Third Annual 'Adult Swim' is Thursday, December 9th - 6-9 - Exclusive Specials & Win a $50 Gift Card!

YoYo Joe’s Toys & Fun will hold our third annual ‘Adult Swim’ night on Thursday, December 9th from 6-9 pm. That means from 6-9, YoYo Joe’s Toys & Fun will be off-limits to kids! (Hey, the other 4,000 hours of the year, we’re happy to have kids in our store!) We’ll even have beer & wine to make your holiday shopping experience as stress-free as possible!

We're upping the ante this year by giving away a $50 YoYo Joe's Gift Card to one lucky person who attends 'Adult Swim'  and we're gonna have exclusive specials for Adult Swim night only! Here's our list of items that will be on special:


Melissa & Doug Swivel Bridge Wooden Train Set - Normally $59.99 - Adult Swim Special - $39.99
'You've Been Sentenced' Game - Normally $24.99 - Adult Swim Special - $16.99
Melissa & Doug Bake & Serve Brownie Set - Normally $19.99 - Adult Swim Special - $13.99
Alex Toys Foil Bead Maker - Normally $19.99 - Adult Swim Special - $13.99
International Playthings Henrietta the Pull Along Hen - Normally $19.99 - Adult Swim Special - $13.99
Diggin Toys - Dodge Tag - Normally $19.99 - Adult Swim Special - $13.99
Lego Racers  Tiny Turbos Sets - Normally $15.99 - Adult Swim Special - $10.99
Green Toys Recycling Truck - Normally $25.99 - Adult Swim Special - $17.99 
Blockers Game - Normally $29.99 - Adult Swim Special - $19.99 
Diggin Toys Squap Game - - Normally $24.99 - Adult Swim Special - $16.99 

See you on Thursday 

Hey Look! We're in the Paper!

A big article in the Wilmington News Journal today rounds up the triple play of media coverage over the past couple of weeks (TV, Radio & Newspaper, oh my!)

To read it, click here.

Hey Listen! We're on the Radio!

'YoYo Joe' gets around...last week on 'The 10! Show, ' and this past Wednesday, Joe visited WDEL's Rick Jensen to talk about dangerous (and not-so-dangerous) toys on his afternoon show. Rick was kind enough to create a podcast to listen to. Joe was also quoted in an article in the Wilmington News Journal about 'Small Business Saturday' on Wednesday. If you haven't gotten your fill of Joe, there's gonna be an article in an upcoming edition of 'The Wilmington News Journal' about YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun and Mitchell's.

Good times!

Click here to listen to Joe on 'The Rick Jensen Show'

Hey Look! We're on TV!

Thanks to our friends at NBC10 for our second visit from 'The 10! Show' and their roving reporter Justin Pizzi!

'The 10! Show' is headed back to YoYo Joe's - show up and get a free $5 Gift-Certificate!

You might recall that NBC 10's 'The 10! Show' did a live remote last year from YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun. Well, they're coming back! On Wednesday, November 17th, Justin Pizzi from The 10! Show will visit YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun to do a live remote report on hot holiday toys. The broadcast starts just after 10 am, and we at YoYo Joe's would like a full house to set a good holiday mood. So...we're not above bribing you. Each and every person who arrives at YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun BEFORE 10 am will receive a no-strings attached $5 gift-certificate to spend on any purchase at YoYo Joe's through Wednesday. You can use it to save $5 off your purchase or just get your under $5 purchase free. It's up to you. So, show up BEFORE 10 am and get a free $5 towards your holiday shopping!

And, as the show is taped live, you can make it home in time to see yourself on TV! 'The 10! Show' is on NBC10 at 11 am. See you on Wednesday!

Vote early, vote often

Well, actually, you can vote anytime this week. What do you mean today's election day? Oh, THAT election..no, I was talking about the awesome chalk voting booth we have in the back of YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun, courtesy our own Beth, who's the artist behind the signs at YoYo Joe's.

As for the chalk board, it's the door to our back room. It's one thing we never painted when we moved in and we've been meaning to paint it ever since. Emily had the brainstorm to use chalkboard paint, and (in my opinion) it looks awesome!

Check our our chalkboard back door the next time you're in YoYo Joe's...

Cooking's Cool demonstration

Thanks to the great crowd who participated in last Sunday's 'Cooking's Cool' event with childrens author Cindy Sardo. We had a great time, and everyone walked away with samples! If you didn't make it and were interested, we recorded the event on video and it's now available on the YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun channel on YouTube.

Thanks again to Cindy for taking her time out to visit.

