X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

09/24/2008: Halloween Countdown ‘08: Play-Doh Party Kit!

Toys “R” Us is in Halloween mode, but as has been the norm for several years, their attempt is a little halfhearted. I guess there’s no sense for them to try to compete with the ever-growing number of dedicated Halloween costume shops that arrive in September and explode come November, but I’m always disappointed when I see TRU’s array of costumes and novelties limited to two sad mini-aisles.

When I was a kid, TRU was the definitive spot for all things Halloween, from costumes to colored hair spray, treat buckets, stupid reflective stickers and beyond. Our local TRU used to turn its entire entrance zone into a gigantic Halloween section, with the costume selection starting at the floor and making its way up to the ceiling on dangerously rendered fences. Shopping there was pure, glorious pandemonium, with parents and children alike using all body parts that could double as blunt instruments to push, shove and fight their way to the most desirable Don Post masks.

The Toys “R” Us Halloween section of today is just there to help them keep up appearances. Only kids who are excessively young and/or really don’t give a shit about what they dress up as for Halloween would find shopping for a costume there acceptable.

I still go hunting for Countdown fodder at TRU every year, never expecting much and never finding much. Traditions are traditions. But! Perhaps sensing my impending annihilation of his store chain with the written (typed?) word, Geoffrey the Giraffe slipped me one item that was totally reviewable — and something I haven’t found at the many other stores I loiter in at this time of year. I take it back, TRU. You’re aces, and so is this:

I first thought that this Play-Doh “Halloween Party Kit” would end up being one of those things with a really cool box and really boring contents, but I was so insanely wrong that I feel I deserve some length of jail time. Play-Doh always tosses out one or two simplistic Halloween-themed doodads each year, but this kit is way more inspired than their typical efforts. Only catch is, you need to pretend that you’re five-years-old to enjoy it.

Companies use the term “party kit” pretty loosely, but this was clearly a labor of love for someone at Hasbro. Whoever devised this kit really thought about how Play-Doh could become the central theme of a Halloween party, and while I admit that it wouldn’t be the party to end all parties, there are certainly enough ideas and goodies here to keep your guests occupied for, oh, seven or eight minutes. Again, assuming they’re okay with pretending that they’re five-year-olds.

For eight bucks, you get everything shown above. Eight small tubs of Play-Doh, four plastic knives, four Halloween playmats and four INCREDIBLE display domes. I CANNOT WAIT to tell you about the display domes, but they’re way too good to blow my wad on just yet. You be patient over there.

The most endearing item in the kit is the “Halloween Party Guide,” a pamphlet detailing how to decorate for your party, what kind of food to serve, ideas for activities, and unbiased suggestions that you offer random Play-Doh items as prizes for Halloween games. This pamphlet may prove to be a kid’s first exposure to the type of overpassionate verbiage found in the many Family Circle Halloween editions I go through like grapes, and that warms my heart faster than the sun growing a big, fiery leg and stepping on me. If you think eight bucks is too much to spend on a big clump of Play-Doh and some plastic knives, trust me, this pamphlet makes up the difference.

You get four different playmats, each with a different spooky scene. The playmats feature tutorials on how to make monsters and mayhem out of Play-Doh, but it seems a bit wrong to have something as open-canvassy as Play-Doh just to build whatever some stupid playmat tells you to.

Hypocritically, I do enjoy one aspect of the playmats. They leave specific portions of the spooky scenes blank, so you can fill in the rest with Play-Doh pieces. The ghost eyes and mouths shown above aren’t part of the art, but rather, they’re flattened black Play-Doh balls of my own creation. Since the four mats feature different scenes and step-by-step how-to guides, we’re encouraged to swap mats with our playmates every now and again to mix and match the fun.

And now you can forget everything you just read, because the real reason I’m writing about this kit is pictured above. DOMES! Sweet, heavenly, GLORIOUS domes! I have no right to love anything as much as I love…these…DOMES!

