DISCLOSURE:   I was sent a party pack by House Party and LEGO to promote the new line of LEGO Duplo Read & Build sets.  The party pack included four free sets of LEGO Duplo Read & Build sets for party hosts to share and review.  All opinions are my own.

Recently, I was selected by HouseParty.com to host a party to promote the new LEGO Duplo Read & Build sets.  Each set includes a book that parents can read to their children and a set of LEGO Duplo bricks so you can build the characters in the story!  There are three different sets in the line:

• LEGO DUPLO Read & Build Busy Farm:  Features a book about Farmer Ted and his farm.  Use the included 15 LEGO Duplo bricks to build Farmer Ted's animals!
• LEGO DUPLO Read & Build Let's Go Vroom:  Read and build with Penny and Joe and build an airplane and sports car!
• LEGO DUPLO Read & Build Grow Caterpillar Grow:  Read about Caterpillar and his friends and use the included 17 LEGO Duplo bricks to build Caterpillar and his friends!

Party hosts were sent a kit that included

• 4 LEGO Duplo Read & Build Busy Farm sets
• 1 LEGO Duplo poster
• 13 LEGO Duplo brochures
• 13 LEGO Duplo magnetic picture frames
• 13 LEGO Duplo sticker sheets
• 1 pack of LEGO Duplo napkins
• 1 pack of LEGO Duplo plates

I invited all my friends who I knew had kids, regardless of their ages.  The sets are ideally for kids aged 18 months to 4 years old.  Sadly, most of the people I knew had kids older than that!  And of the ones that were within the age group, none of them could come.  =(  But I still set out to hold a great party!  I wanted to have a LEGO theme for the food and goody bags.  I did some research on Google and Pinterest and even made a LEGO Party Ideas board to help me out.

Here are the goody bags that I made:


Each bag included a brochure on LEGO Duplo toys, a LEGO Duplo sticker sheet, a LEGO Duplo magnetic picture frame, two LEGO pencils and a LEGO-shaped eraser.  Before the party, I set up the goody bags next to extra photo frames, brochures and the LEGO Duplo sets for the guests to browse:


I baked some LEGO inspired cookies, using Sweet Sugarbelle's cookie blog (it's an awesome site!) as a guide.  Hers came out way better, but for my first time, I guess not so bad.


The kids definitely enjoyed them:


I also made a LEGO cake.  Ideally, I would have liked to have made it out of real cake, but opted to make it out of Rice Krispy Treats to save time.  I was inspired by the Art of Dessert blog and her cake made for her son's birthday party.  Here's my version:


I followed the regular Rice Krispy Treats recipe on the Rice Krispies website and made it in a 13 x 9 inch pan.  Once it set, I cut it in half and stacked them on top of each other.  I then iced the whole thing with buttercream icing, before covering the cake with fondant.  I used Duff brand buttercream flavored fondant from Michael's.  It was my first time using it and it wasn't that great -- in flavor or ease of handling.  But I also used it for my cupcakes:


I ran out of time, though.  I was planning to make four little dots to attach to each red square.

Here's a picture of all the food we served.  I wanted to go simple with the other food since I spent so much time on the desserts!  We had pizza, Caesar salad, grilled asparagus, Caribbean Jerk chicken tenders, hot dogs, baby carrots with hummus, smoked salmon, a fruit plate, and this awesome Confetti Salad with chips to dip in it.


While everyone was eating, I had my kids' LEGO Quatro set out.  My sister-in-law's younger sister spent a lot of the party building different structures with it:



And she even made something for the LEGO Duplo animals to rest on:

Finally, my son woke up from his nap (sadly, the only kid who fit within the recommended age group), so I let him play with one of the sets.



He had no problems using the LEGO Duplo bricks, even though he's never used them before.  They were easy for him to handle and he had a great time learning the names of the animals in the story and what sounds they make.  Here's one of his own creations:


Not sure what you'd call it....

Then, the adults set out to try and outdo each other in making the most awesome LEGO tower using the LEGO Quatro bricks, since they were bigger.



And the younger kids took pleasure in knocking them down:

Overall, the party was fun.  It was a great excuse to get together with everyone.  I only wish I had more younger kids attending.  My in-laws took one of the goody bags and LEGO sets to bring to their neighbor who had a little boy who loved LEGO bricks.  My almost-2-year-old still loves playing with the bricks and always asks me to read the book to him and he loves making all the animal sounds.

Would you recommend it?
Definitely!  I don't know any kids who don't love to play with LEGO bricks.  These are great for the toddler to preschool set.  They're easy to handle, big enough so you don't have as big of a worry about choking and it's a great way to get your child excited about reading.


How much does it cost?
The sets retail for $12.99 each.


Where can I buy it?
You can find it at mass merchandisers (like Target and Walmart), toy stores and online retailers.