Sing Your Name WV

West Virginia-based Sing Your Name creates a variety of gifts for children that are personalized with music. Special music. Singing-Your-Child’s-Name kind of music. The kind of gifts that make children smile and feel very special.

“My daughter Allysa and I have been partners in this venture for a little over a year,” Rebecca Kesling tells me. Rebecca launched the company after she gave her grandson, Anders, a little green puppy that sang and spoke his name for Christmas.

“He carried his little green puppy around by the neck everywhere he went, and at night, the little green puppy cuddled with him in his bed,” Allysa says. “Seeing his eyes light up at the sound of his name got his Grammy’s gears turning.”

The Company That Makes Children Smile

The folks at Sing Your Name West Virginia believe children should be nurtured as very special individuals. “Every child feels special when his or her name is associated with a cherished gift from someone who loves them enough to choose a gift that sings out their name. It makes them giggle, it makes them happy, it makes them smile.” It makes adults smile, too.

Personalized music CDs, movie DVDs, alarm clocks, Plush Create-A-Critters, name poems, growth charts, Tiny Twins dolls and more. Ideal for birthdays and special occasions, with personalized songs they can sing along to, they can learn their ABCs and numbers from; make your child the star of a Storybook CD; create a plush toy and add a song, a sound or a scent. Personalized lullabies for babies, birthday songs, even songs to learn a morning get dressed routine. Tiny Twins are perfect for personalizing your work desk, cell phone, car’s rear view mirror or the top of a wedding cake. Creations are limited to nothing but your imagination.

Visit the company on Facebook, Twitter or Website and sign up to receive newsletters with discount savings.

Children’s Retail Today publishes new articles each week about innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children. Contact me today with your great idea!

Macaroni Kid

Have you heard about Macaroni Kid?

I’ve been enjoying a free subscription, and it looks like a great resource. Macaroni Kid publishes weekly, hyper-local e-newsletters and websites featuring events, activities, products and places for moms, kids and families. Joyce Shulman and Eric Cohen created Macaroni Kid with two goals in mind: to enrich communities and empower moms.

Enriching Communities

Macaroni Kids connects local families with the libraries, schools, rec centers, community centers, organizations and businesses that create programming and fun for kids. They host local events and parties and connect with their communities through social media.

On top of 500+ local editions, Macaroni Kid publishes seven national editions focused on special interest content:

Macaroni Kid Family Travel
Macaroni Kid Family Fitness
Macaroni EATS for the family foodies
Macaroni Kid Family Safety
Macaroni Stork
Macaroni Military Family
Macaroni Kid National

Empowering Moms

The company empowers moms by giving them the tools, training and the platform to build a publishing business that can become a force for good in their communities.

Macaroni Kid Publisher Moms

Each community is managed by a local Publisher Mom or Dad. They know their local communities and their local communities know them. And they’re more than happy to let everyone know about the amazing opportunities available to the neighborhood via Macaroni Kid publishing. To learn about becoming a Macaroni Kid Publisher, email Team@Macaronikid.com.

Want to learn more?

Receive a free weekly e-newsletter highlighting all the great things for kids and families to do in your community, subscribe HERE. To partner with Macaroni Kid to connect your brand with moms across the nation, email Eric Cohen at eric@macaronikid.com.

Children’s Retail Today publishes new articles each week about innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children. Contact me today with your great idea!

Atissu

New lifestyle brand Atissu is on a mission to make everyday objects more lovely.

The début collection of contemporary boxed tissues from one of the UK’s newest lifestyle brands, Atissu, is quite distinctive. What we really like – experienced brand expert, packaging designer and creator Sam Dumont is pluck enough to include the kids’ rooms in her designs.

These days, parents are keen to complement the beautiful modern interiors of their homes with equally beautiful accessories – including tissue boxes. Why hide them when they look like this?

Desirable for the Design Conscious

“I hope you will love (as much as we do) and will agree that our tissue range is spot on for children’s bedrooms and playrooms,” Kerry O’Connor, who runs PR for the company, says. “These little boxes often sit next to carefully curated items like ornaments, prints and favorite toys; things that people have taken time, energy and money to source.” The launch collection of 12 new contemporary boxed tissues is designed and made in Britain, and the folks at Atissu work closely with like-minded suppliers to source materials sustainably.