Domes!!!

So, the domes. To be used as display cases for your Play-Doh creations, I at first thought that the inclusion of THESE DOMES was wonderful — but a little weird. Only after reading that party guide pamphlet did I understand their purpose. Since this kit is technically supposed to drive a Halloween party, THE DOMES will let your guests take their works of art home without risking the usual perils that await Play-Doh masterpieces in transit. Genius!

Course, since I’m pretty unlikely to throw a Halloween party focused on Play-Doh, I’m free to claim all of THE DOMES as my own. I like to consider them “specimen tanks,” to safely contain the myriad Play-Doh creatures I find on distant planets. Two such creatures are shown above, but only the green slime monster in the foreground understands how much it sucks to spend life in a cheap specimen tank. The yarmulke-donning snowman alien is just happy to be alive.

I love these domes! Finally, a proper way to preserve our Play-Doh opuses forever and ever!

I don’t know if Play-Doh’s “Halloween Party Kit” would’ve been worth writing about if it didn’t come with domes, but since I did, here I am. And now I’m leaving. To check on my domes! DOMES!

PS: I feel bad for starting this review off with ill notions about Toys “R” Us, for they have provided me with the true meaning of life: Play-Doh domes. As penance, let us revisit this old Halloween Countdown entry. Sorry, Geoffrey. You’re my long-necked savior.

Honestly, I absolutely love the Green Play-Doh Blob in The Dome. Only you can makes Domes so freakin awesome.

1) Ghost with The Most
2) The links to previous countdown entries that were posted on this day. We’re up to year 6 now?

Arr! Beaten because I actually read the entry. Yarrrgh! Anyway, something useful. Useful…umm…

Norbert: True that on the links to the previous entries. I was going to do them with each blog entry but felt it would start looking a little cramped. Maybe I’ll make a sidebar for that — and yes, this is the sixth Countdown.

Ahh, Play Doh, amusing my sisters and I for hours since 1985. We drove Mom crazy making a mess, leaving the stuff to dry out, and accidentally squishing it into the rugs, but God, did we have fun. I haven’t seen this Halloween-themed set yet, but I may have to look for it. My nephew is old enough for Play Doh now, and I think it’s time the next generation squished it into Mom’s rugs.

Go Brewers? Pshaw! Go Cubbies!
That aside I might actually pick this up for my annual Zombie-thon Halloween party and let the winner have one of the precious domes to take their entry home in!

Golly I wish I could find this free VHS I got from the TRU checkout back in 1990…it was like 20 minutes long and had previews of toys and an extended video version of the theme song.

I only point this out because Hasbro is headquartered about 10 miles from my house and I like to root for the home team.

TRU went downhill, all year round, a long time ago. It’s just a shell of it’s former supreme glory.

have you all lost your minds? the real amazing thing in this article, besides the freakin awesome domes, is Matt’s skill at play-dough manipulation. I thought everybody’s creations came out as multi colored turds! I doubt even Michaelangelo could make anything resembling a shape from play-dough. All hail Matt, my favorite sculptor!

Good old Play-Doh. Did anybody mix the colors together to make hybrids, or am I tripping and you can’t actually do that?

From my observations I’ve noticed that stores like Spirit are great for Halloween stuff, but the people who run the place will gouge the prices so much you’ll defenestrate yourself. When Halloween rolled around, my mom usually took my brother, sister and me to Party Central, since they had the best selection and didn’t require us to go on the freeway.

Matt, I’m expecting some candy coverage like the Ghost Dots from last year. We all need an excuse to go to Wal-Mart and hunt a specific candy down to say “There’s a guy on the internet who wrote about this. That’s why I’m buying it with disposable razors, condoms, and alcohol.”

Matt everytime I read an article or blog entry where you make something out of food or play doh, or whatever, I get the virtually IRRESISTABLE urge to do it myself. =)

random bob: I’m actually very skilled at play doh sculpting.
Ben: You can mix the colors . Iv’e done it myself countless times.

