A Few of My Favorite (Kid) Things and Giveaway!: Oompa Toys

As nice as it would be to say that I buy all of the toys for my children locally, it's just not possible. We do have a variety of nice toy stores nearby and even one in our neighborhood, but even combined they do not offer the outstanding selection of quality products that I've always been able to find at Oompa Toys.

We first shopped at Oompa Toys for Nadia's first birthday which falls a little over two weeks before Christmas. I created a little wishlist on the Oompa Toys' site, and sent it to her grandparents and aunts and uncles. It was super simple to set up and was such an easy way to share some ideas about the kinds of toys that she was interested in at the time. It was also a gentle way to steer the grandparents away from the shiny, noisy, plastic toys that they just can't seem to stay away from. Nadia received some great toys from her wishlist like a wooden ring stacker and a wooden push toy from Selecta, and she still plays with them now, nearly two years later. Her play has changed, and now instead of stacking the rings, she serves them to me as food and uses the push toy as a vacuum, but very few of the other toys that she received that year are still in the rotation.

While the toy selection at Oompa Toys is great, they are also have some cool stuff for your back-to-school needs as well. They carry the great Little Kid Backpacks from Dante Beatrix that I reviewed last week. These are perfect for the preschool set, but Oompa Toys also carrys the Eco line of Dante Beatrix backpacks designed for school-age kids. You can also find a variety of other back-to-school gear at Oompa Toys like lunch boxes, lunch bags, pencil cases and art and writing supplies from designers including Pooki and Co., Crocodile Creek, Mimi the Sardine (which is manufactured in San Francisco,) and Allerhand, which is exclusive to Oompa Toys. Like all of the toys and games that we've ever purchased at Oompa Toys, you can expect that the back-to-school gear will be high quality and designed to last beyond one year of use.

Oompa Toys' website mentions that the entrepreneur behind the store, Milanie Cleere, strives to make sure that not only are all the products that Oompa Toys safe, natural and well-made, but that they come from companies that provide safe and humane working conditions for the adults working for them, and none of the companies would ever use child-labor. She also strives to achieve 100% customer satisfaction. I can definitely speak to the customer satisfaction issue myself. Last Christmas we purchased a toy refrigerator from Oompa Toys. After some Christmas Eve drama, my husband finally got it assembled, only to discover that the craftsmanship was sub-par, especially considering how much we paid for it. The pieces didn't line up correctly, the hinges were just silly, etc. We contacted Oompa Toys, and with no questions asked, they refunded our entire purchase price. We also didn't have to mess around with sending the refrigerator back to them, either. I was incredibly impressed with their quick response and desire to make sure that we were 100% satisfied. It's nice to know that you can get this sort of reliable service from an online store.

So, whether your're shopping for quality toys or looking for some last minute back-to-school necessities, Oompa Toys has what you need. They offer great customer service, a high-quality selection from companies who care about their workers, and competitive prices. This is a store we will continue to shop from, and that I definitely believe you should check out.

Want to win your choice of Dante Beatrix backpack from Oompa Toys? Simply go to the Oompa Toys website and check out their great back-to-school selection. Leave us a comment on the one item that you think would make your child's first day back to school a success and why. All entries must be received by midnight on Tuesday, September 2nd. Please only one entry per household and you must be 18 or older to win. We will choose one winner using random.org. Feel free to leave your email so that we can contact you when you win, but also know that we will be submitting winner info to Prizey Winners. The winner will receive their choice of Dante Beatrix backpack from the Oompa Toys site. Thanks for reading and good luck!