Disney Pixar Cars Collection

Each band comes in four different colors. The colors for this pack include orange, green, blue, and red. The pack includes five shapes of characters in the first movie. The following provides a description for each of the five characters.

McQueen

It is only fitting the lead character of the popular movie Cars has his own Character Bandz. Lighting McQueen is the easiest and most familiar shape to identify. The shape is a side view of the car and is in the racing car shape of Lighting McQueen.

Wingo

Wingo is part of the crew of cars that serenades Mac to sleep on the highway. It is the green car in the movie with the tall spoiler on the rear of the car. The shape of this Character Bandz is easy to recognize because of the tall rear spoiler.

Snot Rod

Snot Rod has the car engine raised out of the hood of the car. This makes an unusual shape for a Silly Bandz, but once you realize what you are looking at you can see the car in the shape.

Boost

Boost is a gray and purple car in the move with a wide spoiler on the rear of the car. The Silly Bandz looks as though Boost has a jet engine mounted to the rear of the car.

D.J.

D.J. is the blue boxy car in the movie. This is an easier Silly Bandz to recognize because it is shorter than the rest of the Disney Cars Character Bandz.

The best way to collect Silly Bandz is to buy the ones you like, keeping the colors you like, and trading away the leftovers. Do you have any suggestions for Silly Bandz collecting? Which one is your favorite?

Colors of the Fantasy Shape Silly Bandz

The mermaid is a mint green, glittery Silly Bandz. It looks like the silhouette of a mermaid waiving her hand with a well defined tail fin.

The unicorn is a light blue, glittery Silly Bandz. The unicorn is in a prancing pose with one of his front hooves up.

The fairy is a pink, glittery Silly Bandz. It is the most obscure shape of this pack with the fairy in a sitting pose with one leg extended and the other bent and crossed. The wings are small and not very well defined. The fairy has her hand out as if she was blowing “fairy dust” off of it. The head of the fairy protrudes out the top of the Silly Bandz.

The dragon is a red, glittery Silly Bandz. This is a well shaped dragon with a defined head, wings, and tail.

The phoenix is a yellow, glittery Silly Bandz. The yellow color is darker than most other yellow Silly Bandz and the shape of the bird is very distinctive with wings stretched out to the sides of the bird.

The genie is a purple, glittery Silly Bandz. The shape of the genie is well defined with the genie coming out of a genie lamp, arms are crossed, and the body and head are in the traditional shape of a genie.

Are you still an avid collector of Silly Bandz? Have you seen the latest newly released shapes such as Barbie, Justin Beiber, Rango, and more? Keep collecting as this fad is still going strong.

BCP Imports, LLC, the producers of Silly Bandz, has a new product on the market: Rad Ringz. Rad Rings are interchangeable slogan and picture rings. The rings are made out of a durable silicone material and come in six sizes (4/5, 5/6, 6/7, 7/8, 8/9, and 9/10). The face plates are interchangeable and have various pictures or words allowing wearers to express himself or herself. The following will provide a few images and design specifics for three of the packs available.

Rad Ringz Sizing

The sizes of the ringz are located on the back of the pack. Each Rad Ringz fits on two fingers at one time. One ring is smaller than the other and can be worn on the index and middle finger or on the middle finger and ring finger, or on the ring finger and pinky.

Rad Ringz Rock Pack

The Rock Pack contains a black Rad Ringz with three face plates. The first plate is an image of a skull with wings. The pack also comes with two, word face plates: Rockstar with a star holding the place of the letter a; Famous with red and gray coloring. The basic colors for this set are gray, white, red, and black.

Rad Rings Hipster Pack

The Hipster Pack contains a white Rad Ringz with three face plates. Two of the face plates have images. The first image is a pair of sunglasses and the second image is a radio or boom box. The third face plate is a word face plate that says Hipster. The basic colors for this set are gray, white, and black.

Rad Rings Princess Pack

The Princess Pack contains a pink Rad Ringz with three face plates. Two of the face plates are word face plates and say Beautiful and Princess. The third face plate is an image of a princess crown. The basic colors for this set are pink, purple, light blue, white, yellow and green.

The items are made with durable materials with a product recommendation for people over the age of three. Each face plate has the Rad Ringz™ logo incorporated on the front and the Rad Ringz have the log imprinted on the side of the ringz. The inserts are easy to replace by sliding in and out of the ringz. This option makes the ringz collectible and can easily be traded like Silly Bandz.

The interchangeable face plates make these collectible and tradable. Collectors can wear two sets to combine words or images on one hand such as “Beautiful Princess” or “Beautiful Rockstar” to show off their attitude or style.  The inserts can be purchased in sets without the ringz for about half the cost of a complete set.

