Quest for Zhu Soundtrack - a giveaway

Part of what makes a movie is the soundtrack. Sometimes, those soundtracks are not songs you are familiar with, but on the Quest for Zhu Soundtrack, it is hard not to sing along with classics (sung by the cast of course) like ABC and Celebration and recent hits like Dynamite. There are a few original songs thrown in as well.

"ABC" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast {Jackson 5}
"Celebration" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast {Kool & the Gang}
"No Place Like Here" - Windy Wagner
"Who Says" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast {Selena Gomez & the Scene}
"One Day" - Pipsqueak
"Dynamite" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast {Taio Cruz}
"What I Like About You" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast {The Romantics}
"You're My Best Friend" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast {Queen}
"I'll Be Around" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast {The Spinners}
"Put Your Hands Up" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast
"Let's Groove" - "Quest for Zhu" Cast {Earth, Wind and Fire}
"Chunk's Story (The Surf Song)" - Sean Campbell
"No Place Like Here" - Savannah Outen
"One Day" - Thia Megia

Thinking of getting a copy for the ZhuZhu fans in your life? You can purchase the soundtrack CD and preview the songs at Amazon or buy the MP3s at iTunes. You can catch two singles on SoundCloud - find Savannah Ouston - No Place Like Here and Thia Megia - One Day.

Want to connect with the ZhuZhu Soundtrack? You can find a fan page on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. Check them out on the video of the ZhuZhu Pets performing ABC from the soundtrack. You can also find them on Tumblr.

Giveaway!
Thanks to the group behind the soundtrack, I have the opportunity to giveaway to one A Busy Mom of Two reader, a copy of the new Quest for Zhu Soundtrack CD and prize pack.

PRIZE PACKAGE:
*QUEST FOR ZHU -Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack, featuring SAVANNAH OUTEN-NO PLACE LIKE HERE, and American Idol's THIA MEGIA-ONE DAY.
*Official ZhuZhu Pets/Quest For Zhu poster
*Limited Edition set of ZhuZhu Pets/Quest For Zhu figurines (these were only available for a limited time via the commercial on sale DVD-but only 2 figurines per pack, but we are including all FOUR characters in the set for this contest)


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway will remain open through December 18. Giveaway is open to residents of the US only. One winner will be selected through Rafflecopter. The winner will be contacted by e-mail and will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected (would like to get it to you in time for Christmas).

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or that of my family. A prize pack is also being provided to my family.

Quest for Zhu - a Giveaway

A while back, I shared with you about the Quest for Zhu movie, which at the time was not yet released. The movie brings to life those loveable Zhu Zhu pets. Join ZhuZhu's Pipsqueak, Num Nums, Chunk and Mr. Squiggles in an "adventurous, heartwarming and heroic tale that Zhu-natics of all ages are sure to love".

Giveaway
Courtesy of MomSelect and ZhuZhu Pets, I am able to offer to one A Busy Mom of Two reader, a copy of the ZhuZhu Pets Quest for Zhu movie on DVD.

Read More>>

ZhuZhu Pets: Quest for Zhu

On September 27th, a new movie the Quest for Zhu is being released to DVD. My kids have been big fans of the Zhu Zhu pets and their habitats since they first burst onto the scene about 2 years ago. It's hard not to be drawn into those cute, little hamsters. I love how they squeak and make noises as they wander about your floor and when you are holding them close and petting them.

I figured that it would be fun for them to see their favorite little hamsters "live" in their own animated DVD. When our party pack arrived with a copy of the soon to be released DVD, a few figurines, a movie poster that included a number of "Zhugames and Zhuactivities" and a box of Twizzlers movie snack, the kids asked if they could watch the movie.

Since timing didn't work out for having some of their friends over to watch the movie and since we had a 16-hour each way road trip planned (Disney), I waited for our trip to let the kids enjoy the movie. I thought they would both like a break from the same old movies that they normally watch and would like to see something new. Overall the kids really enjoyed the movie. I liked that each hamster was looking for the meaning to their own symbol, in a bit of self discovery. The little toy figurines were nice for the kids because they were easy to play with while strapped into their car seats.

If your kids enjoy the Zhu Zhu Pets, they will enjoy the Quest for Zhu movie. The movie has something for everyone: action, adventure, suspense and lots of laughs. Plus, it is full of familiar "faces" - the movie stars Mr. Squiggles, NumNums, Chunk and Pipsqueak.

