What better way to celebrate the final countdown to our 3rd shop than with cupcakes?

Sorry, no actual cupcakes here!  BUT, we do have a new item in that will make celebrating with a homemade cupcake at home extra special.  Presenting, the Teacupcake from Fred!  Fred is one of our favorite gadget/gag/kid at heart companies, and for good reason.  Their products are great quality (I personally have some and use them all the time) and as much as they are 'gag' gifts, they're useful gag gifts.  Take these Teacupcakes for example.  Simply pour your cupcake batter into the cups, bake, frost, you you have a delightful cupcake in a tea cup, complete with a saucer!  Fun for all ages, and a great gift for that special someone in your life.  We also have some adorable bird clips to hang your photos with, as well as a bunch of goodies from a new line from England called Mustard.  The staff favorites seem to be the Condiment Gun, which is a plastic shooter with dispensers for mustard, ketchup, or whatever your favorite condiment is, and the Jelly Bear Mould, which is a giant mould in the shape of a gummy bear that can be used for Jello and jellies.  We also have a variety of chopsticks in to help you tackle your meals with, and did I mention that we have a huge amount of Accoutrements and Kikkerland products just in this week?  No? Well, we do!  Zombies, mustaches, bandages, rubber chickens, music boxes, music box makers (!), keychains, head scratchers.... so many fun new items to check out...

And speaking of checking out new things, have you seen the progress on our newest shop?  And can you believe that in less than a month there will be THREE Landis' Labyrinths to visit in the Los Angeles area?  We can, because we are already starting to transition things around at 140 N. Larchmont.  We're just super excited that we'll be able to bring in new lines like Mustard, Kid Kraft, and some other lines we'll keep you in suspense about.  Not to mention, expanding some of our favorite lines like Melissa & Doug, Faber Castell, Alex, Hasbro, Toysmith, Schylling, and Calico Critters!  Expect to see a lot more merchandise at each of our 3 shops very, very soon :)

Where are we going to put all of our new arrivals?

We here at Landis' Labyrinth are getting ready to celebrate the opening of our second location on Larchmont Blvd.  In case you haven't heard the news, in just a few weeks' time, the name Landis' Labyrinth will be above both 140 AND 144 N. Larchmont Blvd.  We are very excited at all of the new orders that have some in already, and are both anticipating and dreading the ones coming in the next two weeks.  Anticipating because it's great stuff (lots of new and restock) and we want a full store when we open, but dreading, because where are we going to put it all in the meantime?!?  But we'll manage :)

So, what do we have cramming our shelves already? Zippers!  Well, Zip-Itz, Hip Zip, and Clump-o-Lumps, which all have the humble zipper as its main feature.  I won't go into too much detail about Clump-o-Lumps, since we've had this line for a while now and there's a whole post on it in the blog, but we do have our bestselling squid back in.  Zip-Itz is the awesome new toy that we found at the NY Toy Fair back in February.  They are colorful plush dolls with zippers for their mouths and stomachs and as weird as that sound, they're actually incredibly cute.  Hip Zip is the hottest new accessory on the east coast, something one of our customers tipped us off on and we have to say, they are pretty snazzy.  For boys or girls, these bracelets are available with and without charms, and look great layered together or separate.   


Another new favorite is Pacifica.  Not a toy, but something that when our rep told us about it, we got excited because we've been looking to expand our tween/teen section and I, as a lady, always gave my friends gifts of perfumes, lotions, and little trinkets once I hit that age.  Pacifica is a perfume line found at high-end retailers, and the line we got in was the roll-on purse-sized perfumes.  No mess, no spraying, and with delicious scents, Pacifica is a great line for both teens and adults.  One of our employees at the shop turned out to be a long-time customer of this line, and couldn't stop raving about how much she loves it.  As for me, I'm allergic to almost all perfumes, and I can wear this without getting sick.  It's also free from animal testing, phthalates, parabens, sulfates, propylene glycol, benzene, GMOs, mineral oil, peanut oil, and triclosan!  Pretty sweet, right?

Sculpey clay is another product we've been wanting to carry, and now have a whole assortment of colors and tools available.  Sculpey is a type of clay that is extremely pliable and once you create something worth saving, just bake it in the oven for the recommended amount of time and it hardens.  You can make tiny sculptures with it, diorama-friendly people/animals, or even pieces for jewelry such as beads or flat cabochons (I had one friend who made ornaments for our friends out of Sculpey every Christmas as a gift).  What we love about it is that it is much easier to work with than regular clay, and you can make your creations permanent.  So check it out!

That's enough for today.  But believe me, we have so much more.  Stay tuned for Faber Castell recommendations and classic toys!