20 Star-Shaped Crayons (100 points of color!)

We didn’t know what to take with us as a gift for the young son of a German friend whose family wants for nothing. Our friend is hooked on all sorts of grown-up toys and gives his son the latest and greatest hi-tech whatever, and this kid has just about everything. And to complicate matters, German toys are so well-made and classy (and he had one of each, no doubt), what could we take that wouldn’t seem lame?!

Having surrendered to the fact that nothing we’d give him would ever be as cool as the toys he already had, we grabbed a box of Eco Stars on our way to the airport because what kid doesn’t have fun with crayons, right? Star-shaped crayons, no less!

Made with crayons collected by the National Crayon Recycle Program, which employs people with developmental disabilities, these can’t-keep-your-hands-off-them, non-toxic crayons help create a positive, earth-conscious impact through the art of coloring and recycling.

Long story short is that the boy was mesmerized by these kicky, easy-to-hold, colorful crayons and his father emailed us for weeks, befuddled that the child was ignoring his other (“cooler”) toys in favor of hours and hours of drawing with the Eco Stars. He just couldn’t believe it and was (we think) a bit taken aback that something so old-school as crayons was such a hit. How do you like that, all ye who think kids need something battery-operated in order to have fun?!  (Colors may vary.)

Eco Stars. Don’t leave home without them. 

3 years + up