The heartwarming tale of four lively young teens (who just happen to be hamsters) on a quest to find the Palace of Zhu, where they believe all their dreams will come true. Join the feisty and lovable Pipsqueak,Mr. Squiggles, Chunk, Num Nums, and Stinker as she gets swept away to the other side of the Zhuniverse.

You can check out the trailer:

As a mom, I like that they enjoyed the toys before the movie. It's not the same, but I consider it similar to reading the book before the movie. By playing with the toys before they were given a character on screen, allows the kid to have their own perspective on "who" each hamster is and "what" they do. It is sort of like reading a book, where you are free to visualize the characters and interpret things in the plot on your own, without being subjected to what another person "sees" and then presents in the movie.

No compensation was received for this post. I received the Quest For Zhu party pack from MommyParties so that I could share this review. All opinions are expressed are mine or that of my family.

Zhu-niverse Ice Cream Party

What will they think of next? The group behind ZhuZhu pets sure have my children hooked. When the party box arrived a couple of weeks ago, my daughter was so excited to see more ZhuZhu Pets, an ice cream parlor and an ice cream truck. She was ready to open it all up and start playing. When I told her she would have to wait for the party, she started asking daily, when will we have a party?

Finally (from my daughter's perspective), this past weekend we hosted a Zhu-niverse Ice Cream Party. Okay, I guess maybe we didn't technically host since we weren't at our house, but we brought the party with us! I had planned to host at our house, , but things got busy and my daughter couldn't wait, so since we were off to a party with my nieces and nephew, we decided this would be a good time to have a Zhu-niverse Ice Cream Party.

The newest ZhuZhu Pets (at least that I know of, seems that they are always coming up with something new) are very colorful - I would describe the ones that we received as bright pastels - I know, it seems a bit like an oxymoron, but they came in pink, purple, blue and green. They were light shades like pastels, but very vivid colors at the same time. My son was quickly drawn to blue (it was the most "boy" color in the set) and my daughter, of course, liked them all. She eventually selected the pink one as the one that she would claim after the party.

The ice cream parlor came with many accessories, including a picnic table, "tubs" that looked like a variety of ice cream flavors, an ice cream scoop, sundaes, shakes and scoops of ice cream. It has an awning and serving window on one side and a slide open "Zhu-m" up window on the other side (that was bad, wasn't it?). I will say that if you have younger kids, this is one item where the accessories will need to be stored out of the way.

The hit of the party though was the ice cream truck. My video doesn't capture the sound but you can see the truck driving along with the ZhuZhu Pet wearing his ice cream driver hat. The kids kept wanting to be the next to drive the ice cream truck. They loved the music it played, sounds just like you would expect the ice cream truck to sound. They would stop the truck to push the button. When they did, sometimes the hamster would keep trying to push it along and other times, it would simply back out of the truck and go on it's merry way.


My kids are enamored with ZhuZhu Pets. As they continue to evolve, they are still very much intrigued by the toy and very excited to play with them when we get new ZhuZhus or accessories.

These new bright color one's were definitely more appealing to my daughter and nieces than to my son and nephew. When we wrapped up the party, we left two of them with my nieces to play with. We already have a "horde" of hamsters (although in trying to find the name for a group of hamsters, I learned that they don't usually live in groups - which made me think, do you still find hamsters in the wild?) at home anyways.

Myself, I think it has been an interesting evolution. The first ZhuZhu Pets that we played with - they were the colors of hamsters, their habitat, although having "room" stickers to enhance them felt like hamster stuff complete with a hamster wheel and ball. The first ZhuZhus felt to me a little like a pet without the responsibilities of a pet. Somewhere in the middle we had the KungZhu Pets, which came with battle armor and were ready to fight. Now, here we are with these new brightly colored ZhuZhus that have an ice cream parlor. The good news is that the rooms/shops are all modular and can connect to build an extensive habitat for the hamsters (especially since most of our play space is carpeted, if it weren't for the habitat, they would only be able to play with them in my kitchen. Which, is where things like the ice cream truck have to be played with - a bit of a disconnect with the rest of the toy in the basement. Another challenge (one that make my husband says "enough!") is that when all of the pieces hook together to form an elaborate and complex habitat, it's not compact and if all the rooms are used, it can take up a lot of space on the floor.

They are still fun to watch as they wander around "free" on the floor.