Green Toys Fire Truck

It's chunky, it's 100% recycled,
 it's made in the US and A!

I saw this toy at the ASTRA Conference in June and loved it. If you're familiar with the Green Toys Recycling Truck, the Fire Truck is very similar, except, you know, it fights fires.
Based on the same durable chassis as the Recycling Truck, the Fire Truck has a has a ladder that pops up and swivels 360 degrees. It also has two removable ladders. But, one of the coolest things about the Fire Truck is that it, along with all Green Toys products, is made from 100% curbside collected recycled plastic. It's a toy made from trash! It's also made in the USA! Jinkies!

We have a limited number of these in stock, as they told me at the ASTRA show that these would be of limited availability in 2010. A great gift for your one & up truck lover!

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Preview

Thanks to our pals at Bootless Artworks for presenting a preview of their upcoming play, 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' today at YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun. It was an awesome preview that featured a spelling bee right here at YoYo Joe's! And I was in it! And I lost! Stoopid spelling bee.
Cassie was the big winner! Here's some pics and a short video from today's preview.

The participants in today's spelling bee preview.

Hey look! Players from YoYo Joe's Brandywine
Little League team were on hand to watch. 

As I'm eliminated from the contest, I'm sung off by the 'Comfort Counselor'.
Who knows how to spell Dengue anyway?

First Day of School Giveaway

We borrowed the $5 gift-certificate giveaway from our friends at Pufferbellies Toys & Books and also, thanks to Erin at Pufferbellies suggestion, borrowed their idea about photographing kids who got gift-certificates and what they spent it on.
I'm happy to report that with the bulk of the Delaware schools back to school, both the promotion and the photos were a big hit! I'm posting a couple of the pics here, but you can see all the photographs we took over at the YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun Facebook page.
Thanks to those who let us take pictures of them and have a great year at school!

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Cooking's Cool

A little while back, our pal - Landenberg author (and now playwright) Jamie Kleman let me know that one of her friends and Landenberg neighbors had published some kids books on cooking. Cindy Sardo stopped in and dropped off a book, and now we're super excited to announce that Cindy will have a special hands-on demo at YoYoJoe's on Sunday, September 19 at 2 pm.

She'll do a hands on cooking demonstration of her recipe for roasted vegetable quesadillas from her book, 'Cooking’s Cook in the Fall.' Kids will be able to help her prepare the recipe, and there will be samples for up to 50 people! Her books, Cooking's Cool, was featured on Rachael Ray's Yum-o! website and May 2010 newsletter. 


Thanks to one of our employees, Annette, we're gonna tie the demonstration in with a movement to have kids help out with the cooking on Mondays. It's part of the Healthy Monday movement and they're calling it The The Kid Cook Mondays.

Here's your chance to learn some cool cooking techniques for your kids and pick up a copy of Cindy's fall cook book and get it signed by the author.


Check out Cindy's website here. 

20% Off Labor Day Weekend Sale!!

YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun will have everything on sale during Labor Day Weekend - Friday, September 3rd through Sunday, September 5th! Save 20% off your entire purchase for those three days only! YoYo Joe's will be closed on Monday, but you have three days to stock up.

FREE $5 Gift Certificate to all kids on their first day of school!!

Going back to school is not many student's ideas of a good time, but to ease the pain, bring them to YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun on their official first day of school (Kindergarten through Eighth grade), and we'll give them a FREE $5 Gift-Certificate. No strings attached! Pick a toy that's $5 or under and it's free! Or pick one that's over $5, and we'll take $5 off your purchase. We'll have a list of local schools and their starting time on hand, so just let us know where you go to school and get a $5 GC!
There's a limit of one per student, and you cannot combine them, but hey, it's free!
We're also gonna take pictures of the kids with their purchases and post them in our store! Awesome-sauce!

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee preview at YoYo Joe's

Thanks to our friends at Bootless Artworks, YoYo Joe's will be hosting a special preview of their upcoming show 'The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee' on Saturday, September 11th at 11 am. They'll have a real live spelling bee right in YoYo Joe's and you can win tickets to the show!
Bootless Artworks is a non-profit arts organization located right here in Delaware. They're moving into their new digs in New Castle - at the location of the historic Bellanca airplane hanger. 
They were kind enough to let us host a preview performance of the performance of The Velveteen Rabbit last winter, and they were awesome! 
Tickets for their performances go on sale tomorrow. They warn that there is some mature language involved in the show, but say they'll use alternative words for the matinee shows. 
The shows will take place at the Reach Academy for Girls in Claymont. To buy tickets for the shows, click here. 



