So, Princess Power was our latest Redbox rental. I get confused by these Barbie movies sometimes. The main character was Princess Kara. She gets kissed by a butterfly and develops superpowers and becomes a Superhero named Super Sparkle. The best part of the movie in my opinion are Kara’s two best friends, Madison and Makayla who help her out by making super cool tech gadgets. Kara has a jealous cousin who captures the butterfly and becomes Super Sparkle’s nemesis, Dark Sparkle. Eventually Dark Sparkle and Super Sparkle have to work together to fight against a real villain.
The movie was ok for a Barbie movie. I liked the fact that she was a Superhero and really did save the day a few times. The sparkle stuff was a little ridiculous and over the top though. There were some cute songs in the movie too.
Would I buy it? Probably not. I think a $1.50 Redbox rental was perfect and the most I’d be willing to spend. My girls definitely liked it though.
Usually for my youngest two (13 months apart), I have a small dinner for them with immediate family at either my house or a restaurant. They’ve never actually had a big birthday party with friends and extended family. I always feel guilty asking people to come to two separate parties and giving gifts, so I’ve always just done it this way.
I’ve been feeling bad lately though because my oldest had always had big parties for her birthdays. So, this year I wanted to do something different. I decided to do a joint birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.
The set up was relatively easy. I chose a Sunday because my oldest had a softball tournament that weekend. I was pleasantly surprised that Sunday birthday parties get an extra 100 tokens. That was nice. I also got an extra 20 tokens for using their hotline to call and arrange the party. I only booked a week in advance and was still given a time that was good for me. I was able to get a crown and a cape for each of the birthday girls, along with a cardboard cutout of a Princess with a place to put your face in for pictures, (I will post a pic of that). To have 2 birthday “stars” was only $4.99 extra. That was another pleasant surprise. I paid $14.99 each for 12 kids. This gave each kid pizza, a drink, a souvenir cup, and 30 tokens. I could’ve had a cake, but chose to bring my own cupcakes instead.
I also ordered 2 large pizzas and soft drinks for the adults. I should’ve ordered more because I ran out and had no idea, I wish the host would’ve let me know. My only real complaint was it was the host’s last day and I think she was saying a lot of goodbyes because she wasn’t around enough. We had to wait in line at the register multiple times for drinks, food, extra tokens, etc.
All total the cost was around $270 when you include the extra trips to the register for drinks and tokens. It was not bad at all and the kids had a great time. The birthday girls got to go in the ticket blaster machine and the videos from that were priceless. They also got to meet and dance with Chuck E Cheese which they enjoyed.
Would I book a party at Chuck E Cheese again? Probably. Not having to worry about cleaning up after 12 kids was wonderful! I really feel the service was only off because it was the host’s last day and I don’t blame Chuck E Cheese for that.
Here’s a video of my poor girls being lost in the Fun Tank (Ticket Blaster Machine). They had no idea what to do!
This is not one of my favorite Monster High purchases at all. I believe it was specially made for Target, but I bought it from Amazon. It comes with 5 characters: Scarah Screams (Secretary), Slo-Mo (President), Lagoona Blue (Vice President), Gilda Goldstag (Treasurer) and Cleo de Nile (Social Chair). I mostly purchased this set because my daughters love Slo-Mo and he’s really hard to find and my youngest saw Scarah Screams in the Monster High movie 13 Wishes and had been asking for her.
Pros: The set comes with 5 dolls and 3 of them are pretty hard to find sold by themselves.
Cons: This is going to be a long one: none of the dolls come with stands, brushes or diaries. The brushes I don’t mind (we have a ton of them!), but the stands are really nice to have. Sometimes my daughters just like to display their dolls and these all have to sit down when they make a “Set-Up.” Cleo and Gilda have really gross hair. It’s very stiff. My middle daughter calls it “Syrup Hair.” Lagoona’s hair is like that on one side, but is mostly soft. I don’t know why they have been doing that with shorter hair dolls, but I don’t like it all. Gilda’s hand fell off when I tried to get her out of the box and was difficult to get on. All of the dolls were pretty stiff, except for Slo-Mo who had a crazy wobbly head, which I didn’t like. Lastly, the set comes with 5 dolls, but only 4 cheering accessories. I didn’t get that either.
Would I buy again? NO. Even though I got dolls my daughters wanted with this set, it wasn’t worth the poor quality or the cost. These dolls are rarely played with by my daughters and I think it’s because of the hair and the poor quality.
