Doughnut Bites

Bandai DIY miniature doughnuts kitchen

Would it honestly surprise you to know that someone who owns a site about inedible doughnuts actually already has Bandai's Kona-Pun Donuts Kitchen ($24)? Right, I didn't think so. I'll spare you the story of how one of my sisters and I spent part of a weekend last year, then, and just say that you and/or your kids would seriously love this toy.

Playing with miniature food is already fun on its own, I know, but the Donuts Kitchen takes it to a whole new level by letting you actually make the doughnuts yourself. You get to mix the doughnut powder with water, pour it into molds, "fry" them in an oil-like liquid, and decorate them with icing (see photo below). It's adorable.

The only drawback is that the doughnuts need to be thrown away. They don't ever "dry up" completely, so keeping them for too long would probably result in some very moldy-looking chocolate sprinkles.

Porcelain miniature box of glazed doughnuts

After chipping a saucer from this lovely dollhouse tea set I had when I was little, I swore off porcelain miniatures for good. Though they were beautiful and always made me feel very grown up, keeping the pieces protected and separate from the rest of my dollhouse food killed some of the fun of dumping my collection on the floor and sorting everything based on what I liked best.

Now that I am "all growed up" (even if only in years and not in mentality), I think I might like to give porcelain toys another try. And what better way to be re-introduced to the world of fragile miniatures than with this 3.25" porcelain trinket box that opens to reveal a half dozen tiny glazed doughnuts?

Not a bad way to spend $9.99 at Amazon, if you ask me.

Bag of frosted chenille doughnuts

I think I've decided to start a chenille play food collection. Prior to creating Sugar Keeper, the network that Doughnut Bites is a part of, I thought chenille was only used to make sweaters and pillows.

I had no idea it could be turned into ice cream cones and other sweets for children to serve after a hearty make-believe meal! Now that I do, I can't help but think that my collection wouldn't be complete without this bag of chenille doughnuts created by the Chenille Chef.

The strawberry, chocolate, and whatever flavor a child thinks lavender is (grape would be pretty disgusting) doughnuts measure 3" each and fit into the accompanying 10" cloth bag with plenty of room to spare. Available now for $16.

Knitted doughnuts designed to fool friends

Hmm. Unless your friends are very young children, I can't say that these 3" tutti frutti" knitted doughnuts stuffed with polyester would fool anyone. Your pals may scratch their heads over what they're meant to do with the plate of soft frosted treats placed before them, but I'm quite sure that they will not, as suggested by the creator, be crushed when you reveal that "juicy jam" isn't waiting to be set free by a big bite.

A set of six doughnuts (light pink, dark pink, green, purple, orange, and brown) can be yours for $17. Naive audience not included.

Fair Trade knitted doughnut rattles

A surefire way to get your children hooked on sweets is to put one of these cute knitted doughnut rattles into their tiny hands as soon as they're able to hold them. Get 'em while they're young . . . Doughnut Bites' new tagline!

Kidding aside, the doughnuts are Fair Trade products and stuffed with 100% polyester filling (yum!) for extra squishiness. Mango Baby sells each rattle for $4.50 and offers two flavors: pink frosting with white sprinkles and white frosting with multi-colored sprinkles (below).

Mix and match doughnuts game

I suppose I should be embarrassed to admit this as an adult, but I have a smaller version of this adorable Mix & Match Doughnuts ($17) games by Learning Resources . . . and I want this box of a dozen right now. The one I have now has only eight doughnuts, so I'm missing the plain chocolate and fudge with vanilla zig-zag interchangeable frosting pieces. Completely unacceptable!

And I know it doesn't seem possible, but the 2.5" plastic doughnuts are even cuter in person.