(ENDED) A horse is a horse, of course! Melissa & Doug review and GIVEAWAY

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED AND COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED
The winner is: #92 Snowflake07

My daughter loves animals.  Real, stuffed, in a book, on TV, it doesn’t matter, she truly loves all creatures great and small.

When I was contacted by Melissa & Doug before Christmas about a possible product review, I was pretty excited.  Melissa & Doug is known for their quality, unique educational toys for kids and I have long been a fan of their products.

From puzzles to puppets, plush to play food, magnetic activities, music and more, Melissa & Doug® is one of the leading designers and manufacturers of educational toys and children’s products. Started in 1988 in their garage, Melissa & Doug® has something for everyone, with nearly 1000 unique and exciting products for children of all ages!

These are toys that once your kids are done with them, you can consider saving them and handing them down do THEIR children.  They are timeless and durable.

Melissa & Doug provided me with the opportunity to review one of their great toys, their stuffed Horse and in addition to that, helped make Abby’s Christmas one to remember!

Horseplay is lots more fun when you have a realistic horse ready to play! Almost four feet tall, this gentle brown horse has a blaze on its forehead and four white stockings. Attention to detail and excellent quality construction make this horse stand out from the herd!

Dimensions: 43″ x 35″ x 12″ Assembled

Recommended Ages: 3+ years

The Melissa & Doug Horse is plush and soft, yet sturdy and durable at the same time.  He has a sense of realism about him, in fact, for the first week after Christmas, my husband and I both kept getting startled by it.

The quality of construction is apparent, especially with the beatings this guy takes from both my kids.  They ride him, they knock him down and hug him, and he seems just as new as the day he arrived.  We set the horse next to the couch so Abby can get on and off him herself, and she will sit on him and watch TV or eat breakfast.

I forgot to mention that our horse has a name.  His name is Phil, after my husband’s uncle.  My kids like to name their animals and so we were running through a list of names and nothing jumped out at anyone.  I jokingly said “how about Phil” and Abby repeated, “Phil!” really loud like she agreed with me, so it stuck.

The Melissa & Doug stuffed Horse is recommended for ages 3+.  Abby is only 2 and as much as she loves ‘Phil’ already, I think the long-term play opportunities with him are just beginning.   As she grows, and her imagination expands, I am looking forward to the adventures she and ‘Phil’ will have along the way.

Check out some of the photos from Christmas morning:

Santa came!

I want to sit on it!!!! waaaaa! Someone help me!

Awwww!

Phil is the perfect size!

Riding with a friend.

GIVEAWAY

Melissa & Doug wants to give a lucky What’s That Smell? reader an opportunity to experience one of their great toys for your very own!

One winner will receive their choice of one of the three prizes shown below.

Fold & Go Stable

Fold & Go Princess Castle

Fold & Go Castle

How to enter:

Visit the Melissa & Doug website and check out each of the three “Fold & Go” toys shown above.  Come back here and tell us which one you would chose if you won.

Earn extra entries:

Tweet the following or something similar (must include the link to this post):

Melissa & Doug Fold & Go Castle or Stable giveaway from @whatsthatsmell ends 2/8 ENTER HERE: http://bit.ly/7YdMYy

You may Tweet once per day, leave a separate comment for each Tweet and include a link to the Tweet (click the time of the Tweet for the link)

Giveaway ends on February 8, 2010 at noon Central time and is open to the USA.  Winner will be chosen by random.org and will be contacted by email but must respond within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen.