It’s the most colorful month of the year! Happy Pride, everyone! This June, I’ll be highlighting some of my favorite LGBTQIA? inspired toys. We’re starting off strong with Laurence King’s Drag Match. You don’t have to be a Ru Paul’s Drag Race fan to enjoy this game, but it doesn’t hurt.

What’s in the box?

This is a card game, so you just need the 50 cards in the deck. Each of the represented drag artists has two cards: one in their everyday attire and the other in their drag glam. The cards are very sturdy, much thicker than regular playing cards. The portraits were photographed by Greg Gethings, a renowned photographer who specializes in LGBTQIA? Portraits, so you can even use them as décor. The instruction booklet, written by Greg Bailey, opens with a drag history, then includes an introduction to each of the drag artists, showing both their everyday look and their drag look, as a sort of answer guide.

TOP TIP: Read every word. Not only is the history informative, but the bios are charming and you get a sneak peek at the answers.

How to play Drag Match

There are two ways to play with the Drag Match cards. You can play a Matching game or a Memory game. For the Matching game, place all of the cards face up on the table. Each player takes it in turn to read a description from the instruction booklet. The other players try to guess which drag artist is being highlighted. Both of the cards for that person have to be picked to be correct.

The Memory game starts out with all of the cards face down. Players then take turns trying to match each person with their drag persona, a sort of combined memory and matching game.

For both games, the winner is the player who makes the most matches, of course.

TOP TIP: When you store the game away, split the deck into two piles that contain complete matches in each deck. That way, if you want to just play a quick round, you can take out half the deck and still be able to play.

TOP TIP: Leave the box out on your coffee table. It’s a great conversation starter and you can easily persuade people to play a round.

Drag Match has no age recommendation, but anyone old enough to match images can play. Recognizing people in different outfits and faces might be a little more challenging, so maybe play in teams if your littles want to join in. As I mentioned, the cards are very sturdy, so you don’t have to worry about them getting bent. And they’re all just so pretty, so your littles might just like looking at them. It’s also a great gift for any of your drag-loving friends and family.

Buy it here!

٭٭٭٭٭Highly recommended

The post Drag Match Game Review by George Gensler! @laurencekingpub @HachetteUS @hachetteuk #GayPride #PrideMonth #Pride #games #gifted #AFF appeared first on Gay NYC Dad.

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Hape Toys and the World-Famous New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art collaboration on Fine Art toys is brilliant!

The MET Museum in NYC is located entirely in Central Park. A destination for almost every visitor to NYC, they come from all over the world to se the beautiful art collection housed within. This incredible collaboration, between a toy company and a museum, is a prime example of how the toy industry is helping introduce children to fine art and instilling in them early on a recognition of fine art, as highlighted in our earlier article, Toy Fair 2026 Top Trend Review – Fine Arts, either through entire works or individual elements of fine artworks. And these items are gorgeous, perfect for all kids, and collectibles for the adults!

HAPE introduced this incredible toy line at the recent Toy Fair in NYC, we were thrilled to preview the collection!

Starting them off young are the Hape x The MET Animal Peg Puzzles, which are wooden puzzles with pegged pieces to help little hands place the pieces in the frame. Each of the pegged animals is a recognizable animal from fine artworks. The Majestic Animal Peg Puzzle includes the unicorn from the Unicorn tapestries, a stallion from a 16^th century painting, a Babylonian lion, and a 17^th century elephant. The Animal Friends Peg Puzzle includes four animals from sculptures: an 18^th century porcelain owl, a Japanese rabbit; an Indonesian boar, and the MET’s unofficial mascot, William the Hippopotamus from ancient Egypt. These toys are for ages 12-24 months.

Buy them here and here!

Moving up to toddler age, we have the Puzzle Cubes. As with all puzzle cubes, this can be solved six different ways, revealing six different works of art. These fine artworks are from the 15^th through the 20^th centuries, and includes examples of medieval tapestry, Japanese ukiyo-e, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and Abstact Art. It’s a brilliant introduction of different styles of art from the quintessential artists of those styles.

But it here!

For older children, there is a serious of jigsaw puzzles, suitable for ages 4-7. These puzzles are great! They include the Unicorn again (my favorite), a Van Gogh, a Klimpt, a Monet, and a Hokusai, covering, again, a wide span of time and artistic styles that will appeal to just about any child. These puzzles, like the peg puzzles, come in a wooden frame (making them suitable for décor) and have sturdy cardboard pieces. These are double-sided puzzles, too. One on side is the puzzle image in full color. On the reverse, it’s a coloring page image of the puzzle, so your littles can express their own way of coloring in the images. Crayons are not included, but Hape does make crayons, both easy-grip and standard.

Buy it here!

