Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place: Father's Day Plate Making

Get your Father's Day shopping done early! Head to Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place on May 19th to make a special plate for Father's Day. Each kit is $7.99 (a great discount from the $15.99 regular price).

Details ---
Where: Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place
When: Saturday, May 19th at 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Cost: $7.99 for the plate kit
More Info: Here

Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place: Spring Fling March 31st

Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place are having a fun Spring Fling on Saturday, March 31st. Get ready for an afternoon of delights with free arts and crafts, refreshments, store wide demos and photos with the Easter Bunny!

And even better - you'll get 20% off everything in the store!

Details ---
Where: Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place
When: Saturday, March 31st at 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Cost: Free!
More Info: Check out the event calendar for more information

Bellevue Art & Frame: Paint Me A Story Fridays at 10 a.m.

Bring your kids to Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place for story time and a little painting fun. Each week they will explore a different theme. And for every 6 sessions they participate in, they will receive a free Golden book.

Details ---
Where: Bellevue Art & Frame (13131 NE 20th Street Bellevue, WA)
When: Fridays 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Cost: Free!
More Info: Here
Details: For ages 2 and up.

Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place: LEGO Meetup

Photo by Benjamin Esham

I'm loving this place more and more! Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place hosts a monthly LEGO meetup on the second Wednesday of the month from 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. for the 5 & over crowd. An hour of pure LEGO building fun! I'm really looking forward to the day when we're finally out of the put-everything-in-the-mouth phase and we can move on to the ouch-ouch-ouch-I-just-stepped-on-a-lego phase.

If you're like me and you have younger kids, check out their Masterpiece Mondays. I took Finley there this week and she had a great time. A few more years and we'll be at LEGO time!

Details ---
Where: Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place (13131 NE 20th Street Bellevue, WA)
When: Second Wednesday of the month 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Cost: Free!
More Info: Here

Play: Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place - Masterpiece Monday & Wednesday

This morning we stopped by Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place so Finley could try out her first art class. They hold Masterpiece Monday and Masterpiece Wednesday classes from 10 - 10:45 a.m. Each session is $2 to cover the cost of supplies.

He picked up the biggest truck on the shelf. I think I know what Santa will be leaving under the tree for him.

The class is for kids age 3 and up so I was a little worried about bringing Grady along and wondered what I would do to keep him occupied. But then I realized, oh yeah, we're in a toy store, I'm sure there will be plenty to do. And of course there was. About 5 feet from the crafting table was an entire aisle of trucks and cars. Enough to keep my boy busy all day.

This week's project was finger puppets. The kids chose the animal and then decorated them with sequins, googly eyes, smiles, and pom-poms.

Finley was a little unsure at first. But the teacher, Miss Gretchen, was great with her and helped her create a cute little froggy. Finley was the first one there this morning, but more kids came and went during the 45 minute session. It seems totally relaxed and fun, so if you're like most moms and you run on your own time, don't worry about strolling in at 10:15 and not 10 on the dot. It wouldn't be a problem at all.

After the crafting session, the fun continued. I'm a little bit in love with this toy store. They have loads and loads of art and crafting supplies. I was in heaven. And for an independent toy store, their prices were really good. I got some googly eyes (I heart googly eyes) and pom-poms for less than I paid at Fred Meyer last week. And I found a chalkboard eraser that I was having a really tough time finding elsewhere. Oh, and Finley's first pair of scissors, too. I can't believe my little girl is old enough for scissors. :(

Yee-haw!

The toy section is great, too. They have lots of toys on display for the kids to play with. And they didn't seem to mind at all that my kids played with every single one of them. There is a big display of little wind up toys. I'm pretty sure Finley tried out each and every one of them.

On my way out I signed up for the Buyer Rewards Program. Like most rewards programs, you spend money and earn money (spend $500.00 and receive $25.00 rewards voucher). I also received their holiday catalog and it included some nice coupons. Santa might be using the 20% off coupon on a nice big truck for Grady this Christmas!

Play, Stay Away or Just Okay
I love crafts and I love toy stores. So, crafts + toy stores = Play! Your kids will definitely enjoy this morning art session. The $2 fee makes it a pretty frugal outing. (I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've paid more than twice that much for a Pumpkin Spice Latte recently!) And if you have younger kids it's no big deal to bring them along. If you have preschoolers and older kids they have lots of other classes and events at their store. Finley is very into her art so I think we'll be visiting this store quite a bit.

Details ---
Where: Bellevue Art & Frame and The Toy Place (13131 NE 20th Street Bellevue, WA)
When: Mondays and Wednesdays 10 a.m. - 10:45 p.m.
Cost: $2
More Info: Here