"Totally me!" not for me.

Today we had a lazy Saturday morning, slept late, and then headed off to a park nearby. The weather was beautiful - sunny and breezy and fresh!
As usual, after playing with everything that there is to play with ( slides, swings, various craw/climb/jump stations) Alan started "borrowing" other kids bicycles and small riding cars. After another "No, Alan, this belongs to boy, not you", my husband said, "Ok, let's go get him some wheels". And so we went!
Twenty minutes later, we are standing in the middle of Toys"R"us trying to fit automatic Thomas tank engine into already full shopping cart. To entertain potential 5 kids during our upcoming birthdya party, we also picked up a large bag of Building Blocks, sidewalk chalk, plastic groceries ( Alina loves playing grocery store!) and  Alinas birthday present- a large jewelry making kit! Which brings me to the next item of discussion here.

 "Totally Me! Dressy Rainbow Jewelry Kit" -  I sat down with this colorful box and marveled: "It is huge! So many different variety of beads, strings, clips, alphabet cubes, flowers!"
"Oh", I continued, "Alina will be thrilled!", only my enthusiasm has been replaced by disappointment when I turned over the box and found the label stating the following:
Warning,
Contains lead. May be harmful if eaten or chewed. May generate dust containing lead.

Wait.    What???

How is it that this box is still on shelves of the biggest children's store? How could I have failed to see this at the store?

Perhaps, the percentage of the toxic elements are within the allowable limit, but I cannot bring myself to keep this very beautiful but potentially harmful present for my daughter.
 I am taking it back.
 And still looking for a good alternative on these cute websites:  Here and here and here. Perhabs something made out of wood.
 Also, here is a short helpful article about toxic jewelry, check out the rest of the blog too - great sources for toxic-free children's items.
Hope you found it useful.

Stay healthy!