Posts Tagged ‘personalized baby toys’
What kind of gift do you buy a one year old? This is a question that has plagued gift buyers for years. You might think you have the answer… until it’s your turn to purchase the gift in question.
Do you go the toy route? If you really think about it there isn’t much a one-year-old can play with. If you go with a toy you’re probably going to have to pick some impersonal stuffed animal that will just be thrown into a toy chest and not see the light of day until the next spring cleaning. You could also go with a play set, though those can not only be expensive, but also quickly irrelevant in a child’s life in just a few months. If you wanted to get something a bit more permanent you could always go the collectable route like a glass figurine or a picture frame. The problem with those, though, is that you’re now buying the gift more for the parent then the child.
Phew! So much to consider. So what exactly do you get a one-year-old that they can use now but also keep as a keepsake later? A few months ago a friend turned me onto something called personalized baby toys. There are a variety of companies on the internet that specialize in these gifts. Essentially a personalized baby toy is exactly what it sounds like: it’s a blanket, plush, or a combination of the two which are embroidered with the child’s name to give it a personal feeling. And what’s great about these gifts is long after the one-year old tires of playing with a stuffed toy the gift then becomes a personalized memento of the child’s youth. Either the parent or the child can keep the plush as long as they would like. And trust me, parents love personalized memento’s of their child’s life (it’s something to look back longingly on when a child becomes a teenager).
Of all the personalized baby gifts out on the market, probably the one gift that grabs the most attention is the stuffed plushes. And for good reason: these plush’s are cute. And I mean, really cute. Cute like “Oh my god, I need an excuse to buy one of these for myself” cute. While there are bears and angels and bunnies and fogs, I have two personal favorites that I’ve actually considered buying for myself: the Flatodeer and Flatopotamus. Both plushes are flat like a blanket but also have personality like a stuffed animal so they can be used for both sleep or play time. Plus, when was the last time you saw a cute deer or hippopotamus plush? Both would make great gifts for the special one-year-old in your life. Or, the slightly older kid at heart in your life.
Kim Green is always looking for cute and innovative gifts for young children like personalized baby toys.
We’ve all heard the old George Carlin bit about “stuff”. Any parent knows that it’s important to find a way to store all your child’s “stuff”.
I’m probably about to date myself, but do you remember that old comedy bit by George Carlin about “stuff”? You know, we have so much “stuff” that we have to go to lengths just to find places to store all of it? It’s a classic comedy bit and one of the most relevant pieces you’ll ever hear, especially if you have kids because it’s true: kids just have so much “stuff”. May it be personalized baby toys or stuffed animals or books or clothes or blocks or whatever, if you go into any room where a child has been roaming you realize just how much stuff they have.
The major challenge for any parent is finding a place to store all this baby “stuff”. Anyone who has children or has friends who have children knows that baby “stuff” has a tendency to not be placed somewhere but instead strewn all over the place. While most parents have come to terms with the fact that there will be some heavy clean up at the end of the day, they still need a place to store this stuff until it will be used… or sorry, “strewn” the next day.
While most chain stores and catalogs have a decent selection of storage for baby goods, the place that I’ve found that has the best selection is none other than IKEA. These massive warehouses of furniture, home furnishings and nick-nacks has everything you’ll ever need (and probably more) for your baby “stuff” storage needs. Not only do they provide a plethora of chests, shelving, book cases and drawers, but also creative storage opportunities that seamlessly meld into your room. One of my favorites is a set of bunk beds which also incorporate a desk and a dresser. It looks good and has lots of extra storage. IKEA also features kid friendly desks and drawers which features different colors, animal designs and a variety of different play sets which ingeniously features storage space for easy clean up.
One of the best ways to store your kids “stuff” might be to go with the good ol’ fashion toy chest. Around 30 years ago it seemed that every kid had some type of large toy chest to hold their toys. And while it wasn’t the neatest way to keep their toys, it was definitely one of the easiest. Heck, kids don’t mind the fact that they were all strewn in there it was part of the fun searching through there. More recently, a lot of my friends have gone back to toy chests for their kids as many companies have started making sturdy and more modern designs. You can pick them up online or find them in just about any chain store (or, heck, IKEA). A toy chest might be the easiest way to help fight the war on kids “stuff”. No longer will you step on your kids sharp play toy in the middle of the night.
Author Kim Green stores those special personalized baby toys in a keepsake type toy chest in her own room!
We have a tendency to carve out a special place in our heart for the personalized and simplistic toys of our youth. Thankful, for this generation of children, these toys have not gone the way of the buffalo, but instead have led to the “Flatofrog”.