SHOW DATES
Friday, September 24, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Saturday, September 25, 2010 @ 8:00 pm 
Sunday, September 26, 2010 @ 3:00 pm
Friday, October 1, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Saturday, October 2, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
Saturday, October 2, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Friday, October 8, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Saturday, October 9, 2010 @ 8:00 pm

Celebrity sighting at YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun! Our own toy model -
Allie - came in with her family. She signed her picture!

YoYo Joe's is thrilled to announce our first Game Night - August 6th at 6pm featuring @CampGames 'Camp' and 'Smores'

The @YoYoJoe's Toys & Fun 'Keys to the Treasure' cards have been so popular, we're almost out of them! We've already reordered them!

Weeeeee're Going Green!!

A couple months back, I boasted about our role in the production of the musical "It's Not Mean to be Green," which made it's world debut at the duPont Theater. We are proud to hear that the soundtrack to the musical won the prestigious New York Book Festival Award for the "Audio, Spoken Word" category! Congrats to our friend Jamie Kleman and to the cast and crew of the wonderful play. Oh, by the way, the first store to carry the soundtrack? YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun, of course! We have the soundtrack playing in our store. Check out our mini "It's Not Mean to be Green" section - where we have the soundtrack, T-Shirts, Book Carriers and the book itself!

Severe 2010, Hubstacked Genesis, 44 Special just dropped at yoyojoes.com! Very limited quantities!

YoYo Joe's Yo-Yo Club video!

Check out this video that David, Jared and Jesse from YoYo Joe's Yo-Yo Club put together last week. 
Which reminds me, the largest yo-yo contest in the region takes place on June 19th at Aldersgate United Methodist Church on Concord Pike. YoYo Joe's is proud to be the host of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Yo-Yo Contest, one of eight regionals in the US. Winners at MAR will qualify for the US National Yo-Yo Contest in Chico, California in October!

We have a winner!

One of the many new items we got this year at the New York Toy Fair were the 'Find It' Tubes. These are tubes filled with thousands of little plastic beads, and intermingled with the beads are dozens of tiny objects. The game is to find these objects and check them off your score pad.
When I spoke to the people at the Find It Tube booth at Toy Fair, they mentioned that every tube includes among it's items a single penny. What they didn't figure on was that the penny would, more so than any other item, be incredibly difficult to spot. Whether it has to do with the density of the penny, or the weight, or whatever, that penny likes it in the middle and doesn't come out very often.
In the three months that we've had the Find It Tubes, I've seen the penny once, and that was only because Carol (one of our fantastic employees) found it and showed it to me.
A little over a month ago, we put up a little tent sign saying that if you found the penny in 5 minutes, we'd give you $5 Gift-Certificate. In that time, dozens and dozens of people have tried to find the penny, and no one has found it.
No one, that is, until last night.
Last night, 9-year-old Liam from Wilmington found the penny. Congratulations, Liam! Thanks to Liam's mom - Sue - who sent this picture of Liam, the Tube and his Gift-Certificate.
Can you find the penny? Come in and find out! You could win a $5 Gift-Certificate too!

Spring Fling, part deux, was Awesome!

Saturday was a Blast! The store was crowded. The events all were great! Thanks to all who came by and took part in the activities. We look forward to planning our 3rd Annual Spring Fling next year. Special thanks to Bill Currier, Rocky Bluewinkle and Nik Theorin for their performances. Look for a secret special guest who showed up unexpectedly.

First up was Bill Currier, from 'We Kids Rock.' Bill performed interactive songs, complete with shakers, stuffed animals and more. Here's Bill performing a song that has people shaking along with him:

Next, Rocky Bluewinkle from our own local Wilmington Blue Rocks hung out at YoYo Joe's. Rocky played with our customers, posed for pictures and even took a ride around the store in the Flying Turtle. See Rocky at all home Wilmington Blue Rocks games (home of the YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun Dizzy Bat Race!)

Finally, 12 year-old magician 'Tricky Nik' Theorin put on a show that was a big hit with everyone. Nik was awesome!!  Here's a quick video of one of Nik's tricks:

We were surprised when Fancy Nancy herself showed up unexpectedly during Spring Fling. Thanks for stopping in, Nancy! 

Spring is for Flinging!

2nd Annual Spring Fling!

Join us on Saturday, May 8th for a day full of fun, give-aways, activities and a special one-day only sale!

20% Off All Day!

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20% off storewide all day Saturday May 8th only! Come in and save from 10 am until 8 pm.

