Wednesday, August 10, 2016

New Shopkins Happy Places Welcome Pack Playsets

A new variation on the popular Shopkins line from Moose Toys has started making an appearance in stores: the "Shopkins Happy Places." Yet again, I feel like just turning all of my money over to Moose. ;) It's probably a good thing I'm totally broke right now, because I would pretty much be spending everything on toys. It's also a good thing that my mom loves toys just as much as I do and has a little more to spend right now. ;) (Thanks for sponsoring this post, Mom!) ;)

I was originally going to do one big post on all of the different Shopkins Happy Places sets she found, but there were over 200 pictures, and I realized the post was going to be way too long. (It took me about an hour just to go through pics and get them in order for the post!) So instead, I'll be doing a series of posts on the different playsets. 

The Shopkins Happy Places are a line of special Petkins designed specifically as dollhouse furniture, and specifically for the adorable new MINI Shoppies dolls that are a part of the line. 

Exhibit A. ;) 

The Happy Places toys come in several different playsets. Today, we'll be looking at the "Welcome Packs," which include a mini Shoppie and a set of room-themed furniture.

Before we get started, I want to apologize for some of the packaging pictures in this post. They were taken at my mom's house, when I only had my cell phone with me (and the girls were eager to open the playsets!), so some of them are a little blurry, or not as centered as my normal pictures.

First up is one of my personal favorites: the "Kitty Kitchen Welcome Pack," which includes the mini Shoppie doll Coco Cookie.

Package details: 

Sides of the box:

Back of the box: 

And closer details:

This lower part of the box here has a great visual guide to the different types of playsets in this line and what they include.

Here she is with her package almost opened. 

Each of these sets include two floor tiles, which are meant to be used to expand the rooms of the "Happy Home" dollhouse. (More on that in a later post.) The yellow plastic inside has a Shoppie stand in it, not a surprise Petkin. 

And here is everything that is included in the Kitty Kitchen set.

So. Adorable. :D 

If I do end up adding any of these to my own personal collection, this will definitely be one of the sets I get.

Here's a closer look at all of the Petkins that come in the set:

Coco Cookie is a brand new Shoppie character and probably my favorite from the entire new line. I love her cute pigtails and adorable dress.

Coco Cookie from the back.

The amount of detail in these sets is so much fun. From removable lids...

...to tiny Petkins utensils...

...to doors that open...

...and drawers that do the same...

...to removable pieces that fit inside others, like these two cookies that fit in the cookie jar...

...and this toast that fits in the toaster. 

The little Petkins oven mitt even fits on Coco Cookie's hand!

I think Moose Toys has another big hit on their hands. :) 

Next, we have the "Dreamy Bear Welcome Pack," which includes a mini Jessicake Shoppie and is bedroom-themed.

Package details: 

Back of the box: 

Opening her up.

This is another sweet set, with all bear-themed Petkins.

A closer look at all it includes: 

Jessicake is adorable. :)

Jessicake from the back.

My mom also snagged the "Bathing Bunny Welcome Pack," the third and final of the Welcome Packs. This one is bathroom-themed and includes a mini Bubbleisha.

Package details: 

Back of the box: 

Here's the whole set unboxed.

And a closer look at all of the Petkins included: 

Bubbleisha from the front...

...and the back.

Just another quick nod to detail here. I love that the can of hairspray has a removable lid! ;D 

Each of the Shoppies Happy Places sets comes with a "Home Collection" brochure, which has pictures of all of the available toys in the line.

This part explains the concept and lists the different types of playsets. It's nice that the entire brochure is color coordinated, so you can figure out which sets have the Petkins or mini Shoppies you like the best. :)

The rest of it is pretty self-explanatory, and I wanted to just give you a sneak peak of what's available, so here are pics of the rest of the brochure: 
I love that the Limited Edition Petkins are "heirloom" pieces for the dollhouse! ;)


I wanted to be sure I took the time to share more detailed photos of the mini Shoppies for the review. :)

Here's another shot of Coco Cookie. :)

Her arms can move back and forth.

She can also turn her head from side...

...to side. Unlike the Twozies, Coco's head doesn't tilt at different angles, but just stays straight.

She can sit nicely.

Her rubbery plastic dress is removable, with a slit in the back to make dressing and undressing easy. 

Coco from the back.

Just for a size comparison, here is Coco with my regular-sized Shoppie, Donatina.

As you can see, Coco is almost 3.5 inches tall. Pretty tiny!

Here she is next to a mini Lalaloopsy.

