Remember when you were a kid, and your favorite stuffed animal was just that–a stuffed animal? And chances are, it was a bear.  Maybe, just maybe, if your parents were particularly creative and looked really hard to find something special, you may have had a puppy, kitten, or monkey. Well, let me just tell you:  your childhood was lame.

The modern era is all about multitasking.  With all of the many roles and responsibilities we take on, we need tools to maximize our time and make things easier.  No longer do we have a TV and a separate VCR.  Nope–we can record directly from the TV with a TiVo or DVR.  We can play video games and even watch movies from our gaming systems.  We no longer have phones and cell phones.  We have mobile devices that can be used for talk, text, photography, video, internet browsing, and more.  We have things to do, and we need them done quickly.  All-in-one devices and tools save today’s multitasker both time and money.

Just like their multitasking parents, kids today want toys that do more.  Hand Junior your beloved but ratty stuffed bear from 1979, and he is liable to ask you, “But what does it do?”  Poor Teddy McStuffins will be cast aside while your precocious Junior scampers off in search of toys that do something.

As Seen On TV toys have heeded the call of today’s complex, busy child.  Perhaps the trend began with Pillow Pets.  Sing with me now, “It’s a pillow.  It’s a pet.  It’s a Pillow Pet!”  The Pillow Pet solved an interesting problem for the busy child and parent who do not have time for clutter.  The Pillow Pet is a stuffed animal that converts to a plush pillow.  Unlike the limited stuffed offerings of your pitiful, unitasking childhood, Pillow Pets are available in a wide variety of shapes, including farm animals, zoo animals, sea creatures, sports mascots, and even licensed Disney characters.

The success of Pillow Pets has been so sensational that other infomercial toy makers are seeing the need for stuffed animals that do more.  Other 2-in-1 plush toys launched in the wake of the Pillow Pet phenomenon include:

• Happy Nappers:  2-in-1 stuffed animal and pillow; differs from Pillow Pets in that the pillowcase is actually a “home” for the animal
• Pawggles:  2-in-1 stuffed animal and slippers
• BlanKid Buddy:  4-in-1 stuffed animal, blanket, pillow, and backpack
• Cuddleuppets:  2-in-1 blanket and puppet
• Bottle Cuddler:  2-in-1 stuffed animal and bottle cover

These multitasking As Seen On TV stuffed animals allow you to do more with less, which is the goal of any multi-purpose product.  Relegate Teddy McStuffins to a place of nostalgia and get your kids a toy that does more.  After all, you don’t want some future blogger telling your kids how lame their childhood was,  now do you?

It is hard to believe that it has been nine years since the invention of a product that revolutionized children’s comfort and precipitated a spate of dual-purpose As Seen On TV products for kids.  What was the groundbreaking product launched in 2003?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrU-TWUA9Hw

Pillow Pets sold like crazy, becoming one of the most popular Christmas gifts in 2003.  As a stuffed animal/pillow combination, Pillow Pets appealed to kids’ love of cuddly things and it appealed to their parents’ desire to comfort their children without adding more clutter.  By serving as both a soft plush animal and a pillow, travel became easier, naptime became easier, TV time became easier.  A child playing with his favorite stuffed animal could take snuggling a step further by just falling asleep on it.

Since then, several other As Seen On TV products for children have followed the dual-purpose model of Pillow Pets:

• Happy Nappers – Unzips and reverses from a play pillow shaped like an animal’s home to a plush animal that resides within it.  For example, a castle reveals a dragon, a doghouse reveals a puppy, and an igloo reveals a penguin.
• Blankid Buddy – Blankid Buddies take the two-in-one animal/pillow idea to the next level.  Each Blankid Buddy is a backpack, blanket, pillow, and stuffed animal–a four-in-one cuddle companion that is ideal for travel.
• Pawggles – Pawggles differentiate themselves by breaking away from the pillow idea.  Rather, Pawggles (from “paws” plus “giggles”) are stuffed animals that convert to funny house slippers.

The newest As Seen On TV kids’ offering in the animal/bedtime genre is CuddleUppets.  A CuddleUppet is most similar to a Blankid Buddy in that both are animal/blanket combinations.  However, each CuddleUppets animal is a puppet rather than a regular stuffed animal.  In addition, CuddleUppets feature a large blanket measuring 28″ by 39″, big enough to wrap around your child.  A CuddleUppet can be used as a puppet alone, and it can be used while your child is swaddled in the blanket.   Even as your child sleeps, the CuddleUppet puppet head can be used much as any “lovey.”