TOP TIP: Are you impressed by my fine arts knowledge? Don’t be. While I do recognize some of these pieces, especially The Unicorn Rests in a Garden, which lives just a couple of blocks away from me in the Cloisters, each box includes a side panel that names all of the fine artwork inspirations. Inspiring the kids to go to museums to see the real thing is brilliant!

Any and all of these Hape x The MET toys would work wonderfully as decorative items, too. And not just for children’s rooms. The Puzzle Cube, in particular, would be a great conversation piece on any coffee or side table. There are kaleidoscopes and plush toys, building blocks and more. I started with an older infant toy, but there are toys that are safe for newborns (Tree of Life Play Mat), and you can find Hape x THE MET fine art toys for children all the up through age 7/8 (the jigsaw puzzles). I can’t wait to see what Hape comes up with next.

And this was GayNYCDad’s (who said that he worked on Summer at the Met Museum in the Egyptian Wing! haul for his grandnieces and grandnephews:

Use my Affiliate link at Amazon to purchase everything available from this Hape Toys and Met Museum collaboration!

The post Hape Toys and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Toy Collaboration is Brilliant! By Guest Writer George Gensler! @hapetoys @metmuseum @TheToyAssoc #TFNY2026 #fineart #toys #toyfairlife #puzzles #puzzle #AFF #gifted appeared first on Gay NYC Dad.

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Must-try culinary finds in Paris and some places to eat them

For pastries, Stohrer is a historic pâtisserie in Paris. There are tons of pastry joints all over the place though that are delicious.
For classic bistro food, Le Bon Georges is often noted for traditional French food.

For Diet Caffeine Free Coke you can go to Franprix! These markets are all over and have premade meals, a salad bar, snacks, and soda. I mention this because it is new to France and most stores and restaurants do not have it.

Here are some recommendations for French favorites while in Paris:

• Soupe à l’oignon → Classic French onion soup is with rich broth, onions, bread, and melted cheese. It is a meal on its own. Au Pied de Cochon in Les Halles is super for the soup, and La Jacobine is another strong choice for a bowl of the heavenly creation. [pieddecochon.com], [lajacobine.fr]
• Steak-frites → Le Relais de l’Entrecôte is the most iconic choice for this dish of steak with fries, while La Bourse et La Vie is another delicious option. [Le Relais…’Entrecôte]
• Escargots → L’Escargot Montorgueil is one of the most obvious and traditional places to go for snails with garlic-parsley butter, especially if you want a real French vibe. [L’Escargot]
• Confit de canard →If it quacks like a duck and is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, then it must be confit de canard!  FrenchParadox – Canard & Champagne makes a mean canard that will have you coming back for more! [frenchparadox.paris]
• Jambon-beurre → This simple sandwich of ham in a buttery baguette is lunch for people all over Paris. Le Petit Vendôme is the classic recommendation for this lunch meal on the go.
• Pâté en croûte / terrines → Maison Verot is the place to go to try pâté en croûte and terrines., [Maison Verot]. Maison Pou also has splendid choices for pâté near the Arc de Triomphe.
• Crêpes / galettes →Crepes are large light pancakes that have sweet or savory fillings like cheese, chocolate, eggs, or Nutella. They are eaten for any meal, but more so for breakfast and lunch.  Breizh Café and La Crêperie de Josselin are good choices to go to for this traditional French faire. [breizhcafe.com]
• Croissants → Boulangerie Utopie is a beloved bakery that has the flaky wonders. Stohrer is terrific if you want a historic store for this buttery pastry that is classic breakfast food in France. You get bragging rites for going here… Croissants can come plain or with fillings like chocolate or cheese. [boulangeri…utopie.com], [stohrer.fr]
• Baguettes→ For award-winning baguettes, Le Fournil Didot is the place to go for this loaf of bread with a crispy crust and soft insides. The shape is thinner than a North American loaf and longer.  You can go to any bakery to find them on any corner of the city. They pair beautifully with a soft cheese like brie or camembert due to their crunchy crust.
• Macarons →Are one of Frances best pastry treats. Pierre Hermé is all about the flavor, while some would say  Ladurée is the most iconic Parisian experience. [pierreherme.com], [laduree.com]. While I was at Ladurée with a waif thin friend, the fire alarm went off. My first thought was to save the macaroons. My friend grabbed me and pushed me out the door and said let them burn. Blasphemy, I tell you!! I went back to buy the citron ones. NYC now has a Ladurée, so no need to wait to go to Paris for the experience.

When Marie said- “Let them eat cake”, she was not kidding! One will find the MOST beautiful desserts in the world in Paris. What they can do with sugar, can only be called art. Even eating Asian at Diep in Paris, is all about experiential dining. Give yourself one week in Paris and it will change your perspective on what food should be and can be.

The post Eating Desserts (Mostly!) in Paris, Guest Article by J. Stein! #travel #Paris #desserts #pastries appeared first on Gay NYC Dad.