I remember going to the hasbro warehouse and getting My little ponies for like.. 40 percent off.

Wonderful thing, the Countdown! New entry popped up just as I needed something to lift my spirits!

Halloween Countdown! I’ve been lurking more than posting.. but I thought I’d let you all know that I’m so excited..

That is some great play doh sculpting Matt. Great picture of the domes too. I bet it was a pain in the ass to have the right balance of light and the domes not giving off too much glare. Someone needs to appreciate that around here. Not just the person that took them. I never got to play with play doh as a kid because when I was interested my Grandma was terrified of it getting into the carpet and what not then when I was old enough to know better then to smash it into the carpet I wasn’t interested anymore. My oldest sister got a Mickey Mouse on a farm kit from roseart or some company like that when she was a lot older. Like at least 13. She played with it on occasion and then never did.

She also had something else I couldn’t play with because it had a lot of little pieces to it. The different pieces were kept in different little ziploc bags. They were to make pictures. They came with these white boards that had little holes lined up like a grid and you had these pieces that were different colors like green, black, red, yellow, orange, etc. with patterns that you pushed the little teeth into the holes. They were triangles, circles, squares etc. The patterns you followed, like a guide. Like flowers, human faces, race cars, etc. I inherited that later. We never knew what it was called and it didn’t have a brand name on it. I just thought I would mention it. I’ll probably be back later! I always come back. I am like a sinus infection har har har

Fantastic work! Every year I throw a big Horror Movie-thon/costume party. I think a few boxes of this awesome party activity will find their way into the fold this year. If the movies get too scary, people can work it out on the Doh.

Sometimes you can buy just a dome with a small amount of Play-Doh for like $1.99.

yep yep yep…thought I would check in during my daily job search…so badly do I want to go to a Halloween store, but the stench of latex makes my nose burn really bad and screws with my sinuses, which is the last thing I need at this point

don’t wanna be a Debbie Downer, so I will post something positive too….I think I may get that Play doh kit for my niece and nephew and have some quality bonding time. Kate being 3 and Andy being 5 in november, I think they will enjoy it.

Matt, you’re off to a staggeringly blistering pace with the Halloween Countdown and I hope that you can keep it up. You seem to be in some sort of unprecedented zone so it seems that you’ll have no problem…

I hated when different play-doh colors melded together to make hybrids; the new colors were never as brilliant as the original. In fact, I remember being somewhat OCD about this. If there was, say, one particle of yellow mixed in with blue when I was putting the play-doh back in their tubs I would meticulously pick it off and put it back in its corresponding tub. Play-doh also lost some of its magic when it became less shiny and softer as time went on…

Also, the kid on the box is a terrible vampire. He doesn’t even have fangs or even makeup.

GM all. Heck i wish i had those at my desk at work it would make the bordom go away.

Wow…I really can’t keep up with all of the posts. And for some reason I’ve been cracking up at these posts. I think Matt’s found his happy place! YAY!

Goob, I think you’re referring to the good ol’ Lite Brite. That thing was awesome.

Play Doh never lasted too long around me, since I always ended up eating it. Eventually my folks stopped buying it for me at all. As far back as I can remember I had an unhealthy obsession with chewing on, and eating, modeling clay, play doh, and glue sticks. I don’t do it anymore, but I also don’t dare tempt fate with this wonderful, fantastic Halloween Party Kit!!!

this play doh kit looks like too much fun. honestly i agree with you on the domes. those are great. i think you could even strecth their use outside of displaying play doh creations.

I always loved the smell of Play-Do. I used to have every stupid Play-Do related thing they made. I miss those days.

“… if it’s new and hot, it’s a toy they’ve got and the prices are hard to beat (oh neat!). Hey, toy r us kids did you hear the great news? I wanna be a toys r us kid (more game, more toys, oh boy!!) I wanna be a toys r us kid!”

