Weekly Product Review: ZipBin

Normally, toys and child products other than clothing are featured on Wednesday. However, because I fell behind this week due to the move, I'm featuring it a day late!

This week I am reviewing a really neat product by the Neat-Oh! (Zip Bin company). This company has recently received several awards. They have received the Design Defined Award from the International Housewares Association, the Best Smart Play/Smart Toy Award from Dr. Toy, Seal of Approval from the National Parenting Center, the iParenting Media Award as and Excellent Product, grade “A” from the Toy Tips Toy Repart card program, Preferred Choice Award in Creative Play for Girls from Child Magazine, Seal of Excellent in Creative Play for Kids Category from Child Magazine, and Gold Award from National Parenting Publications Awards. The list goes on-since 2006, they have won over 20 awards! As you can see they are a very respected company!

What is so neat about this product (and why it lives up to its company name of Neat-Oh!) is because the products are a combination of storage and toy! I'm the type of mother who likes toys with lots of parts to always be kept together. Randomly throwing toys into a bin is practically a sin to me, so I love this product. The toy bin has a scene that corresponds to the toys it holds and literally in a zip, stores the product! The zipbins are all stackable, collapsible, and transportable, with wipe-clean surfaces.

This is a WONDERFUL product for traveling. Recently, we moved several hours away and that could have meant cries of boredom from a 2 year old. This toy can be used as a bin but what I haven't mentioned yet is that it can actually fold up to fit inside the lid if so desired, therefore taking up very little room in a car. So we threw a zipbin in the car and when she got a little cranky it was unzipped in seconds to reveal a fun little landscape to inspire imagination and a couple of toys.

The concept of the zipbins is a great story. Aparently, the owner of the company along with his 10-year-old son came up with idea after playing with blocks and disliking the mess of blocks going every which way. He came up with the idea of a play mat that zips. Since then, they have been Zip-lifying lifes all over the world.

ZipBin® Softie™ Racer is first up. This super cute bin looks like a racecar and can even be worn as an adorable backpage. It opens to reveal roads that the two die cast cars included can drive on. It would make the perfect gift for a boy who likes cars. Imagine, his backpack doubles as a toy! My two year old daughter really liked this toy and had fun making the cars drive along the road. This goes to show that even 2 year old toddlers will have fun with this one! I think this is such a neat idea. Most little boys I know have cars all over their rooms and this product may make their parents lives a little easier with the easy clean up. Imagine the child plays on the mat and then when it is time for clean up they simply sip up the mat to a box in matter of seconds, put on the lid, and they are all done! This item retails for $19.99.

ZipBin® Dinosaur becomes a dinosaur island. My daughter is only two and doesn't really know what a dinosaur is so I had little boy I know help test out this product. He loved the dinosaurs but what is great is that the surface led to more creative play and he brought out his own additional toys. For example, he had a jeap driving and action heroes running around the volcano's, into the cave, and getting stuck in the tar pit. It was certainly a hit for him! While the bin itself is very neat, this item even comes with 4 dinosaurs. For a little boy or girl who love dinosaurs this would be a great way to store and play with them. This item retails for $24.99.

Mini Unicorn set; This pretty little bin features pastel colors, rainbows, clouds, unicorns, butterflies, a field of flowers for unicorns to frolick in...and that is just the lid! The playmat has a picnic area, waterfall, beach, stream, and river to cross. Included, are two cute little unicorns. In addition to play with unicorns this would be wonderful for mini dolls, ponies, fairies, and other magical creatures. This item retails for $9.99. Overall I really like this product because they have the most detailed play mats I've seen, make a GREAT space saver, wonderful for travel, inspires creativity, easy to clean, and so quick to clean up! They are high quality and highly recommend. Such a neat-oh product!

By clicking on this link, you can view a demonstration of the product (highly recommended):http://www.toydirectory.com/monthly/video/video2.asp?clip=http://www.myplush.com/Videos/TF06-MFG/Neat-oh.swf&mfg=undefined&product=undefined

If you like what you've seen and would like to purchase this product for your little one if you go to the Zip Bin website, you can search your area for retailers or you can order directly from the website. Both links are located at http://www.zipbin.com/zipbin_retailers.html. I know they are available at Sears as well.

Come back tomorrow and I'll have pics up of my daughter playing with these items.

For this review, I'll be giving away two items. The first item is the Dinosaur zip bin described above. The second item is the racer bin. Whoever wins these items will love them! If you've been to my site before, you know how it works. If you haven't make sure to subscribe to my feed because I host giveaways every week (sometimes more than once a week)!

Official Rules:*
1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite product is at http://www.zipbin.com/ Do not just say something generic like "bin"; Please say the style you like best, such as "Mini Unicorn". Please be sure to leave your email address IN THE COMMENT if you are not using a Blogger ID. If you have a blog that allows comments or email, there is no need to leave your email address as well. 2. For a second entry, you MUST first complete #1 (leaving a comment on this post). If you want a second entry, subscribe to my RSS feed. After subscribing, send an email to candiceowrey@gmail.com with "I'm subscribed" as the subject line. 3. For a third entry, you must have completed both steps one and two first. Leave a comment on any of the posts on this blog. After making the post, send me an email candiceowrey@gmail.com letting me know you made a post.
You are allowed only one entry by commenting to this post. Additional entries will be deleted.
This contest is open only to those with a United States Shipping Address .
This giveaway begins 10/10/2008 and ends 10/20/2008 11:59 PM Central Standard Time.
If a Blogger ID or email address is not included in your comment posting, you will not be entered into the contest.

The first name drawn will have their choice between the bin. The second drawn name with receive the remaining bin. The names are chosen by randomizer.com.

I have several giveaways going on-check out the others!