Zhu-Zhu Pets! Pet Review and Giveaway!

Recently, I was given the opportunity to host a Zhu-Zhu pet party! Zhu-Zhu pets are electronic hamsters. They are soft and cuddly, they love to play, but they don't require feeding, kennels, or bedding changes. Those are all pluses!

The Zhu Zhu pets also talk, gurgle, coo and make lots of other sounds, depending on where and how they are playing.

To host this party, I received:

*The complete hamster 'habitrail' including the kitchen and the bathroom -- the pets make little sounds when they play around the tub, as if they are actually bathing, too cute!

**The Adventure ball

***The Surfboard and sleepdome

****The skate board and turnabout

*****The spiral slide and ramp

******The 'hamstermobile' and garage

AND, the exercise wheel and tunnel

There are also hamster beds and blankets, and cute little carriers to take your pet with you wherever you go.

This was a fabulous set up for these little pets. Additionally, I received enough ZhuZhu Hamster pets for each guest to have one to play with and to keep and take home. 11 pets in all!

Meet the cast of characters:

Mr. Squiggles

Num Nums

Chunk

Pip Squeek

There are also five other pets, Patches, Nugget, Winkie, Jilly and Scoodles.

What about play time? What did the kids think about this new product and electronic pet? Were they really interested?

Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!! goes the hamster!

Let's go surfin'......come along and surf with meeeee (or however, the Beach Boys sing it) ;-)

How do these little guys work? The kids and I shot a little video of the cute fella's in action:

I had ten children in attendance, including my own two. I had caved and given my children their pets about two weeks prior to the party. They loved them! Both ended up having to replace the batteries in their pets before the day of the party. Not because the pets use a lot of battery power, but because my children played with them day after day after day for hours!

The children at the party ranged from two years to nine years of age. There were three boys and seven girls. The oldest boy, nine, I doubted would be very interested. He was in attendance because his baseball game had been cancelled due to rain.

But, guess what? He wanted one....and, luckily after everyone arrived, I had an extra to give him. The box states for ages 4 and up. But, the two year old really enjoyed playing with his pet in the habitat and with the other toys. He figured out how to work it pretty quickly too. After observing him for awhile with his 'new pet' his mom commented that the age could probably be lower for this item -- though, it is probably posted at '4' and up due to small pieces within the wheels and circuitry.

There are little motorized wheels on the bottom of the pet, which is how it is able to get around. You can pick them up while in motion and they can spin in your hand, without hurting or causing injury.

However, they will catch hair. This happened to my daughter on two occasions. Once, when she was laying on the floor playing with her pet. It ran up into her hair, causing her locks to tangle within the wheels. I had to tug, pull, and trim a little to free her hair.

The second time, she picked up her pet in mid play -- wheels still spinning -- to hug, kiss and snuggle a little with it. The wheels were still spinning and caught her hair again.

I really enjoyed watching the kids placing their pets on the skate board, the surf board, and within the habitat. Even after the party, my children played with their pets, habitat and accessories for hours....literally, hours....

I found myself mesmerized at times, just watching the little guys go around, back and forth, up and down.... When running in the adventure ball around the living room, the little pets even looked like real hamsters!

The Pros:

Hours of fun!

Lots of choices

Portability

Affordability

Accessories are reasonable priced

An allergy free alternative to a real hamster or small pet

Good on the pocket book; as there is not the re-occuring expense of food and bedding

Once assembled, the habitat is easy to change into different play scapes.

The Cons:

Initial assembly of habitat might be a little frustrating

Wheels can catch and tangle in hair

Overall, the children all seemed to really enjoy their pets. I received several comments from parents later, that their children were still playing with their pets and taking them wherever they went. Those parents added that Zhu-Zhu accessories are already on the Christmas wish list.

The next morning when we met the breakfast crew after church, my friend's daughter had her Zhu-Zhu pet in tow. ;-)

I want to give a BIIIG thank you to MomSelect for the wonderful opportunity to host this party and also for the wonderful accessories and toys for both our guests and my children. MomSelect, bringing Moms and Companies together. ;-D

THE GIVEAWAY!!!!

Guess what? I was able to keep one pet back to offer as a giveaway with this review! Everyone knows a review goes best with a giveaway! And, I'm going to make winning it really easy too!

How to earn entries: [Each Entry Requires a Separate Comment]

1 entry) Comment about someone you know would love one of these pets

2 entries) Grab my badge; have it already? Comment to remind me

2 entries) Follow me on twitter, @Glass_Half_Full; comment that ya' did

5 entries) Subscribe to my blog's rss feed (top left, under my badge) and comment that you did

5 entries) Post about this giveaway at your blog; comment with a link so I can find it

Additional entries:

You may tweet this giveaway up to 5 times a day. You recieve 1 entry for each tweet. Please comment with the link to the tweet so I can draw fairly for all participants.

This giveaway will close on Thursday, October 1st, 2009, at midnight. I will tally the total entries for each entrant and the winner will be selected via random drawing. Winner will be posted on Friday, October 2nd!

HAVE FUN!

To find out more, visit Zhu Zhu Pets. You can also find games, the blog, videos and learn all about each of these little guys! You can also find these pets and their play things at Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us and amazon.com. [Note: they are a lot more expensive at amazon.com]

Zhu-Zhu Pets! Pet Review and Giveaway!