Goob - Look for Halsam Play Tiles on Ebay. I think this is what you are talking about, or some version of it. I had a set of these in the 70’s that was handed down from my brother and they were great. This was a favorite when I had to stay home from school because I was sick and I could play with them for hours!

Dammit. Now I want a Play-Doh Party Kit.
I totally understand your fascination with those domes, Matt. I really want one!

A simpler explanation would have been that it was like a Lite Brite, only with different shapes.

Wow, that was pretty butchered, wasn’t it? And no, Waiterbot isn’t Jewish. Kuse is. Which makes Box half-Jewish, which is sort of odd for someone birthed from an advent calendar.

Since the snowman is wearing a yamaka, can you have Chanauka Harry wear a Dracula cape?

I haven’t stepped into a Toys R Us in a long time, but now that I have a kid, I wandered into one a couple of months ago, and I was shocked at how far downhill they’ve gone.

The Dark Knight was all the rage, so I was interested in seeing the associated toys. TRU had pathetically little shelf space devoted to Batman, and even less so for the actualy movie merchandise. It’s sad to say that Target blew TRU out of the water in this regard, when TRU is supposedly a store that ONLY SELLS TOYS.

Even my 2 year-old daughter was less than thrilled with TRU and wanted to leave after just a few minutes. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Great Dome Sculptures Matt, I hope that they find their way into the Advent Calendar this year!

Loving the countdown so far. I sometimes find myself with less to say each year on here unless i feel truly passionate about a certain article, but i did just want to assure you as my 4th year this is a major part of my season and we all appreciate the crap out of it.

Matt, do the domes keep the Play-Doh from drying out? I always got bored with my sculptures after a while and wanted to make something new out of the doh, but at that point I’d need to get more Play-Doh and toss the old art.

Karen: I doubt the domes are truly airtight, so I would assume after some time, the sculptures will dry out just the same. Just a lot more slowly.

Play-Doh never disappoints, PERIOD. Between cool stuff like this and it still having that great smell all these years later, *I* would buy this if I had the time to play around with it. That rules, and display domes?? AWESOME!

Matt: You truly are an artist!
I too have been known to sample the wares of a play-doh playset during my younger days. You would think they would make the stuff to be less salty and give some it some tasty fruit flavors!

I would build various Play-Doh heads of people I’ve always wanted to meet and keep them in the domes. Then I would pretend that I was in the show Futurama and could speak and interact with them. Oh the good times we would share!

Matt creates one of the titular creatures from Weird Al’s “Slime Creatures From Outer Space” and no one notices? For shame!

Awesome meepy. The Great Pumpkin fridge magnets come in sheets that you punch-out. She got me two sheets, they include all the characters! She also got me a Snoopy and Charlie Brown coffee mug, a bunch of cool Peanuts stationary and a Great Pumpkin fridge note pad! It’s weird cause I never see any Peanuts merchandise anywhere, but this year I think the ‘nuts are making a comeback!
Oh yeah, she also picked my 1 year old son some Great Pumpkin socks! He wore them last night and kept pointing to his feet saying “Pum!” “Pum!” “Pum!” Just like his daddy, he loves The Great Pumpkin!

Matt: If you had a Halloween Play-Doh party, I would SO be there. And considering the fact that I still buy coloring books and frequently visit playgrounds to use the swings, I would have no problem whatsoever pretending I am a five-year-old.

I dreamt of Rice Krispie treats last night. Now I can’t help but wonder if I’ll dream of domes, Play-Doh and Slime Creatures from Outer Space. Seems like ripe fodder for dream land!

I’m a big boy now! I can bold! Now where’s my play-doh?! Oh yeah, I ate it.

For those of you with a Spirit Halloween store near you, I found some coupons from one of those coupon websites that can be used there. Here’s the link:

I kinda wish I had an excuse to go buy some Play-Doh. But then, I’ve never really been any good at sculpting.