Rad Ringz are the next best thing brought to you by BCP Imports, LLC…the same people that started the Silly Bandz craze. Rad Ringz make great stocking stuffers, party prizes, gifts, and collectables. Have you started collecting Rad Ringz? What is your favorite combination? Feel free to make a comment or post a suggestion.

Butterfly Googly Rings

Each pack contains 24 Sparkle Rings varying in color. Typically the packs will contain 5 shapes with matching colors for each shape, but not every color or shape is in the pack. For instance, this package showed yellow and orange on the outside, but only blue, purple, and pink were provided by the company. Other packages may be different and may follow the exterior packaging color schemes. The product can be purchased online or at local retailers such as Walmart, Meijer, or Walgreens.

Blue open winged butterfly sparkle Googly Rings.

Pink flying butterfly Googly Rings.

Pink open winged butterfly Googly Rings (slightly different shape, but the same color as the other pink rings).

Purple butterflies drinking nectar Googly Rings.

Purple closed wing butterfly Googly Rings.

Teal wings spread butterfly Googly Rings.

The size of the Googly Rings make them a choking hazard and are recommend by the manufacture for children five and up.

The shapes are very defined as being butterflies, although they shapes do not have significant differences.

Do you have any questions or comments concerning the Silly Band Craze? Have you started collecting the rings? What are your thoughts on wearing them?

Superman Character Bandz Collection

Superman Emblem

The Superman emblem is an intricate band. When stretched out it is very large and may not fit on a small child’s wrist very securely. The band lays flat and easy to return to the original shape. The emblem come is one of each of the four colors.

Superman #1

The first Superman silhouette is in the shape of Superman flying up into the air (streamlined) or just taking off. It comes in all four colors.

Superman #2

The second shape is of Superman flying through the air and is of a side view. The silhouette shows Superman’s arms extended with his cape flapping in the wind.

Superman #3

The third shape is an aerial view of Superman. This band shows both arms stretched out in front of the body and the head projecting between the shoulders. The cape covers the body, so this band is much wider than the previous two.

Superman #4

The fourth shape shows the silhouette of Superman standing or floating in air. His hands are on his hips in traditional Superman fashion.

This Character Bandz collection is great for any Superman fan or to give out as a party favor in a gift bag. Superman is a popular character many children are familiar with. You can purchase Character Bandz at Meijer and Walgreens or online stores like Shindigz.

It is difficult to distinguish between actual Silly Bandz and other brands of bands unless you know what comes in each package. The products are essentially the same except for the licensed products touting specific characters or shapes. When collecting, it is not necessary to stick with one brand, but rather purchase the items you like to collect and trade. The best way to find the actual Silly Bandz products is to search Silly Bandz for the shapes you are looking for. A few examples include the Marvel Characters. This is exclusive to the Silly Bandz company and includes Iron Man, Spider Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Hulk, and Thor. Although, Stretchy Bands produced by Creative Designs International, LTD., has a line of Marvel Super Hero Squad containing more kid like action heroes.

The other Silly Bandz are similar to the generic or off brand shapes and can easily be mistaken. The Farm Animals and Zoo packs are common in nearly all brands of shaped rubber bands. These include shapes of pigs, turtles, ducks, dogs, bunnies, and cats along with giraffes, hippos, kangaroos, ostrich,  rhinoceros, and an elephant. Because these are quite common, it may be difficult to tell them apart unless you pay specific attention to the type of silicon, colors, and resiliency.

Ways to Tell the Shaped Rubber Bands Apart

I don’t know if will make a difference to your children as they trade for their favorite character who actually made the product, but it may be a wise choice to understand the differences upfront. Three things can be examined if you do not know who made the product: material, longevity, and coloring.

Material Used in Shaped Rubber Bands

The quality of the silicone used is a key indicator of being a true Silly Bandz or one of high quality. Silly Bandz hold their shape well, return to the original position and shape, and do not break as easily as off brands. Although not all variations are poor quality. Many of the other companies such as Stretchy Bands are producing high quality products (for this type of product) and are comparable to actual Silly Bandz products. Character Bands are also a high quality shaped rubber band product.

Longevity of Shaped Rubber Bands

As mentioned, many of the generic bands will break easily when stretched. This must be a production flaw that saves money for the company producing cheaper bands. If stretched to many times, all of the bands will eventually break, but the lower quality products do so more rapidly.

Coloring of Shaped Rubber Bandz

Actual Silly Bandz and other high quality bands have bright colors that do not fade easily. Even the tie-die colors are quite defined. Many of the off brands have lighter colors and are not as uniform in quality.  However, some of the alternative bands come in great shapes such as Walt Disney characters (Stretchy Bands) and are on the same level of quality as the original Silly Bandz. The Silly Bandz are also color specific for each shape. For example, in the Princess Shapes Silly Bandz, all the Diamond Rings are gold and all the Glass Slippers are white.

