Thursday, January 22, 2009

Ten Thousand Dollar Toys

There is a video game called "De Blob" - Ethan loves it, the premise of the game is that this imaginary world gets invaded by the evil "Inkies" who come down & steal all the colors. They suck up each color up in little "ink-bots" & the city is drab & gray. Until the hero of the game, the Blob - who conveniently enough is a blob of PAINT, comes to reclaim & repaint the city. He smashes the ink-bots, absorbs their color & off he goes to re-color the city & its inhabitants. Now, I am not here to promote this delightful game, but as I watched my son play this, I was horribly reminded of the Consumer Product Safety Commission - they are the INKIES!!! They have descended upon us/me with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act to suck out all the colorful, fun & handmade toys from our world.

I want to introduce you all to my new "Spring Line" of play food that will debut on Feb 10th if the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act is unchanged. This is a CPSIA-compliant set of fruit - made of course with UN-dyed, UN-treated organic cotton. Doesn't it look like FUN? Kids can just imagine the beautiful colors while they play Chef, Tea Party & Dress up. Order yours today!
Another seller on etsy.com, thetangledwoods fabulous item "ball of wool" is one of my new favorites!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19984444 .
These two toys are examples of the future of handmade toys available on etsy & at your nearest boutique.

Or if your blood is a little richer, you can purchase my Ham Sandwich Lunch set which has been unchanged, but due to exorbitant testing fees to make toys CPSIA-compliant, costs a mere $10,080. Yes you read it right that IS the cost for this Lunch Set. The new CPSIA law that will go into effect Feb. 10, 2009 will require that each store selling products for children under the age of 12 test each product in our shops for lead.

Each component will cost $70 and this Lunch Set has 24 components - 14 colors of felt, 8 colors of thread, poly fill stuffing & foam - each needing to be tested making the charge $1680. Add in the additional $350 per component for phthalates testing and that adds another $8400 making this Lunch Set that originally cost $35 to the grand total of $10080.00!!! Maybe Bill Gates can afford this toy?

So, my question is, where is our "Blob?" Who is going to come & color our world back to the beautiful fun place it used to be? If something is not done soon, if our voices are not heard this will be the future of our children's playtime as brilliantly illustrated by MiniMonster: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_1&listing_id=20057955

Forgive me for waxing political for a moment, but I hope for all our sakes that this law can be changed. The effects of this law will be more far-reaching in each of our lives than we realize.

1 comment:

Pam Christensen said...

Beck,
That is one expensive toy! It is so sad that it had come to this. Isn't it so ridiculous?!! As sad as it is, I laughed and laughed at your post, you have quite the sense of humor. I don't think the albino food is going to cut it. I hope things will change. As for me, your sister, I will continue to buy your darling toys. Love, Pam