And here she is with a Twozie pair. While the Twozies looked cute with Donatina, I think they work even better with the mini Shoppies. :)

Coco can be a babysitter or an older sister.

Awww... :)

As my mom, my daughters and I were working on this review, Coco's dress kept reminding me of another doll line. I finally realized it was the small Strawberry Shortcake dolls with similar removable plastic dresses. What's really funny is that I thought the Strawberry Shortcake dolls would be a lot smaller until I put them right next to the mini Shoppies. As you can see, they're almost exactly the same size.

Raspberry Torte, on the left, is from the Hasbro line, while Orange Blossom, on the right, is from the Bridge Direct line, currently in stores. 

All three girls from the back.

So, of course, with their similar size and dresses, I wanted to know if they could swap clothing.

The answer is yes. ;)

The Strawberry Shortcake dresses are made of a slightly harder plastic, so they're not quite as easy to get on, especially with Coco's puffy sleeves and more spread out fingers. But, as you can see, they do work. My daughters pointed out that sleeveless SSC dresses work the best. 

One thing that always disappointed me about the mini SSC dolls was that they looked so cute in their dresses, but they couldn't sit in them. If you tried to make them sit, the dresses did this:
And the dresses were also too stiff to allow the dolls to sit properly.

They can sit well, but only when you take their dresses off.

The mini Shoppies dresses avoid this problem in two ways. First, their dress plastic is more flexible to allow for easier bending. And second, as pictured above, they have little slits in their skirts right above their legs. 

This allows the dress the flexibility to stay in place when they sit.

I love both of these lines of dolls, and think it's fun that they're so compatible.

They can even share accessories: 


Since I'm doing several posts for this line, I don't think I'll do quite as detailed of a rating for these guys. Overall, we are so pleased with the new mini Shoppies and their adorable sets. They're cute, posable, and fairly well-priced for what is included (very comparable to Shopkins pricing). 

The only things I can see being points of concern, especially for younger Shopkins fans, is that there are some extremely tiny pieces, especially in some of the other sets we'll be looking at. Also, the Petkins that have doors that open, such as the oven door, are simply a plastic seam, not a hinge, so with rough play or overuse they could become damaged. 

Those are the only things I can think of that could be considered negative, though. These little sets are so much fun and will provide hours of play. My daughters are already planning which sets they want to get for themselves, even my twelve-year-old. ;)

 The Welcome Packs retail for around $15. So far, I've seen them (and other Shopkins Happy Places sets) in my local Target and Walmart Stores, but they're also starting to become available online at Walmart, Target, and Toys R Us

For more info on Happy Places, you can check out their official Facebook page, Instagram, and YouTube

Stay tuned for more reviews! I'll be reviewing a Decorator's Pack, a Lil' Shoppies Pack, the Happy Home, and the Special Delivery Bind Bag packs. And since I'm doing so many reviews in a row, I'll wait to share my daughters' specific thoughts until the end of the series. The short review is, they're all in love with them! ;D

Will these little cuties make their way to your collection shelves?

I am not affiliated with Moose Toys and did not receive anything for this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

4 comments:

Kirren said...

Aww, these are so cute!

Have you seen the new lego Belle's Castle? I saw it and immediately thought of you! (Well, actually I first deliberating buying it myself, and I have decided I will for sure.)

I'm a huge B&B fan as well, but I wanted to let you know about it if you didn't know already!

MirandaShortcake said...

These dolls look very cute! I've been in desperate search for new mini dolls, so I'm glad I came across your blog post. What I love most about the dolls is that they're nearly the exact size of the mini Strawberry Shortcake dolls (I film videos with SSC dolls, so I need more mini dolls for extra characters). Now I feel the need to run to the toy store. XD

Dot said...

The lack if diversity in this line is really starting to irk me...

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Hi Kirren! I think so too. ;)

And yes, I have seen the adorable Lego Belle Castle. It's definitely on my wishlist! :D Probably not something I'll be able to add for a while, but I'm enjoying the pictures and videos I've found. Belle is so sweet, and I love that the Beast can also be the Prince. :)

Thanks for making sure I knew about it! :)

Hi, MirandaShorcake! Thanks so much for stopping by. :) I had fun checking out your SSC videos on YouTube. :) Glad to give you ideas for more background characters. :D

Hi Dot! In my next post, where I review the Lil' Shoppies, you'll see there are a couple of mini Shoppies with darker skin tones. I can understand your frustration, though. Hopefully in the future, there will be even more diversity in the line. :)