Last week my family received a mysterious box on our doorstep. Hanukkah was over, our Amazon Subscribe and Save shipment wasn’t due for another week or two, I hadn’t ordered any T-shirts, and I was pretty sure my wife hadn’t ordered any new cookbooks. What could it be?!
And then I noticed the return address: it was Hasbro. A big old box from Hasbro delivered unsolicited (well mostly unsolicited) to my doorstep. I realized that my dreams, or one of them, had come true. It could only be one thing… new Star Wars toys!
My kids were first introduced to Star Wars when my parents finally made me haul all my old toys from their house. Scratch that. My dad sold all my Star Wars toys at a garage sale, something I will remember when I have to make life choices for him. My kids were first introduced to Star Wars when I bought some poor guy’s Star Wars toys from his mom at a garage sale this summer. After playing with the Millennium Falcon, AT-AT Walkers, and a TIE Fighter I picked up at the garage sale, they were hooked.
My son has seen all the movies (we did “machete order”, the only way to go) after my wife and I watched them again. We talked about what was appropriate for his age and what parts should be skipped. We decided he didn’t REALLY need to see Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen’s charred remains or Anakin going back to the Jedi Temple with sinister intent. I will always treasure the memory of my boy curled up with a Millennium Falcon toy, eyes wide, watching his first light saber battle. While my seven-year-old daughter refuses to watch the movies because they might have scary voices, she knows the stories better than I do through her voracious appetite for reading.
My four year old son received some foam noodle light sabers at a birthday party over the summer and my kids have run around whapping each other with them ever since. Do you know how adorable a two-year-old in a diaper is when wielding a foam noodle light saber?
The kids know John Williams’ masterpieces. They also know of Star Wars from Kids Place Live on Sirius XM and all the great kids’ musicians who have done awesome Star Wars songs. My two-year-old daughter hums John Williams’ opuses in the backseat as I smile up front. She recognizes Recess Monkey’s “Oh, Lando” (the newest Star Wars themed kid song- AWESOME!) and Weird Al’s “The Saga Begins” and tries to sing along in the cutest two-year-old voice possible.
My kids knew about the new movie coming and knew about the new toys too. Alas, Hanukkah came and went with nary a Star Wars toy in sight. They were, after all, perfectly happy with the few old toys and their foam light sabers.
Needless to say my kids and I were thrilled with the new toys and have been “pew, pewing” and [insert onomatopoeia for light saber sounds here] ever since. The toys are great. The kids love how the light sabers extend with a solid flick of the wrist. They enjoy zipping the Micromachine playsets around the room and then opening them up for complete scene play. Rey’s speeder and the Stormtrooper Snow Speeder are detailed and the springs in the blasters launch the shots a fair distance but not so hard as to elicit an “ouch” if someone is accidently hit with one.
I reflect fondly on my memories of playing with my Hoth World playset and other Star Wars toys as a kid and really enjoy making new ones with my children and these toys.
I can’t wait to see The Force Awakens with my son and, of course, my daughter too when she decides she’s ready. It is a saga based around family after all.
What follows is my family’s first-ever unboxing video.
*all items in this video were received as a promotional give-away by Hasbro and its representative. Any reviews and opinions are my own.
The force is strong with those two!
Enjoyed your unboxing post. I liked the concept and inspired to try this stuff with with my kids.
Loved this! This was fun to read and I am totally envious, I mean happy for you and the kids.
A more deserving family, there is none.
Great post!