It’s not that the green slime monster understands how much it sucks to spend life in a cheap specimen tank, it’s that the dome is about to be englufed in flames. The look on his face is terror.

OMG! I had to stop at the store on the way home from work and lo and behold, what did I find?…

I sooo got me a 2-liter and plan on spending the night reading ghost stories, looking at paranormal photographs whilst drinking a SMCS cocktail (my bf is a school, so why not?)!! I’m sure the more I drink, the more paranoid I will get, but that’s half the fun.

I always hated the small of the stuff, and the folks who would give out little cans of playdoh, instead of candy to trick or treaters.

Oh Joy! Domes! Those would make great cubicle decorations. I would make little Voodoo dolls in likeness to my co-workers. And then switch their heads.

I saw Cranberry Splash today too. I can’t bring myself to buy it until November 1.

The more I look at him the more I love that one-eyed black snowman! He is just so happy and he wants to be my friend!

Matt
Great countdown! Feels like your going to squash the demons of last year. One request how about some more movie reviews? I would love to get your take on Battle Royal or The Thing. But anything old and scary will do. I must say seeing this blog updated daily is a highlight of my day.

Hmm… I’m with Mortalwind on reviewing something old and scary. Hey Matt, how about The Serpent and the Rainbow? I’m sure a review from you would inspire folks to go rent it.

I am making the Mattloaf on Saturday. It remains to be seen how close will be the likeness.

I think a review of a scary and classic horror flick would be perfect for the countdown.
Please post pics of the Mattloaf when yur done with it Rev. Regardless of what it looks like.

I’m a little concerned about how to get the facial features right, since a) I don’t know exactly what X-E Matt looks like, and b) I don’t have much skill in sculpting facial features out of meat. Maybe I’ll ask my mortician husband to help me - he’s a professional at forming faces out of flesh.

Rev.BIOU If you peruse the archives, you very well may run into pics of our fearless leader to help you in your sculpting (plus, it is just fun to do). Or, you could try to make a Mad Mattloaf. That is his pic up there, under the ‘contact’ icon.

Rev , I don’t remember what the eye contacts were called but Matt did a review of some and he wore them, so it’s one of the few times he isn’t wearing glasses. Unless you want to make glasses, it might make it easier?

I’m just curious to find out what you use to draw in the detail. Ketchup is all I can think of.

And it’s certainly going to be weird eating X-E Matt’s face with mashed potatoes, but I’ll do what I have to do.

Bill we don’t have any in the stores here! You have to bring down a case or two. Or 6.

Everybody that said lite brite. I am a regular poster to X-E I know what lite brite is eesh. This had a board like those green lego boards but it was white and it had holes through the board. I just randomly mentioned it I didn’t ask for a verification.

Saint Thank you Saint. I will look that up. That isn’t it but close. I’ll try to find a picture sometime tonight.

Rev. The article where he tries the freddy kruger make up kit there are several close up fairly big pictures. Just sayin’ your hubby is really a mortician? Out of this world. I worked at a cemetery for about 10 months.

DOMES!!! Your passionate love of domes made me laugh til I peed a little. They are glorious domes tho.

He is a mortician - he is an artist! He can do reconstructive work like nobody’s business. If you fall off a bridge and your face gets flattened, my old man is the one you want to see. Every day is halloween in our house.

It’s true that TRU has gone downhill,but they do have super huge Godzilla and Mehcagodzilla figures that are like more than a foot tall. The one TRU near me wasn’t renovated until about 1or 2 years ago. Up until that time it was exactly like it always was,video games in the cage and so on.

I guess I must be the only kid in the world that didn’t play with play-doh that much.. :(

<b>Kid Nicky</b> my TRU is still the same, too, with straight aisles. Hell, up until two or three years ago they still had their World of Nintendo stuff.

