The Day Zhu Zhu Pets Took Over Our House

Laughter, squeals, giggles and trills rose from my kitchen floor as six pre-teen girls unpacked their Zhu Zhu Pets^TM and the play pieces designed for them.

Earlier this summer we agreed to participate in a Go-Go pet promotion through Mom Select. The packages were delayed when the name changed to Zhu Zhu Pets^TM but the cute little movable hamsters stayed the same and we watched the mail with eagerness waiting for them to arrive.

This last Tuesday a big box arrived on our door step. The timing couldn't have been better because school started on Wednesday. My daughter was able to invite school friends over for a belated birthday celebration on Friday. Having a summer birthday is tough since so many people are away. It turned out to be a perfect night to have a few friends come over for pizza and cake!

Included in our party box was:

• 11 Zhu Zhu Pets^TM Hamsters (enough for everyone to get one as a favor to take home). (The girls were able to choose between the 4 Hamsters named: Chunk, Pipsqueak, Squiggles and NumNums.)
• A complete Zhu Zhu Pets^TM Hamster "Habitrail", including kitchen, hamster wheel and more.
• Themed games and activities and easy-to-make recipes

Our package suggested a couple of great recipes! We chose the easy way out and ordered pizza and I made a vanilla and chocolate frosting cake.

Here's one recipe I wanted to pass on though since it looked so good:

Pipsqueak’s Sweet Trail Mix

Pipsqueak, the sweetest of them all, loves dried fruits and nuts, and your kids will love the chocolate treat. Even sweeter when the kids get to help!

3 cups pretzel sticks

½ cup peanuts (lightly salted)

1½ cups corn cereal*

½ cup raisins or dried cranberries

12 oz. white chocolate

In a large bowl, combine pretzels, peanuts, cereals and dried fruit. In a smaller bowl, melt the white chocolate in the microwave (times vary, see package directions).   Slowly pour the melted chocolate over the dry mix and gently stir to coat dry mix. Transfer mix to waxed paper to cool; about 20 minutes. Break mix into bite-sized pieces and enjoy!  Makes approx. 10 cups.              

This is also a great recipe to use to get rid of those half-finished cereal boxes or pretzels in your pantry.

The party started with everyone breaking out their pets and trying them out on the floor as we waited for one more guest to arrive. When everyone was there, the girls opened the habitrail and put it all together. The best part of having 11 & 12 yr. olds do this was that they could actually do it themselves!

Catching the little guys once you let them go was the hardest and most fun part!

A couple of things to remember with the Zhu Zhu Pets^TM are as follows:

• The pet runs best on hard surfaces – (like our kitchen floor.)
• You are not supposed to use these toys with real animals. Our very real gerbils stayed in their own habitrail and roll-around ball during the party. Cleaning up poop out of these toy trails would not have been fun.
• The head can be pressed for noises and the back for movement or to put the hamster into sleep mode.
• The nose acts as a sensor for when the hamster needs to turn around.
• Attempts at hamster races was fun but impractical since the hamsters stop, coo and turn around halfway across the floor which was actually pretty funny.
• The hamster car was the all-time favorite — so if you have to pick one piece or two pieces to begin with: get one of the middle sets and an attachable car! The hamster zooms in to the garage and zooms out in a car across the floor.
• The connectors were the hardest part for the children. Work with your child to make sure these stay connected if you want the trails to work correctly. Otherwise, the hamsters are a lot of fun simply on the ground.
• By the next morning, the battery had run low on one hamster; so turn them off when the child is done or buy extra strength batteries for prolonged play.

The hamsters were truly engaging and an interesting new concept. The girls enjoyed them for awhile before I found my pre-teen daughters and their guests dancing to Taylor Swift on the front porch. But, then, they came back in and played with the hamsters again.

I would probably say my girls were a little on the older side for this toy set but it truly did entertain them most of the party. We didn't even have time for a movie which is saying A LOT!

Thank you, Mom Select and Zhu Zhu Pets^TM