No compensation was received for this post. Through MomSelect and MommyParties, I received the ZhuZhu Pets and Ice Cream Parlor and Truck, for the purpose of hosting a party and sharing the experience with my readers. All opinions expressed are my own and those of my family.

Kung Zhu

As a mom, there are just some toys that I would never think to pick up off the shelf at the store. It's not that there is anything wrong with a toy, it's just that sometimes I wonder would my kids actually like that or play with that? One such toy is the new Kung Zhu line from Zhu Zhu pets. If I had seen it on shelf, I'm not sure I would have picked it out. My kids are lucky though that through MomSelect, I recently had the opportunity to check out Kung Zhu Pets. They LOVE them.

What are Kung Zhu Pets?

"With eight original characters split into two battling groups called Special Forces and Ninja Warriors, Kung Zhu Pet owners will have the thrill of training each character to transform fighting, battling warriors. While these Kung Zhu hamsters may start of as "cute" and "mild-mannered" once they are sent into their main training grounds, smart chip technology will actually allow you to hear a distinct personality transformation of fighting ninja and warriors."

Deck your Special Forces or Ninja pet in their armor and they are ready to achieve their goal of "justice in the zhu-niverse".

We came home from school one afternoon last week to a large box sitting in the kitchen. They were excited and couldn't wait to know what was inside. When I opened it, they immediately started pulling things out and wanting to know if we could open them.

I allowed them to each select a hamster and a set of battle armor for their hamster. These Kung Zhu pets are very similar to regular Zhu Zhu pets, but they have some special features that make them even more fun. They can be played with in "discover" mode like the original Zhu Zhu pets, in which they just tool around, making cute noises and bumping into things, or in "battle" mode where they make cute little warrior noises and do some special tricks (spins, wheelies, etc). Their armor set comes with a shield that has a track to run them across to "charge up their armor". Even before we opened anything else, the kids were having fun with their Kung Zhu hamsters.

After getting our hamsters out, suited up and running, we finally opened and set up a Battle Arena, where the two hamsters can duel it out a couple at a time, pushing each other around, doing spins, and trying to "win" by knocking the other Zhu Zhu over. We set up a Ninja training set and a Special Forces training set on either side of the arena. There also were some battle accessories for the arena (or for use on their own). We built and connected all of the pieces. The hamsters were ready for battle. (We only connected one training set to each side and added two battle accessories, but there are all kinds of accessories that you can hook onto the battle arena to make it more intricate and fun, too!)

The kids were a bit disappointed that when the hamsters were wearing their armor that they couldn't fit through the training set. This did seem somewhat odd, since the training sets attach to the "tunnels" leading to the battle arena. The kids quickly got over this and just let their hamsters train and upon reaching the battle arena, they would pick them up and pop on their armor. The battle accessories and the armor both have some "action" pieces that when bumped into fire or drop or swing a weapon into the arena. Of course, mostly these just serve as obstacles to the hamsters, leading to one or the other to flip over and "lose". That's okay, once they lose the kids switch sides and let their hamsters run on the other training set and return to battle again.

Generally, I am not a big fan of "fighting" or "battle" toys, but this one features cute hamsters and really makes the kids giggle - so it feels less violent than a "battle toy" sounds. In addition, the arena and the accessories can really start to take up a lot of space. We are fortunately enough to have a basement, but we first set it up in our family room which quickly was overrun in Kung Zhu. Once we moved it to the basement, there was plenty of room.

I have been impressed by the amount of time the kids spend playing with the Kung Zhu pets. Most of the time, hasn't even been in battle. As they were downstairs playing, my son came up and asked if he could recycle the boxes that the pets and toys had come in. Recycling makes sense to me, so I said sure. Turns out he meant reuse. They took to opening boxes and using the cardboard inside to create houses for their Kung Zhu hamsters. It was really great to see them spend time playing and being creative together. To me, a toy that inspires them to be creative is a good thing. Of course, all of their play has not been without squabbles. They both want to use the same set of armor - it fires off missiles when it gets bumped and my daughter struggles with letting her brother's Kung Zhu train on "her" training set (the one she helped me open and set up), but they have worked through both and now take turns.

Overall I would give these pets a great review...my kids have enjoyed playing with them all weekend! I love that you can play with just the pets alone or add in any number of accessories to mix it up.

