Sunday Surprise: Happy Easter!

For more than a decade, Easter has started (bright and early!) in my house with an egg hunt and an epic treasure hunt.  I used to spend all Saturday making clues for the hunt...clues that my dynamic treasure hunting duo would solve in under an hour (baskets of candy are powerful motivators, I guess).  This year, with one kid off at college and the other with a new-found love for sleeping in on Sunday mornings...well, Easter is off to a quieter start.

I overcompensated for this change by trying to pack way too many things into today's Sunday Surprise.  I have an odd mix of surprise-themed things to share with you: some Li'l Woodzeez blind bag bobblehead figures, a matryoshka nesting doll (with a mystery number of smaller dolls inside!) and some vintage Holly Jolly baby-filled eggs by Zapf Creation.

Matryoshka doll by Yankelus.

Mooshka Fairy Tales Mini Doll by MGA Entertainment

I have admired the Mooshka cloth dolls ever since I first saw them at Target last summer.  They have a wholesome, sweet appearance that sets them apart from most of the other dolls found at big-box stores.  Mooshka dolls would fit nicely in a smaller, locally owned toy shop.  Surprisingly, these cloth girls are credited to the toy goliath, MGA Entertainment--through their partnership with Zapf Creation.

I always stop to check in on the Mooshka dolls when I am at Target, and during my last visit I was delighted to see a few newcomers to the collection.  The new wave of dolls is called Fairy Tales (a common theme these days...) and features four of the larger cloth girls (Ina, Casia, Sonia and Palia) dressed up in princess, fairy, or mermaid outfits.  The Fairy Tales collection also includes six mini figures, and these are the dolls that I found the most tempting.  The mini dolls have a lot of features in common with Lalaloopsy minis, but they are not made out of bright plastic.  In fact, at first glance, I assumed they were made out of wood.  Also, each mini Mooshka doll has a piece of her wardrobe that is made out of fabric.  At $7.99 each, I couldn't resist buying a few of these newcomers to see what they look like up close.

Here's Fairy Tales Ina and her owl companion:

Mooshka Fairy Tales mini doll, Ina.

Little Princess Cinderella by Zapf Creation

While I was waiting for my 18" Annie doll to arrive, Connor gave me a tip to go check out some wonderful flickr pictures of a highly-articulated 14" Disney Ariel doll made by Zapf Creation.  As Connor noted, I am a big fan of articulated dolls, Disney Princesses and redheads, so the tip was perfect for me (thank you, Connor!).  I also like the Zapf company quite a lot and tend to be impressed with the quality of their dolls.  Given all of this, it should come as no surprise that I went directly from the flickr pictures to the online shops, trying to find one of these Zapf dolls to review.

The dolls are not easy to find.  I don't think they've ever been for sale in the United States and it seems like they are now discontinued.  Limited quantities remain for sale online--often at dramatically marked-up prices.  I believe these dolls were first made in 2010 and retailed for around £25.  If you live in Europe, you can probably still find a doll at a reasonable price: Amazon UK currently has Ariel for £15 and Puppen Toys in Spain has several of the dolls at retail.  Here in the United States, it seems to cost $50-100 to bring home one of these princesses.  Fishpond.com has the best deals that I could find, and they are willing to ship internationally, but they don't have many dolls left.

Zapf made five princesses: Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Snow White and Cinderella.  The current prices and availability are linked to popularity.  Belle is the hardest to find and costs the most--often well over $100.  Fortunately, my favorite fairy tale princess, Cinderella, was the easiest to find and the least expensive:

Little Princess Cinderella, by Zapf.