Sometimes simplicity breeds creativity. If you think about architecture, some of the most beloved buildings in the history of mankind have their roots in simplistic design. While the glass pyramid at the Louvre might seem like some type of avant-guard experiment in architecture by someone who worships at the post-modern alter, the pyramid is a simplistic design that has been around for tens of thousands of years. In fact, post-modernism relies on simplicity in its design; it just likes to push the envelope a bit further.
Before I get off on too much of a tangent, as much as we love creativity, we also love to balance it with a comforting simplicity which we hold near to our heats. Take the personalized baby toys that we grew up with as a child. For as much as technology has made its way into our lives, the toys we remember from our youth are usually of the simplistic breed. For as much as we loved Transformers and dream houses with moving parts, we also yearn for Lego’s, Barbies and My Little Pony’s which use simple designs to give a more specialized, personalized feel.
Today’s personalized baby toys, blankets and plushes tend to follow the traditional idea of simplicity that continue to be commonplace after generations. As stuffed animals never seem to go out of style, one of the most popular of the personalized baby toys continues to be designer stuffed animals. While teddy bears continue to be a popular item, different animals have begun to pop up in the plush world. If it’s a cute animal chances are you can find a plush of it out there: frogs, bunnies, penguins and especially hippos brings delight to the face of babies and small children. Heck, you can even find “ugly” animals such as platypus’ and manatees (though, manatees are very huggable, if you think about it). Plus, with these plushes being personalized, each of the dolls (some of them handmade) come with the child’s name embroidered on them. Call it human nature, but if something is personalized with an embroidered name we tend to hang out to it longer then if it is just another anonymous belonging.
Some of the cutest push animal dolls I’ve seen in recent years have come from the North American Bear Co. This company not only offers a full line of personalized plush stuffed animals, but also stuffed animal cozys are designed as blankets so a child can use them for both sleep and play time. These cozys feature such animals as hippos (or, as they call them “Flatopotamus”), a “sleepytime” rabbit complete with stripped night cap, a frog (“Flatofrog”) as well as a “Flatodeer”, “Flatophant” and, of course, a “Flatobearius”. All these are simplistic in nature yet sophisticated and subtle and are sure to become some of those simple and beloved toys that your child will keep as a keepsake into their adult years.
Author Kimberly Green still has a treasures her oldest child’s first personalized baby toys – they were the best personalized baby gifts ever received!
It’s that time of the year! Everyone is starting to think of the holiday season and what he or she will go out and buy everyone for Christmas. As much as you may try, it never fails that you forget someone special and the next thing you know you’re running out on Christmas Eve to find a gift because you forgot to order that personalized baby gift.
December is honestly just about one of the most hectic times in just about everyone’s year! At work most people are closing out inventory, dealing with last minute customers or trying to get everything done before the close of the business year. On top of this most people have a seriously ramped up social schedule that includes evening long parties and social gatherings. It’s easy to see where December is the shortest month even though it has thirty-one days in it!
Even if you’re not one to be the social butterfly around the holidays with our lives increasingly becoming more stressed and our dollar becoming increasingly thinner on a daily basis it’s still easy to see why gift buying keeps getting pushed later and later into the holiday season. It doesn’t have to be like this though. It’s very possible to get that personalized baby gift early enough in the season without leaving the comfort of your personal computer! It’s really that simple. A recent pole showed that most Americans put off shopping due to busy work lives and crowded stores. What they don’t realize is, the work isn’t going to stop (in December) and the crowds are only going to get worse as Christmas gets closer. Shopping in October or November not only prevents dealing with large crowds it usually frees up time in December so you can attend those social gatherings you would otherwise be forced to omit from your schedule.
A side affect of this is cost savings. In November many retail outlets have a slight increase in their ticket prices only to drop them a fraction of the increase to bring buyers into their stores. Traditionally this is not the case with online retailers so you can attack your Christmas shipping in two segments. If you are buying early (which you should be) and you want to have the retail outlet experience then you should be doing it in mid October to early November before retailers raise their prices for the holiday season. Then, save your online buying for last minute situations where you need something quick but don’t want to pay more for it.
Many holiday shoppers do all of their shopping online because it allows instant price comparison and they don’t have to deal with the heavy crowds. If this is your method, just make sure you are doing it in time to have the products delivered before you need to give the gift. There is nothing more frustrating then ordering something too late and it doesn’t show up in time. Look for vendors that promise delivery times. Around Christmas you’ll find plenty of them that offer guarantees. However, if you are looking for say, personalized baby toys, you’ll want to make sure you give extra time for it to be crafted and delivered to you!
Again, shopping earlier in the season will prevent any issues where your loved ones don’t get their gifts on time.
The holiday season is supposed to be an enjoyable one and if you can eliminate the stress of last minute shopping, low inventory and large crowds your holiday season will be much more enjoyable!
Author Kim Green always makes sure to put personalized baby gifts and baby gift baskets on her holiday gift list! They make wonderful presents!
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