Have you ever walked in the door of a brand new store, full of anticipation and excitement, slightly holding your breath as you cross the threshold? That was our toddler daughters the day we visited Brilliant Sky Toys and Books in Austin one recent weekend. After staring at all the items in the large display window for about a minute, they literally stopped two feet inside the door to check out the toy display in the corner. And thus began our amazing visit at Brilliant Sky and its wonderful world of toys.
The Store
Brilliant Sky Toys and Books was founded in 2002 in Michigan with the goal of being the finest upscale specialty toy store in America. They have hit the nail on the head. We visited the store in Austin, Texas, located in the beautiful West Lake Hills on the west side of town. They had just finished decorating their windows for Halloween, and it went beyond inviting; it was enticing.
We met the store owner, Courtney, who is mom to a 3 year old, and as soon as I heard that, I knew that a mom-owned toy store was going to be the cool place to hang out, and I was right. She stocks her store with items that appeal to children from birth to 12/13 years of age, from jewelry to science to dinosaurs to bikes and more.
She also hosts a story time every Monday with books, singing and arts and crafts, and every Tuesday, she presents Mr. Will, who does live music and story time. Seriously, this is the cool place to hang out.
The Contents
Courtney explained that Brilliant Sky Toys and Books provides the highest quality products to give children the best opportunity for physical, emotional and cognitive development. And fun! Each store is unique, but each store has a play area where kids can do what they do best: test out the toys. In fact, our girls bounced around on a Rody for almost the entire time. Until Leelou discovered the PlasmaCar, and she rode that all over the store. It’s a really relaxed environment, where you can let your kids run around, make noise, play with toys, read books, and never worry that others will be staring at you. They will only be encouraging you.
In fact, Courtney and our girls became fast friends, as Courtney taught them both how to play Kooba, a new kind of dart game, that our toddlers loved. Although intended for older kids, Courtney caringly guided them as they desperately wanted to play it. And they walked away feeling successful!
Brilliance Award Winners
Five years ago, Brilliant Sky Toys and Books decided to start looking through 10,000 kids products on their shelves and pick a few favorites, dubbing them the Brilliance Awards. This year’s list features 10 products that are surprisingly low-tech, based on quality, value and open-ended play, and the beauty of a child’s fascination and delight. Did we check out the winners while at Brilliant Sky Toys? Oh, you bet we did!
- Squigz Starter Set ($24.99) – PUSH together and POP apart these cute little suckers for hours of creative building play! From Fat Brain, Squigz will stick to virtually any flat surface using “suction” construction.
- Plus-Plus Mini-Basic ($29.99) – Plus-Plus building bricks allow kids as young as 3 to create mosaics or 3-D designs but joining two plus signs with endless possibilities. The Mini-Basic contains 480 bricks.
- Lottie Dolls ($19.99) – This 7.5″ doll from Arklu is flexible, poseable and can stand on her own two feet. Lottie comes in several other varieties and Arklu makes great accessories and pets to add as well.
- Doodle Quest ($24.99) – In this unique drawing game from Blue Orange Games, players complete a specific drawing on a transparent sheet without tracing so it fits into the scene.
- Create Your Own Storybook ($19.99) – Let your child be the author of their very own storybook from Creatively Ever After! Markers, simple instructions, and plenty of writing and drawing forms are enclosed along with a postage-paid envelope to send in their story to be bound.
- Super Stadium Baseball Game ($39.99) – The unique magnetized infield from International Playthings creates ball movement when the pitches are thrown in this must have pinball style game.
- LoopDeLoom ($29.99) – This ingenious new loom from Ann Williams has spinning pegs that make weaving simple, fast and fun. Easily make scarves, purses, cuff bracelets, headbands, cell phone and tablet cases, hand warmers and more.
- Sew Cute Sets ($9.99) – A kid-safe needle, pre-cut patterns and easy-to-follow instructions from My Studiogirl spell success for first time sewers.
- Illustrated Adventure Stories and Illustrated Fairy Tales ($19.99) – Classic stories are beautifully illustrated in these volumes from Usborne Publishing.
- Paint Your Own Porcelain Bowls ($24.99) – Kids get to paint and oven-bake their own one-of-a-kind creations with this great art set from Mindware.
Learn More
Find out about the wonder that is Brilliant Sky Toys and Books on their website, and find a location near you for the fantastic shopping. Each store has its own unique Facebook page with deals, coupons, sales and event information. Discover, experience, explore, interact, and enjoy. That’s the Brilliant Sky way, and it’s the way to play.
THE GIVEAWAY
The best part of the entire trip (other than our daughters’ laughs and giggles), is that we now get to offer a giveaway of one of these Brilliance Award Winners to YOU!
For Home on Deranged readers age 18+in the U.S., we are offering a giveaway of a Winner’s Choice of any ONE item in the Brilliance Award Winners listed above! Enter the Giveaway Tools entry below and get ready to enter the Brilliant Sky Toys & Books wonderful world of toys!
Home on Deranged and The Noise of Boys are highly recommending Brilliant Sky Toys and Books and its Brilliance Award Winners for all your Holiday Gift Guide Needs! #2014HOTHolidayGifts
The post Brilliant Sky Toys Brilliance Award winners toy giveaway appeared first on Home on Deranged.
