Utah Bloggers at Blickenstaff's

Photo courtesy of Blickenstaff's

Last weekend, I had an opportunity to hang out with  fellow bloggers in Utah.  Facebook has provided us with a great way to connect with each other and it didn't take long before we wanted to get together for some fun.  Fortunately, I live in a city with the most amazing toy store.  Blickenstaff's is more than a toy store, though.  It's a little bit of heaven where you can relive your childhood. This place is so much fun that I often recommend it to people for dates.  (You can learn a lot about people while watching them play.)

There's a bit of a thrill when you finally get to meet people who you only know from reading their blogs.  I was really excited to meet Debbie Cranberryfries.  Not only is she a great blogger, but her friendship with me on Twitter has helped me in some tough situations. Debbie's the one pictured in the blue striped sweater below.  I also met some other bloggers who are now on my blog reading list.

The staff at Blickenstaff's turned us loose to play with all the toys and to look for golden eggs hidden around the store.  I found one of the golden eggs and my prize was this game - Rollick!  The store is doing more golden egg activities this month, so check their website for more details. 

The store had things from my childhood like Sea Monkeys, model trains (running overhead), and peach Nehi soda plus some great modern toys and games.  The interesting thing about some of the newer toys and games was how they were spin-offs from other ideas.  The Star Wars Lego watch was a great way to combine a love for a certain type of toy with another item.  That's a great way to come up with new product ideas.  The game I liked was Family Talk, a set of small cards on a keyring that act as conversation starters.  I've heard of moms making something similar from index cards and this takes it up a notch with laminated colorful cards.

I showed up for this event not knowing what to expect.  Blickenstaff's surprised us with great prizes and allowed us to fill our bags with some of their candy from the bins (they also have some great throwback candies). Disclaimer:  Although Blickenstaff's provided me with candy and the game I won, all the opinions here are mine and I wasn't required to blog about them.  Wondering about the little buffalo in the photo?  I didn't want my hubby to feel left out, so I bought him this good luck mini buffalo that he now keeps in his truck.