Giveaway:

Kung Zhu giveaway! Thanks to MomSelect, I have a HUGE package of Kung Zhu fun to give to one lucky reader. Here is what the winner will get:

Two Kung Zhu pets
Two Sets of Kung Zhu armor
One Battle Arena
Three Accessories

To enter - check out the Kung Zhu hamster bios (here) and then leave a comment sharing which Kung Zhu hamster you could best relate to.

Additional entries:
· Follow @ABusyMomofTwo on Twitter. Tweet about this giveaway. Leave a comment with a link to your tweet. (this can be done daily)
· Follow this blog or sign up to receive e-mail updates (upper side bar). Leave a comment letting me know that you follow or subscribe (or if you already have been).
· Include my button on your side bar or a link to A Busy Mom of Two in your blog roll. Leave a comment with a link to your site.
· Share this giveaway with your friends on Facebook.
· Write a post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment with a link to your post.

Giveaway will remain open until July 5th at 6pm. Winner will be selected using Random.org random number generator. The winner will be contacted by e-mail (Please make sure that your email address is either in your comment or clearly visible on your profile or blog) and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner may be selected.

No compensation was received for this post. I did receive through Mom Select a pair of Kung Zhu hamsters, armor, battle arena and some accessories for my family, that we could play with them and share our experience. In addition, a set was provided for a giveaway.

Zhu Zhu Pets

A while back, I was offered the opportunity through MomSelect to receive some Zhu Zhu pets and a habitat in order that I might host a party and share the Zhu Zhu pets with friends. "Zhu Zhu Pets are the world’s first innovative, realistic, interactive, plush, and artificially intelligent hamsters that talk and move around in their own playsets."

Zhu Zhu pets come with a complete set of accessories that allow you to build a complete habitat for them. When the package arrived, I was surprised by the number of pieces that there were to build the habitat with. There are hamster wheels and balls. There is a car and surf board. There are rooms and slides. The possibilities are endless and you can connect them all. The kit was delayed in arriving and actually arrived after my planned date for my party, so we did a bunch of mini-play dates. All of the kids really loved them. Our neighbor girl asks daily if she can come in and play Zhu Zhu pets.

The hamsters run on 2-AAA batteries and come with their first set, which is nice because you can start playing right away with no need to find batteries. The Zhu Zhu pets come in a variety of colors and each seem to have a bit of their own personality.

The first weekend after the package arrived, I decided to open one of the Zhu Zhu pets and start playing. My daughter called them her "little kitties", which I thought was really cute. My cat, on the other hand was not very fond of the "little kitties". He pretty much steered clear of them as they wandered down the hallway and around the kitchen making little chirpy type noises. It is really amazing, they use their nose to sense when they run into things and turn around, but they also will, while heading down a given path, stop and change directions. No two adventures are alike. After playing with one in the hallway and nearly having it take a tumble down the stairs, we decided to start putting their habitat together to keep them in a safe surrounding.

The kids and I built the habitat over the next couple of days, one connection at a time. Speaking of connections, getting them to fit is important, we had one piece that was slightly warped and the hamsters kept getting caught on it. The connection tubes come with flip open lids and we quickly learned to leave that door open so that we could encourage the hamster past the hang up. I think of the habitat my favorite piece is the hamster wheel. Watching the little guy get himself onto the wheel and positioned and then taking off. It really was like playing with a real hamster only no food to feed them and no mess to clean up. (Plus, when the kids lose interest for a while, there is not a neglected pet to worry about.) The hamster ball is kind of fun too, as the little guys run off in one direction and then decide to head another way.

My kids really enjoy this toy. I was a little skeptical at first, but they really are kind of fun to watch scamper about the room or their habitat. The Zhu Zhu pets were originally only released in a test market, but are to be on shelves this fall. The toys are reasonably priced at $6.99 for each hamster and playsets beginning at $14.99. The playsets are modular and you can add as many or few as you want. Toys'R Us is currently out of stock on the items that they carry and the stores who list on Amazon appear to be taking advantage of the current limited availability and are selling them at a significant premium.

I can say that I will likely have to buy a second hamster ball when they become available so that both hamsters can play in them at the same time. I might also grab a couple more habitrail pieces. I think the room and the u-turn might be a good piece to extend the set.

The kids have maintained their interest in the toys, which is a good thing. At some point though, I think that we might donate the hamsters and habitat to our daycare. I think the kids there would get a kick out of watching the "animals" explore their environment.

Have you played with Zhu Zhu pets? What did you think? Leave a comment or link to your blog.