tea set {Green Toys}

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Even though you wouldn't know it looking in my kids' room, I'm picky when it comes to purchasing toys for my kids (I also love relatives and friends that are kind enough to give gifts for my children). If I buy toys, I like to buy toys that encourage creative play.  Toys made in the USA. Toys that are good for the environment or that are "natural".  Toys that will last.  I generally avoid branded/licensed characters.

When I set out before my daughter's third birthday to find a tea set, I looked all over the internet.  I knew I didn't like what I saw on the shelves at Wal-Mart.  Cheap, easily breakable stuff, mostly with some product logo or character plastered all over it.  And Very girly.

I looked at wooden and metal sets, but I saw that most of the wooden sets couldn't really be used for putting real food in (something I knew was bound to happen) and the metal sets were just unappealing.  Enter the Green Toys Tea Set.

photo from manufacturer's website

As soon as E spied it on my screen (sneaky child!) she told me she wanted that tea set.  I was sold on Green Toys when I saw that the products are made in the USA from recycled milk containers (as of recently, they have recycled 8,162,738 milk jugs!), the packaging is totally recyclable (I love well-done packaging), and that the tea set was food-safe.  Score!  Just the right tea set!

Here she is at her birthday party, being just thrilled at getting this tea set.

Tea party with a friend.

It's been almost two years since we got E the tea set for her birthday.  She still plays with it regularly, and her brother loves playing with it, too.  It's sturdy, just the right size for little hands, and easy to clean.  The lids for the tea pot and the sugar pot are interchangable which I think is a wonderful design idea. I like the simple shapes and colors, too. And the customer service?  The Best.  A couple months after we bought the tea set, we realized (alas, too late!) that Nathanael must have *Thrown Away* the teapot.  What is one to do without the teapot for the tea set?  So I sent an email to Green Toys customer service to ask about purchasing a replacement pot.  In response, they sent me a replacement pot at no charge.  Love those people. 

I highly recommend Green Toys.  Their products are made in the USA, they strive to be environmentally responsible, and based on my experience the toys are of excellent quality. The product line keeps expanding.  I would love to add the chef set and dish set, since I have two young cooks in the house, and the tool set, since they both are "fixing" things all the time!