In the Character Bandz each shape comes in one of each of the four colors in the pack. As seen below, the Superman symbol came in one of each of the colors listed on the package.

Other Names for Shaped Rubber Bands

The product is easy to reproduce and many varieties exist. Fun bands, Stretchy Bands, Googly Rings, Character Bandz, Shaped Rubber Bands, and Zanybandz are just a few examples of the various names the shaped rubber bands are going under.

Collecting Silly Bandz or shaped rubber bands is a fun hobby and children get excited with the purchase of a new package. Keep having fun and enjoy the craze. At this point, I am not sure if there is any advantage to simply buying the name brand products as long as your children are enjoying their new hobby.

The Walt Disney Company has capitalized on the cute fairy from their beloved Peter Pan and created a new series of Disney Fairies. The story provides a history for TinkerBell and her fairy friends; Rosetta, Silvermist, Iridessa, and Fawn. The fairies star in several Disney movies including “TinkerBell”, “TinkerBell and The Lost Treasure”, and “TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue.” Children love the great adventures and mishaps TinkerBell experiences in these beloved movies that are sure to become classics. The Character Bandz (a.k.a. Silly Bandz) resemble the silhouette of each of the fairies. The package includes five different shapes in four colors for each shape. The colors include lime green, maroon, sky blue, and orange. The following will provide a visual guide for the Disney Fairies Character Bandz Collection.

Disney Fairies Character Bandz Collection

TinkerBell

TinkerBell is in the classic pose Disney uses on many packaging products and on the movie covers. The Character Bandz set is complete with four TinkerBells; one in each of the four colors.

Rosetta

Rosetta is a friend of TinkerBell and is a Garden Fairy. She is the brunette fairy that wears maroon and pink clothing in the movies. The Character Bandz portrays her as flying with her foot kicked backwards, bent at the knee. The Character Bandz set is complete with four Rosetta; one in each of the four colors.

Silvermist

Silvermist is a Water Fairy and her main color is blue. She has dark black hair and a sassy attitude in the movies. The pose for this Character Bandz is tall and straight. The Character Bandz set is complete with four Silvermist; one in each of the four colors.

Iridessa

Iridessa is another friend of TinkerBell. She is dark skinned and wears yellow in the movies. Iridessa is a Light Fairy and is soft spoken in most of the movies. The pose for this Character Bandz is wings spread open from an anterior view of the silhouette. The Character Bandz set is complete with four Iridessa; one in each of the four colors.

Fawn

Fawn is the least obvious of all the Fairies Character Bandz. In the movies, Fawn is an Animal Fairy with a very sweet and warm personality. She has brown hair and wears shades of brown clothing and a green ribbon (natural element) in her hair. The Character Bandz set is complete with four Fawn; one in each of the four colors.

Collecting Silly Bandz has remained a passion for many avid collectors. Finding new and exciting bandz, trading with friends, and wearing bandz with special meanings or shapes has kept this fad moving. The bandz are easy to find and are inexpensive. Meijer, Walmart, and Walgreen’s all carry a wide variety of Character Bandz. Have fun collecting!

Cheap can be construed in many different ways to include being made poorly or something that is inexpensive. Many definitions include low price or costing little labor or trouble–both of which are good attributes to have when building a coin collection. For many Numismatists it is not reasonable to spend a great deal of money on collecting money, so an alternative is using your local bank as a repository for  finding collectible coins. The following will review steps to help you cheaply collect silver coins.

Step 1: Go to your local bank and request to purchase Kennedy half dollar rolls. Each half dollar roll contains 20 coins or $10.

NOTE: Since 9/11 occurred, membership at a bank is a requirement to exchange cash for coins. If you are buying coins to sort through you will need to have a bank account with a local bank. If you don’t have a bank account you may be able to purchase coins from a local grocery store’s customer service counter. Ask around your area if you do not belong to a bank or credit union.


Step 2: Purchase as many rolls of coins as you can and take them home.

Step 3: Once you are home situate yourself in a well lit area at a desk or table. If you are working at your kitchen table you may want to put down a towel or newspaper to work on to prevent scratches on the table.

NOTE: You may need a magnifying glass to help you identify the year and mint for the coins.

Step 4: Sort through your coins and organize them based on the dates they were minted.

According to Coin Values Magazine, coins dated 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968-D, 1968-S, 1969-D, 1969-S, 1970-D, 1970-S are 40% silver clad. These are some of the more common dates you may find in your half dollar rolls from the bank that you will want to keep for your collection. Including the years mentioned, you will want to keep any coin older than 1964.  Many of the coins older than 1964 are 90% silver making them great for collecting. A few examples include the 1964 and 1964-D Kennedy half dollars and the Franklin half dollars form 1948-1963; all are 90% silver. Walking Liberty half dollar from 1921 through 1947 are also 90% silver.

