carry a variety of toys – about 1/3 US made, 1/3 European made and 1/3 China manufactured. We trust all of the toys that we carry to be safe for your children – our kids play with our toys! All of our products list where they are made and manufactured because we knew this information is important to you. Thank you for your added support for US made toys and handmade toys, and we will continue to explore and offer this line as we find them.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx

Sign up to receive recall alerts via e-mail. Choices include:

• All CPSC press releases and recalls, the Public Calendar, and CPSR notification (list name: all)
• All CPSC press releases, including recalls (list name: releases)
• All recalls only (list name: recalls)
• CPSC Public Calendar only (list name: calendar)
• Notification that a new issue of the Consumer Product Safety Review (CPSR) is published (list name: cpsr)
• Only those recalls involving infant/child products (list name: child)
• Only those recalls involving products used for sports & recreation (list name: recreation)
• Only those recalls involving products used outdoors (list name: outdoor)
• Only those recalls involving household products (list name: household)
• Only those recalls involving specialty products (list name: specialty)

Little Tykes is a very well known brand in the USA. While not all of their toys are manufactured in the USA, they have a good amount that are.

Click to see all their toys made in the USA.

Here’s a very, very short list of toys NOT made in China. Comment with websites you’d like to see added to the list!

• Sandy’s Store – American Made Toys
• Crayola Crayons
• Channel Craft – Toys, Games & Puzzles
• Beka Children’s Toys
• Bamboletta Handmade Dolls
• Imagiplay
• Maple Woodcraft Toys and Games
• Natural Pod
• Storyboard Toys
• Uncle Goose Toys
• Vermont Teddy Bear
• Whittle Shortline Railroad
• Zebulon USA Toys