lisandrea's Full Review: Large Soft-Sided Toy organizer
I purchased two of these toy boxes (15"L x 24"W x 15"H) expecting them to be helpful in my son's room for his abundance of toys. I thought with two compartments and a removable bag/basket, that it would be practical & fun. Side pockets, an additional "playmat" and a cool royal blue color all appealed to me, and reviews at BabyCenter.com and here at epinions were all positive.
Boooooo Hissss!
This was such a disappointment that I am selling both on eBay ASAP.
1) The image shown on Babycenter was royal blue--also seen in the accompanying image with this epinions listing. Both of my boxes came with a royal blue image on the front, as well. Was I ever shocked to pull out two TURQUOISE toy organizers! Yikes! That wasn't quite as subtle as I was hoping for & had sort of an 80's fashion style appearance to it. Ugh.
2) Yes, these do collapse to an amazingly thin and portable size, but why would you ever want to collapse them once they've been assembled, if they are being used as designed, for holding toys? I mean, where would you put all of the contents? So, it never made sense to me to collapse them to take with us to, say, Grandma & Grandpa's place, toss in a car or airplane... The fact is, toy boxes are meant for being FILLED with toys, am I right? Handles on the side do make transporting the organizer from one room to another a cinch, though (Whoa! A pro!)
3) There is a removable bag with two stiffer sides and a flat bottom and two handles. I was sure this would be my favorite part because I could run around the house with the bag retrieving misplaced toys from underfoot. However, the bag is only that--a bag. The two stiffer sides just fall in on the bag every time you put it down--and if there are no contents, then it's just a sloppy and floppy bag not sure whether it wants to be open or closed. I filled ours with alphabet and building blocks, then placed it back inside the toy organizer--but once the sides fell in on themselves it just looked unkempt and sloppy. Sure, it held the blocks, but it didn't invite you to take them out to play, because it was essentially closed off to any visual connection of what's inside. Also, if we did lift the blocks out to carry them to another room, it wasn't like we could toss them by the handful back into their container! We had to HOLD it OPEN in order to PUT the blocks back in. This isn't a practical use of time, in my e-pinion.
4) There are mesh (red) pockets on the sides--and these are VERY tight to the box--you can put trading cards in there, I suppose, or some very small character toys-but most of what would fit in these tight pockets would be smaller items, that are choking hazards for my 1 year old, so not kept at her reachable level. Nothing that both children can share will fit in these mesh pockets. The advertising image shows one book in each pocket. Right. That's about it. Have no illusions there, OK?
5) There is a Velcro half-circle closure on the front--when you unlatch it, down comes a little street/pond scene for interactive play. Only, it is very small (depth), so it's an inadequate playmat. My son got a little play out of it but quickly returned to his Thomas the Train wooden railway set and the Activity Table set up in his room for driving around his cars. I am surprised that as long as you're going to fold out an activity mat, it doesn't fold out two or three times in length. I found this silly. Also, there is a sunshine mirror hanging in the "sky" above the road scene--it is awkwardly on a long piece of hook & latch (Velcro) and just sort of hangs mid-air. It is easily ripped off the Velcro by little hands, and just as easily reattached, but I still haven't figured out quite why it was made so floppily (did I just invent a word?).
Basically, the materials on this organizer are washable and durable, and it has a large capacity for toys, with another Velcro separator between two internal sides, but the top just kind of lies there when the organizer is closed, fitting the rest of this container's attitude--lazy. If a child tries to climb on it at all, they just fall in & get sort of stuck in an awkward pile in need of help to climb back out.
I purchased a REAL wooden toy chest, instead, from IKEA, with a safety lid. It has a handle on one end & casters on the other & suits us perfectly. It isn't trying so hard to fit too many identities--it knows it is a toy chest. This Sassy organizer? It's a bit cocky about itself, and so I'm sending it packin'.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 35 Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: Other
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