Strange odor in fun foam

Try dropping them in a baggie with some baking soda... maybe that will help??

Hope so! Also == leave 'em out in the cold over night. That might also help ...

Good luck... sounds like a fun afternoon with your grandbaby(ies)

Mary, last week I bought a terribly expensive cushion - something like $89, no kidding. Before you have to get out the portable oxygen, there was a 70% off price + my senior discount. Anyhow, the tag read "the strong foam odor will disappear after airing for 24 hours". It did . . . so maybe yours will be gone too. Since you're going to have too much snow to be out searching for something not on hand, can you: rinse them with some Borax in the water? sprinkle them with plain old baking soda over night? or bag them up with some aquarium charcoal? HTH, and have a wonderful day with the little ones. No luncheon could be more special than this one. Polly

Kate and Polly..wow that was fast !...I don't think I posted that 10 min. ago ! and Thank You !!...I just tried stringing them up as the foam pieces have holes punched in them

---like a mini clothes line ---but they kept getting clumped together. Guess I'll try my cookie cooling rack next and let them air out over night ..then tomorrow try the baking soda . Actually might sprinkle the b. soda on one side while the other side is 'airing out'... At first I'd gone to Family Fun and found a project...making hearts w/ family foam sheets... and threading them w/ glittery pipe cleaners and then spiraling the p. cleaners around the pencils. Here I thought buying a kit would save me troubles !!!...I'll keep trying . thanks again...Mary

bizarre, we bought the exact same thing (well there were two choices, so we may have the other), I literally walked away from doing it with my son and there was no abnormal smell. Maybe the marker pen leaked, those things are pretty smelly when you get close to them. I'd leave the box open somewhere out of the way and see how it smells tomorrow.

Cheers Anne

Thanks, Anne. I just checked that out...I had smelled the odor on the outside of the marker but when I opened the marker it smelled like a regular one--not gas-like. The box was a clear plastic one...not air tight so was really surprised to smell it when I opened it--strange that I hadn't while handling it . The inside of the box...ribbons and all the foam..and outside of the marker all .reeked. All is airing out now...Perhaps in two days I'll be able to use them !!...Just one of life's annoyances ...albeit small !!! Mary

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Many plastic products "outgas" when they are new. Like you, I also really hate the smell. It is a process, and when the process is complete they won't smell anymore, like a new carpet that smells when it is laid but gradually the smell goes away. Keeping them sealed in a container will trap the smell, so it is strongest when you first take the lid off. You can't speed up the process, so don't bother with the baking soda/activated charcoal type remedies that work so well when something is "contaminated" with a smell from some other source, like cigarette smoke in fabric. Just leave them open to the air so the smell can dissipate as fast as possible. HTH.

The pieces have aired all night and the smell was in the little foam rectangles...all the other pieces that came with the kit lost their odor sooner. They are much better today thankfully. Hated the thought of bringing little valentines to gks class that are smelly !!...LOL...Thanks to all who helped me ! Mary