Happy Meal Anyone?

McDonald's probably didn't start the marketing strategy of using toys as a way of branding their product, but they certainly are good at it.

One year my DH endured Happy Meals every week until he had this huge collection of 101 Dalmatians. We filled our grandson's stocking from us with them for Christmas.

Fast Food places certainly aren't the only ones who take advantage of the public's interest in toys to further their product image.


Maybe you like the Snuggles teddy bear that Lever Bros. uses to advertise its fabric softener?

Or maybe the Hershey's bears or Kisses?

How about the Chick-fil-A cows, the Ever Ready Bunny, or the Serta sheep?

You name it, and some company has found a way to enhance their marketing with stuffed animals and plastic toys.

Do you have a favorite advertising toy, or do you collect them for someone special in your life? Are there any that you just can't stand?



stuffed animals, toys, plush, fast food, bears, advertising, marketing

Do You / Did You Have a REAL Toy?

I ran across this post today, Teddy Bears and other things real on JimFormation's blog that I just have to share with you all.

As I have already mentioned, The Velveteen Rabbit is one of my all time favorite children's books, and that probably explains a lot of why I prefer selling the soft cuddly kinds of toys, rather than the hard plastic ones.

Sharing your happy and sad memories of childhood toys is what this blog is all about, so dust off those old memories and savor that moment of innocence when toys were REAL.

stuffed animals, toys, plush, teddy bears

How Long Do They Last?

We've all seen children play with the box a toy came in ... longer than they did the toy.

We mailed a stuffed animal to England last year, and the box was a little too big. In order to keep the box from caving in during shipment, we stuffed an empty egg carton in with the toy. The mom wrote us to say that the animal was exactly what she had wanted, but her baby was having a ball with the egg carton!

I'm wondering, which toys have your children played with that kept them interested the longest? Are there certain toys that cost too much for the enjoyment they gave your child?

stuffed animals, toys, plush

Where Do You Display Your Collections?

Collections have a way of taking over. I know from personal experience.

Where do you display your favorite stuffed animals and dolls?

in the back car window?
in your office cubicle?
on your bed?
in a display case?
on a shelf?
on top of your computer?

Do you collect one brand, such as Fisher Price, or maybe GUND? Or do you collect certain characters, such as the ones from Sesame Street, or a particular animal, such as bears?

Do you protect them, preserving the cardboard swing tags, hoping they will increase in value?

Have you kept any collection of toys or comics from childhood?

You name it, and somebody collects it, so what do you do with them all?

stuffed animals, toys, collecting, display, storage, plush, Sesame Street, bears

How Can You Encourage Creative Play?

Puppets!

Most puppets I was familiar with, before we started selling stuffed animals, were just hand puppets, such as this 102 Dalmatians puppy dog.


I have to admit that I had never heard of full body puppets. The first time I picked up one of these adorable animals, I was totally surprised that they were puppets!

Children will enjoy the soft, plush, cuddly animal, and then use their imaginations and bring them to life. The rabbit is called a glove puppet, because your child puts his fingers in the feet, as well as putting the hand in the body. Talk about realistic!

Day Care and Early Elementary School teachers often provide puppets in the Story Time and Imaginative Play areas, and they buy quite a few of this type of stuffed animal from our Plush Animal Shoppes.

I'm wondering if parents also recognize their value in stimulating young children's minds.

stuffed animal, plush, puppets, full body puppet

Pink or Blue?

I got to thinkin' the other day about how much gender roles have changed since I was a little girl. I don't think any little boy would have been given a doll, nor even much in the way of stuffed animals back in the 40's. (Yeah, I'm giving way too much information about my age LOL.)

In this day and time, little boys can imagine being nurses, and little girls dream of being doctors - certainly not the case when I was young.

So, how 'bout a test of how far you've really come in changing your attitudes toward the sexes?

Would you buy a pink teddy bear for a little boy? Would you pick out the blue one for a girl? Or do you avoid the appearance of sexual bias and get a green or yellow one, or even the bright red, black, and white ones made by companies like Lamaze and KidsII?

Would you buy a doll for a little boy?

A Quiet Moment of Prayer and Reflection

In memory of all those who lost their lives at The World Trade Center

and all who perished from Katrina's ravage

and to all their families, whose lives will never be the same ...

With a firm belief that God anguishes over his children's pain and suffering,


we offer a quiet prayer for peace in your hearts and souls and comfort to your bodies ...

Amen

World Trade Center, Katrina, prayer

Family Ritual Remembered

For many years, part of our family ritual was to go to our little local library every Thursday night. Love of reading and love of stuffed animals walked hand in hand in our home.

The two books I remember enjoying reading to our children the most of all were Corduroy and The Velveteen Rabbit.

I think we checked the original Corduroy book out of the library almost every week for months! It was read, two children snuggled in my lap, with every page tenderly fingered, every day. I attribute much of my own love of teddy bears, and the strong affection our grown daughters still have for reading and for stuffed animals to that one book.

I even used The Velveteen Rabbit as a writing prompt with 5th graders, and was rewarded with many poignant stories from children about their favorite toys.

How Do YOU Show Team Spirit??

It's Football Season again, folks, in case you hadn't noticed.

Fans seem to find an infinite number of ways to show their loyalty to their team ... from pennant flags flying from car windows ... to bodies painted in team colors and decked out in clown wigs at the games.

We're seeing lots of team mascot stuffed animals lined up in the back window of automobiles, and I would imagine quite a few beds have their share of cheerleader bears on display.

We sell a large number of Sports Collectibles, not only to the fans themselves, but also to those who give them as gifts to their favorite fanatic!

Putting a banner on the flag pole on the front porch, adding team decals to the car windows, wearing school colors on ties, you name it and someone has found a way to show their school loyalty.

How do you show your team spirit?

stuffed animal, plush, football season, team mascot, team spirit, football, cheerleader