Bill Currier from 'We Kids Rock' - 11-11:40

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Bill Currier from the Wilmington kids music program 'We Kids Rock' will be on hand from 11-11:40 to sing songs & include your kids with the music-making as they help Bill keep the beat on his songs. Appropriate for kids of all ages! Check out wekidsrock.com for information on classes at the nearby Mt. Lebanon Church.

Rocky Bluewinkle - 12 - 2

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Rocky Bluewinkle, the famous mascot of our local Wilmington Blue Rocks, will join us from 12-2 on Saturday to hang out, have his picture taken or just read a book like he did last year during our Spring Fling! Check out the Wilmington Blue Rocks and the YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun Dizzy Bat Race at Frawley Stadium this summer.


Tricky Nik Theorin - 2 - 2:30

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Nik Theorin, 12-year-old magician from nearby Landenberg, will put on a magic show from 2-2:30. Check out Nik's website at TrickyNiksMagic.com

Prize Drawings & Other Surprises

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We'll be holding three prize drawings throughout the day!

It's Not Mean to be Green, the Musical! - Win Tix!

This Sunday marks the world premiere of "It's Not Mean to be Green, the Musical" at the duPont Theater in Wilmington.

We couldn't be more excited for our friends Jamie Kleman and Barbara Slavin and all the people who made the play possible.

We're awfully proud of our part in the creation of this musical and we can't wait to attend Sunday's showing of the play.

If you haven't heard me tell the story before, here it is again. When we first opened, our friend Gayle Lafferty suggested we contact a friend of hers who had written a children's book. Turns out her friend is Jamie Kleman and the book is 'It's Not Mean to be Green.' Jamie was gracious enough to show up and do a reading at our store before our official opening date.

Early in 2009, I met with Barbara Slavin, who was then the manager of the duPont Theater children's series about scheduling cross-promotions with YoYo Joe's. Barbara ran down the projected schedule for 2009-2010 and when she got to April, she mentioned that they were hoping to do their own production of a play with an environmental theme for Earth Day. I suggested she contact Jamie and gave Barbara a copy of Jamie's book.

Turns out, they hit it off and the play was born! I like to think that they were destined to meet anyway, but I am thrilled that I could have played a part in something like this happening.

So, we bought tickets to the show this Sunday and we got some extras to give away. I know it's last minute, but we have several packs of four tix available for the show on Sunday. The show is at 3 pm at the duPont Theater. You can win one of a couple ways. Either comment below that you're interested or check out our twitter feed at twitter.com/yoyojoe and 'reweet' our It's Not Mean to be Green ticket tweet.

Hope to see you on Sunday!!

Pancakes + Play + Delaware Children's Museum + YoYo Joe's Toys & Fun = FUN

We were thrilled when our friends at the Delaware Children's Museum asked us to sponsor their first D@D (Dads at the Delaware Children's Museum) Event - the Pancakes & Play Breakfast, which was held today at the Delaware Riverfront Market.

My son, Ethan, and I showed up around 8:30 and brought with us one of our favorite in-store demo units - the marble run - as well as a box of yo-yos to give out to kids.

The doors opened at 9 am, and soon we were mobbed with kids. Most of the kids were a bit young to yo-yo, but we fitted them with custom string length yo-yos and it was awesome to see the looks on their faces after we helped them with their first throws.

We got to meet both co-chairs of the D@D - Delaware Lt. Governor Matt Denn & Khary Dewitt and their children.

The event was sold out and our pals at the DCM seemed quite happy with

the turnout. It was the first event where they actually sold memberships to the museum (we joined on day one - yay!). To join the DCM, click here.

We have a close relationship to the Delaware Children's Museum and anticipate working with them on cross-promotional activities. We've discussed monthly versions of our popular Yo-Yo Club at the DCM.

Thanks to Julie, Paige and Traci and all the wonderful people at the Delaware Children's Museum for letting us be a part of this awesome event.

Time for Spring Training at YoYo Joe's!

We have started receiving our shipments from orders we places at the 2010 New York International Toy Fair. Among the first of them? Kaskey Kids action figures. Baseball Guys, Football Guys and Soccer Guys. Each set comes with enough players to field two teams, plus a playmat and more.

Play Ball!

Toy Fair 2010

We're headed off to the 2010 New York International Toy Fair tomorrow. While in New York, we'll be checking out hundreds of booths with thousands of toys. It's always a blast digging through the new toys to find ones we think will be winners each year.
We're also headed to the ASTRA (American Specialty Toy Retailing Association) party Sunday night as well as the annual YoYo Nation Happy Hour on Monday night.
Check out my tweets from ToyFair by following my Twitter feed at twitter.com/yoyojoe or for general tweets from Toy Fair, look for the hash tag #toyfairNY.