All of the coins mentioned here are readily available in the rolls of coins purchased at the bank. Not every roll you purchase will contain a 90% silver coin which are more rare than the newer 40% silver coins, and many rolls may not contain a silver coin at all. Overall you will find more 40% than 90%, and as mentioned, some days you may not find any silver coins.

Step 5: Re-roll the coins you do not want to keep and return them to the bank.

NOTE: You can exchange the rolls for more half dollar rolls or you can wait a few weeks for new rolls to filter through the bank. Sometimes you may feel like your luck has run out because you can’t find any coins, but then you will get a few rolls that contain many silver coins.

Step 6: To keep the process interesting you can start a coin collection. This is a great way to teach children (and adults) about the history of coins, how coins change with the times, and create great bonding time for families as they create coin collections together.

If you are building collections or would like to purchase specific silver coins then you can shop at flea markets, swap meets, yards sales, and specialty coin or hobby shops. Often people will not realize the coins are sliver and may sell the items for under market value. Other people will know exactly how much the coin is worth and try to sell it above market value.

Before you go coin shopping, purchase a coin collecting magazine or book to improve your general knowledge of coins. You can purchase coin books or magazines at many bookstores or at your local grocery store such as Meijer.

Learn a little, save a lot, and have fun collecting!

Do you have any suggestions on starting a coin collection, collecting silver coins, or where to find the best book? Feel free to post suggestions; our readers would love to hear from you.

These Cute Shape Bands were purchased at an outdoor vendor for less than $1 a pack, but can also be found at other stores like Walgreens and Meijer. The package contains 12 pieces in 6 shapes. Although this is a generic brand of Silly Bandz, the quality was good and the elasticity of the product was quite comparable to name brand products. This collection is great for a budding cowboy, sheriff, or a fan of the Wild West. The following will provide a view of each of the shapes contained in the package.

Colors of the Western Shaped Bands

The cowboy hat  is a red silly band. It is the silhouette of a classic cowboy hat.

The sheriff star is a green silly band. It has five points in a typical star shape. The points are more rounded than the stars found in the Fun Bands from Oriental Trading Company.

The longhorn bull is a yellow silly band. It resembles the Texas Longhorns Logo Bands bull but the horns point up rather than down.

The horseshoe is a red silly band. It is similar to the Indianapolis Colts NFL Logo Bandz but the shape is thicker and not as big.

The cowboy boot is a blue silly band. It is in the typical shape of a boot.

The cowboy riding a bucking bronco is a black silly band. The silhouette resembles the image found on the State of Wyoming Licenses Plate with the exception the cowboy is wearing his hat. This is also similar to the actual Silly Bandz brand western image, but the generic looks more like a bull head with a horses tail.

This package was good quality, but the shapes are less defined than name brand Silly Bandz Western shapes. Have fun collecting and expanding your Silly Bandz collection!

Please feel free to make comments concerning this article or any other. We would love to hear from you.

Although not all shaped bands are really Silly Bandz, many people have taken the brand name to identify all of the bands. This is similar to Band-Aids (brand name for adhesive bandages produced by the Johnson & Johnson Company), Tylenol (brand name for Acetaminophen produced by the McNeil-PPC, Inc.), or Kleenex (brand name for facial tissues produced by the Kimberly-Clark Corporation).  This is a form of genericide where trademarks have become synonymous or the generic description of the product. As mentioned in previous articles, many producers with different brand names of the shaped bands are making the product. It is easy to replicate although the quality of the bands can differ greatly. The following shows a generic form of Silly Bandz called Rainbow Letter Rubber Band. These were purchased at a local outdoor vendor, but can also be found at Walgreens and Meijer.

Rainbow Letter Shaped Bands (generic Silly Bandz)

Each package contains 26 bands for $2. One band for each letter of the alphabet.

The colors are vibrant and tie-dye. This form of band can be especially fun because collectors can spell words, send messages to their friends, or collect specific letters such as those letters in their name or initials. You can also use the letter bands to teach young children letter identification and spelling as a fun alternative tool.

Collecting the bands is still a great and relatively inexpensive hobby. Make sure if you are looking for a specific product that you purchase it when you see it. Many of the sports teams, licensed characters, and others sell quickly. The Silly Bandz Pet pack was retired on October 12th according to the company web page. This will make the set “more valuable” to collectors. Remember, don’t invest your retirement funds in Silly Bandz!!!! Have fun and good luck collecting.

What is your favorite Silly Bandz shape? How many do you have in your collection? We would love to hear from you. Please feel free to make comments concerning this article or any other.