CuddleUppets come in six styles and colors:

• Poodle (pink)
• Monkey (purple)
• Puppy (yellow)
• Crocodile (green)
• Elephant (blue)
• Bear (brown)

CuddleUppets features special quantity pricing; the more you buy, the more you save.  Because CuddleUppets are puppets and not mere stuffed animals, having the full menagerie can make for some fun puppet shows for your kids.

Stop “Mom, I’m Bored” with These As Seen on TV Toys and Games

Summer has finally arrived in full force, which means the kids are at home and the novelty of the first couple of weeks of freedom from school has worn off.  Cheers and laughter have been replaced by whines of “Mom, I’m bored!”  As heat reaches triple digits in some parts of the nation, the temperature outside is not the only thing approaching its boiling point.  Playing referee between squabbling kids and serving as entertainment coordinator for a pack of miniature hooligans has mom needing a break, too.

How do you keep your cool among soaring temperatures and soaring tempers?  With As Seen on TV games and toys, of course!  Infomercial toys are unique products that will entertain your kids and visiting neighbor kids who infiltrate your home, depleting it of snacks and leaving a path of destruction in your living room.  These innovative toys and games will capture the attention and imagination of children.  When doled out at intervals throughout the summer, these As Seen on TV toys will all but eliminate the summertime boredom refrain.  Below, we highlight some of our favorite picks for summertime fun.

As Seen on TV Toys to Beat the Heat

1. Big Squirt Water Toy – Spraying each other with water is the classic way to keep cool in the summer heat.  Big Squirt’s jet action allows users to squirt water up to 3o feet.  With sets ranging in size from 5 water toys to 250 water toys, you can entertain your own kids or the entire neighborhood.  Most importantly, you can keep them in your yard and out of your house.
2. Rocket Balloons – These As Seen on TV toys will get your kids outside as they race balloons and try to see whose Rocket Balloon can soar the highest, launch the farthest, or fly the fastest.  Great for outdoor use, Rocket Balloons are also safe for indoor use on days it’s just too hot to go out and play.
3. Dotza, Sprayza, Fuzzoodle, Glow Crazy, and other As Seen on TV arts and crafts – Let’s face it.  In the dog days of summer, going outside to play is just not an option.  The heat can be downright miserable and even dangerous, but with the kids in the house, everyone needs a little air-conditioned downtime.  Take a break and sip some cold iced tea while the kids quietly create one-of-a-kind art projects with unique markers like Dotza, glow-in-the-dark drawings with Glow Crazy, fuzzy bendable noodle creatures with Fuzzoodle, or kid-powered airbrush masterpieces with Sprayza.
4. Happy Nappers Play Pillow – No summer day is complete without a well-timed nap after a day of fun.  Make the transition from play time to rest time easy with the Happy Nappers Play Pillow.  Happy Nappers start as a pillow shaped like a pet’s home, but unzip to a cuddly animal friend.

All of these As Seen on TV toys and games can be purchased from your computer on SeenOnTVExpress.com and delivered right to your door, saving you from strapping the kids in the minivan and heading to the mall, with hoardes of other harried moms looking for air conditioned comfort.

With As Seen on TV toys from SeenOnTV Express, you really will be the coolest mom on the block.

Now that Halloween is over and November is here, retailers across the nation have already begun relentlessly pushing their Christmas merchandise.  For those of you ready to get your holiday shopping rolling and beat the Black Friday rush, I bring you the perfect gift idea.  I realize this is Way Back Wednesday, and you may be thinking that whatever fabulous gift I am about to reveal to you may no longer be available for your purchasing pleasure.  However, this magnificent, um, specimen is still on the market today.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present . . .

The Potty Putter:

“Just aim and shoot.  The ball.  Into the cup.”

Every family has a golf lover in the mix.  Now you can be the holiday hero by being the one who bestows the perfect gift upon that hard-to-please curmudgeon.  I mean, your family gathering just will not be complete without The Potty Putty.

Every so often, an infomercial gift will hit the airwaves that seems ridiculous but sells millions.  The Snuggie comes to mind (although I admit I was wrong to ever mock The Snuggie), as does Big Mouth Billy Bass (more on him later).  However, I don’t actually think The Potty Putter will ever make that list of smash-hit holiday gifts.

There really is a golf lover in every family, though, and Seen On TV Express has a great selection of golf gifts that won’t embarrass anyone on your gift list.

We’ve got a great new product for the kiddos.  It’s Pillow Pets (an iParenting Media Award Winner) which are a stuffed animal and pillow all rolled into one.  There are 14 different animals, including:

• Frog
• Lady Bug
• Cow
• Duck
• Dolphin
• Unicorn
• and several others

And great news if you have more than one kid you want to get a Pillow Pet – save 20% on each additional Pillow Pet (they have limited this to 5 at discount… sorry Octo-Mom)