They are having a two day sale this week and I’m wondering if they are clearing inventory to prepare for a remodel. :(

The other day in KB my boyfriend told me he hates the smell of Play-Doh and that no one could possibly like it and then started making gagging motions. How can he hate the smell of Play-Doh? That’s just not right at all. They make Play-Doh perfume! I’m cool with all his big occultist stuff, but not liking the smell of Play-Doh is just… unwholesome.

TRU Memories: I remember when you had to take a ticket for the video game you wanted to the cash register, pay for it, then take it to a little window to pick it up. The anticipation only made it that much better.

Cameron T.:It’s always sad to see yur fav toy store change into soemthing else. Buck up. =) And yes, yur definately the only one who didn’t play with play doh. Not that I want you to feel bad about that. =)

Meepy: You can still do that here. :) There are some discounted games that are on the racks, but you have to take the slip for the rest of them.

Hallorandy: If they made it taste any better I’d have died from some type of Play-Doh related cancer by the time I was six!!!

I just read the Freddy Make Up Kit article on Goob’s recommendation. The good news is, I don’t think I’ll have any trouble recreating that face with ground beef, as long as we’re including the Freddy mask as part of the equation. The bad news is, I laughed so hard at the article I almost threw up on myself. Reading that was worth all the trouble and shame of making a meatloaf shaped like a man I don’t even know. Thanks X-E Matt!

Ok, the formatting (BOLD, ETC) doesn’t seem to be working for me. I’m writing this in ALL BOLD to prove my point.

I believe that one of those playdough monsters should make some random appearance in the Christmas Advent this year

The reason a lot of us ate Play-Doh WAS the smell — it’s intended to be appealing, though not in a totally literally palatable way. And with it being nontoxic, and kind of tasty, one must wonder if the Play-Doh gods actually intended for us to dine on their dough.

It’s still being tweaked. Just testing it out. Will extend its length so the lines don’t break as early, etc.

I think I had gotten a costume or two from TRU when I was a kid. However my parents were pretty cheap and took me to K-Mart a lot to buy costumes. All the rich kids (or at least kids without cheap parents) got to shop for costumes at TRU.

Shouldn’t they be called Play-Dohmes? An opportunity is being missed here, it’s clear as day. Play-Dohmes.

Rev The Freddy makeup kit is without a doubt one of my all time fav articles. It’s PURE comedy ALL the way through. I like this new comment box Matt.

I don’t know if I ever ate play doh I think I just licked my fingers after I was done playing with it. Gross–I was a sick kid!

Went to Target last night. Picked up some Bat Bite Antidote Nerds, and some Buried Pomigranate Jones Soda. It’s not as good as Cranberry Splash, but I do like it. It even has a Vampire on the can. Spooky.

Bill/DrummerJay: I bit the bullet and picked up Cranberry Splash as well. My earlier bravado about not drinking it until November lost its brav and ado the second I actually saw it at the store. Makes me wish Santa visited during Halloween and the two holidays were merged in a singular effort.

I only trust Wordpress to tell me when it’s after midnight, so I know it’s okay to post a new entry. This comment will confirm. How exciting.

I guess I’m just lucky, I’ve been able to get Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash all year here. I love the stuff!!

At the Toys R’ Us where I work we have a huge Halloween display right when you walk in. Huge cardboard borders and all.

I remember Toys r us back in the day, the costume would be stacked high and they would come in those boxes with the clear top. I miss those days.

I’m going to add something that I’m sure you’ll all think is fiendish: When I was younger, I wasn’t allowed to mix playdoh colors.

AUGH! your ghost faces are so dammed cute!
this looks like a pretty good deal, and as much as you seem to say that adults will only be entertained for a few minutes, you seem beyond amused.
especially with the domes. As far as i know they’ve been out for a year or two. The campus nurse has one in her office with something a sculpture major did for her- that’s when i first saw them.

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