Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Zee Shave Ice Stand

Ack, we are slow. Sorry for the delay with these. School has started again and I had to do homework. Blah. But here we finally are with some pics of new things. :-D

The internet is rife with images of Kanani and her new outfits being de-boxed. So we thought we'd start our purchase reveals with the Shave Ice stand. Yes, we ordered it on Jan. 1st after a little deliberation. We are shameless.

"It's really well-built" -- was our first thought. The base is nicely made and has a ton of storage space inside it. Makes me think of all the cool things you could use the stand for. The hot-pink-ness is off-putting but we can see why people would like it. However, the top part does not really "attach" to the base. It only just sits in holes. This has led to many almost-catastrophes. "It's not built that well" -- was our second thought. We knocked the roof part over onto dolls. Dropped it while moving it. Etc. Etc. It is top heavy (obviously with the plastic roof) so at the slightest touch it pops out of those holes and down it goes. Maybe there is something we are missing here? Was there more to the instructions? What it could use is rubber stoppers that the poles suck down into. That way you could still remove the top part for easy storage, and it wouldn't be so prone to falling out. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Lesson: Set the stand up and don't move it around. :-P

The accessories are really cute and fun to play with. We would have liked it if one of the shave ice servings was left blank, like you were about the pour the syrup onto it or just took it out of the machine. And of course it would have been awesome if they weren't all blue or orange. They give you pink and green syrups. Why not pink and green servings? Well the servings do seem to be attempts at "mixes" but they mostly just look blue or orange.

A fun thing we discovered is that the shave ice machine has "ice" in the top and clicks when you turn the handle. Not exactly the same thrill as a real shave ice machine. But hey, they tried. Also, the syrup holder really does turn. Doesn't really spin, but turning is still cool.

If anyone has any questions about the stand and accessories, let us know in the comments!

So if you are wondering what we did to the stand to get rid of all that pink--- we did do something. Though we didn't eliminate all the pink. Heehee. First we are going to show you pics of the stand and its accessories. Praline the kitty makes a cameo appearance-- we received her for Christmas. Then scroll down to see our quick and inexpensive fix for making the stand look a little more "island" and less "Barbie." ;-)

Aloha! What is this thing trapped in styrofoam???


A Shave Ice Stand!


What do the accessories look like???




The Island Version... Courtesy of an IKEA Anno Strata window shade. ;)
We bought the window shade for about 10 bucks, cut a piece of it out, wrapped it around, and taped it to the back of the stand. Its only made of paper, so it is really easy to cut. And because we just taped it on, we can remove it at anytime. Also we can still hang up the larger sign onto the front, which we will show you in another post.



Kanani and her stand-- she is wearing the Lu'au halter top and her board shorts...
and in later shots, the "Go Girl" sunglasses....



Aloha! Again, if anyone has any questions about zee above schtuff, let us know! Look forward to more pics and the post announcing the Sew Fun Doll Clothes Jan-Feb giveaway! Toodles!

11 comments:

American Girl Dolls Rock!! said...

omg!! I love the shave ice stand and Kanani is so pretty!!

Lisa said...

It does attach to the bottom. You didn't push the little circles down into the base. Push hard on the circles...it will pop in. I had to ask my husband to do it but we got it done. It snaps right in with a little force.

Nora and Maple said...

Ah! Thanks Lisa! We felt like something wasn't quite right. Maybe we need the male of our household to push the poles down too. Haha. :D

Lisa said...

When we opened it I knew that there had to be a way that it snapped together. I didn't want to break it so I called my husband into the room to do the job. He pushed on the circles with his thumbs and he was able to snap it together. I wouldn't push on the poles or the top for fear of breakage. For a moment I contemplated using a rubber mallet to pop them in but he got the job done easily. It just took a little more force than I was using on my own. MUCH better when it's actually snapped together. :)

Nora and Maple said...

Yeah, we were hesitant to just start pushing on something that might break and costs over $100 haha. But pushing down on the circles seems like the thing to do. Thanks for that advice. Just needs someone with bigger and stronger thumbs to do the job...now we are waiting for "the man" to come home. ;)

Debbie said...

So glad to know that the top does attach more securely. My daughter is eagerly awaiting the arrival of hers but I too would have been hesitant to apply much pressure given that the holes are plastic. Did you just press hard from the top?

Thanks for the pics - the set looks wonderful! :)

Nora and Maple said...

Lisa says don't press on the top --- press on the circles around the poles right next to the base with your thumbs. You can see them in my pictures, right where the poles enter the base. It does work if you push there, they eventually go in. Haha.

susan said...

I love the way you took the "Barbie" look away from it. It is too pink! But, I'm an adult looking for something more realistic, instead of a child looking for color. You did a great job taking the pink out!
Susan

Anonymous said...

What a great idea for a modification, I never would have that of something like that!

-Karise

Anonymous said...

I love your improvement to the shave ice stand!

Nora and Maple said...

Thanks everyone!

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