If you’d like to see what I mean by “Syrup Hair” and the Slo-Mo’s wobbly head, check out this video:
Here’s my quick synopsis of this movie in my own words – Super smart kid named Hiro (graduated high school at 13) is bored with life, participates in illegal robot fighting and gambling. He lives with his older brother and aunt. His older brother introduces him to a super cool tech college and Hiro wants to get go there badly. There’s a big science fair type thing that Hiro goes to with his brother and his brother’s lovable friends. Hiro has a very cool project with microbots that catches everyone’s attention and he gets into the school. Some corporate guy tries to buy his tech and then tries to steal a piece of it. After denying the corporate guy, there’s a huge fire at the science fair. Everything is destroyed including the Professor and Hiro’s brother. Sniff:(
Hiro doesn’t enroll in school and mopes around all of the time. He stubs his toe one day and his brother’s invention Beymax ( a healthcare Robot) wakes up and notices Hiro is going through puberty and has unresolved grief issues. Beymax is adorable by the way. Beymax gets loose and Hiro chases him and finds out that someone has saved his microbots and is using them for something bad. The villain is in disguise and tries to hurt Hiro and Beymax. Now, Hiro is focused on revenge for the life of his brother. Beymax is still trying to heal Hiro from his grief and calls the brother’s friends to come and help. They all get chased by the villain and decide to use their super science skills to become superheroes and catch whoever stole the microbots and is responsible for the Professor and Hiro’s brother’s death.
Overall, this movie was really cute. It took a little bit of time to get into, but once I got into it, I was hooked. My main complaint was it made me cry quite a few times. Poor Hiro was already an orphan and then they killed off his brother!!! Beymax truly is the star of the movie. Boys and Girls alike will like this one. There is a lot of action and a lot of humor.
Would I buy it? Probably. I’m on my second Redbox rental right now.
Operetta is one of my favorite Monster High characters. She’s the daughter of the Phantom of the Opera and spends most of her time in the Catacombs. She’s got a Rockabilly kind of look which is pretty fun. She is a very strong character and not as boy crazy as some of the other ghouls. Basically, this is just the basic Operetta doll in fancier clothes for the Premier Party.
She comes with a stand, a hairbrush, a very cute purse, a camera and a VIM (Very Important Monster) Necklace.
Pros: Operetta looks great, cute outfit and adorable shoes. This is a well put together doll. If your child loves Monster High, he/she will have no complaints over this one.
Cons: Monster High dolls can be expensive and this is just the same doll as the normal Operetta, in a fancy outfit. Her makeup and hair are slightly different, but it’s really just a marketing ploy to get kids to want different versions of the same characters, instead of selling different outfits. I get it, but it can be a bit annoying. Packaging, as always, is annoying, although this was not as bad as some of the other dolls.
Would I buy again? Yes, but only because my girls are obsessed with Monster High. If they weren’t as heavily invested in the characters, I would save my money and buy a different character instead of the same character in different clothing.
Elissabat is the star of many famous Vampire “Boovies.” Draculaura is not her biggest fan because she says the boovies are not accurate as to what goes on in the real Vampire Court. This all goes down in the Monster High Movie Frights, Camera, Action! We have the movie and the chapter book (I recommend them both).
Elissabat the doll is very pretty. She is a high quality doll compared to some of the other Monster High Dolls I’ve opened. You can keep the backdrop that comes in the box for a setting for her. Her outfit is very cute and a little retro. She comes with a stand, a hairbrush, a “Boovie” Award and some sort of DVD/CD case with Lord Stoker on it.
Pros: A great doll, she looks very accurate to the movie, great outfit.
Cons: Monster High dolls can be a bit expensive and she is not an exception. Also, the packaging can be quite obnoxious as you can see in the video.
This is a gorgeous playset for your favorite Monster High ghouls to hang out in. It includes a photo backdrop, a VIP rope, a tall table and a chair. It also includes a VIP necklace, microphone and some assorted drinks.
Pros: It’s cute. The ghouls can sit in the chair, you may have to move them around a bit to keep them from falling. They need to be in perfect position. If you have the Monster High Dolls from Frights, Camera, Action! – your kids will have an absolute blast with it.
Cons: The rope falls a lot. I’ve had a hard time keeping it up myself. This can be really frustrating depending on the ages of your kids. The drinks fall very easily too and that can be a little irritating as well.
Would I buy again? Yes.
Here’s a video I made of the unboxing that shows everything you get. You’ll see some of my struggles in the video.