“Parents tell us that there’s nothing available that they actively like, and certainly nothing that compliments their children’s bedrooms; their children just adore our new designs, we’ve been told!”

All About Atissu

Apart from choosing a fabulous name for a tissue company, Sam and her team like to work with select illustrators, artists, textile and graphic designers on original box designs that please the eye. For the premiere children’s collection, they collaborated with illustrator duo Loopz art. Four different boxes are available with four little buddies on each side of each box, totaling 16 cute but cool characters: Fox & Co, Tiger & Co, Bear & Co and Panda & Co. The box designs are printed on matt board from well-managed forests so as to not compromise on sustainability or quality. “We print locally in London using only vegetable based inks and water based varnishes,” Kerry tells me.

All About the Tissues!

For those little delicate noses, the tissues are made from 3-ply super-soft FSC material.

In addition, Atissu has just launched a beautiful new collection of Giclee prints. As Sam likes to say, it’s just “a little bit of lovely every day.” Available wholesale and online.

Children’s Retail Today publishes new articles each week about innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children. Contact me today with your great idea!

LÍLLÉbaby & The Guncles

A new baby carrier that celebrates adoption – Benefits the Independent Adoption Center

Popular baby carrier maker LÍLLÉbaby and The Guncles (aka Bill Horn and Scout Masterson) are collaborating on an original, new, limited-edition baby and doll carrier to celebrate adoption. The bold geometric print is available now on LILLEbaby.com and Amazon.com. A portion of the proceeds from sales will be donated to the Independent Adoption Center (IAC), a national non-profit adoption agency.

Who are The Guncles®?

For six seasons, millions tuned into reality TV’s Tori & Dean and saw the couple’s good friends who became known as The Guncles (the words gay + uncles combined) to their kids. Throughout the years, fans tuned in to be a part of Bill Horn and Scout Masterson’s commitment ceremony as well as their efforts to adopt a child of their own. In 2010, with the help of IAC, daughter Simone Lynn became part of the family, which grew again in 2014 with the addition of son Bosley Jo.

“When our friends at LÍLLÉbaby suggested we create our own custom print to be featured on their popular carriers, we knew we wanted to design a bold, geometric print that was cheerful, sophisticated, and unique,” The Guncles say. “We are proud to be able to use this project to benefit a charity near-and-dear to our hearts – the Independent Adoption Center.”

With a fresh box of crayons and a blank sheet of paper, The Guncles created the colorful print by hand, an expression of the joy and love that adoption has brought into their lives.

“We are excited to announce this beautiful new collection and love this bold, one-of-a-kind print created by Bill and Scout,” LÍLLÉbaby President Lisbeth Lehan says. “We followed their adoption process last year, and it feels very special to be able to assist them in giving back to the organization that made their family.”

Benefits of Babywearing

“Wearing your baby is an amazing experience that serves you and your baby in so many ways,” Lisbeth says. “There are many benefits of babywearing, not the least of which is that it promotes bonding and attachment. Many social workers recommend babywearing as an effective way for new adoptive parents and children to bond. LÍLLÉbaby is thrilled to be a part of that essential bonding process and further support it through this collaboration.”

All proceeds that The Guncles earn from the sale of this limited edition run of LÍLLÉbaby carriers will be donated to the IAC and LÍLLÉbaby is matching their donation. IAC plans to use the donations to assist adoptive parents with above expected or anticipated expenses, such as legal and medical fees.

“What a great and creative way for Bill and Scout to pay-it-forward to other adoptive parents with the help of LÍLLÉbaby’s wonderful products,” says Ann Wrixon, IAC Executive Director.

IAC is the largest open adoption agency in the country, facilitating adoptions in 49 states, and fully licensed with offices in California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, and Texas. Since opening in 1982, the IAC has successfully placed over 4,000 newborns with families in the United States. “The IAC is so grateful for their generosity.”

Good news for fans, too – The Guncles are currently in development on their own reality TV show.

Children’s Retail Today publishes new articles each week about innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children. Contact me today with your great idea!