Parent-friendly Products

Be a Chatfan of Chatman


Cheerful, emotive figure helps make computer time more fun, productive and safe.

Atlanta, GA-based Penny Black Digital, in partnership with Israel-based Rondyo Ltd., introduces Chatman, the first and only artificially intelligent computer friend designed to make online chat sessions, web surfing, games and homework more fun, creative -and safe. This cool, smart and funny friend sits by a child’s computer and interacts with them.

Bright Yellow and Boisterous. For kids ages six to12, Chatman talks, moves eyes, hands and ears, and has a unique animated LED mouth. Just like a friend, Chatman understands language, context and mood, and expresses emotions, recognizing over 15,000 words, with 2,000 movements and 30 moods.

No Stranger Danger. In addition to providing education and fun, Chatman also filters words and web content based on parental controls helping to keep children safe on the Internet. Chatman allows peace of mind for parents by working with and filtering a child’s online conversations on Facebook®, Skype™ and MSN® Messenger. Chatman alerts when inappropriate web searches are attempted.

The internet can be both social and isolating at the same time. That’s one of the reasons Chatman is available -to provide kids with a friendly emotive companion while they spend time online. Chatman has plenty of functionality, but integrates solid parental controls and creates a safe zone that keeps your child safe online, too.

-recent product review

Boom Boom. Chatman received an exclusive invitation to participate in the 2012 Oscars Boom Boom Room celebrity gifting suite as one of the hottest must-have parenting products. Chatman was created and developed by Rondyo co-founders Joseph Levy and Doron Frenkel. Chatman’s migration to America follows its successful debut in Israel in 2010.

  • Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!

World’s Finest Fashion Aprons – for Mother’s Day


I love the aprons of D-Lux 57 – and you know beautiful aprons are all the rage.

This cheeky, cheery company offers a variety of apron styles in gorgeous cotton prints that are Made in the USA, designed for “the modern day June Clever.” Founder/designer Cynthia Berman caters to everyone – women, tween cooks, like cooks (4-6x) –even Mother/Daughter cooks- with several collections of “kitchen-wear,” beautifully made from incredible textiles.

Just because you wear a D-Lux 57 apron, doesn’t mean you’re a good cook. It doesn’t mean you have to cook. It does mean that you look good when you tie one on!

Recently launched is the new Designer Series Aprons, featuring designer Paula Prass among others. “I chose the very talented Paula Prass and her new Botanika Collection to be our first featured designer,” Cynthia says. “I wanted to welcome her recent move to southern California where D-Lux 57 aprons are lovingly stitched in the sunny state of swaying palm trees and sandy beaches. Paula is an artist with a flair for bold interior design statements while her unique style is a well balanced mix of clever simplicity and detailed beauty.”

D-Lux 57 also offers the Original Keepsake Collection Aprons, vintage styled aprons that are fully lined and packaged in a matching keepsake envelope.

Cynthia moved to Los Angeles, CA USA from Canada in the 1980’s to begin a lifelong dream of making her mark in the apparel industry. The inspiration for D-Lux 57 came one night while she and her daughter were cooking together (Cynthia loves to cook). Memories came flooding back when Cynthia spotted her daughter wearing an apron bought many years earlier at Harrods in London, England – vivid moments of baking bread with her aunt and the colorful quilts so artfully created by her grandmother. That’s when she decided to create this line of aprons designed to touch the lives of people in a nostalgic way. “Hopefully they can become ‘comfort food’ for you, too,” she says.

  • Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!

Funnel + Flip + Nipple = Flipple


Meet Flipple, made with American ingenuity by a mother of invention.

Imagine being able to convert any bottled water product into a baby bottle. Couldn’t that just make your day?

Leave the baby bottles at home…on purpose! Flipple is an adapter with a thread design that attaches to 99% of standard bottled water products, so parents can easily add formula and other liquid, thus solving the problem of forgetting baby bottles at home. Flipple creates a secure connection between bottle neck and baby’s favorite standard nipple with no leaks, too.

Made in the USA. BPA-free, Flipple is a safe, fast and convenient way to feed a baby on the go with no clean up. “Mothers will quickly see the high standards used when putting together this product and it is backed with a 100% guarantee,” says creator Linda Lewis, who quit her full-time job of 30 years to fulfill the great American dream of running her own business.

It has been a true adventure getting Flipple to where it is today. It began with cutting, gluing and measuring at the kitchen table to get a very ugly prototype, but it worked!

Based in Galesburg, IL USA Linda’s family-owned Flipple Company  provides top quality products that parents will learn to trust, value and need. In addition, she’s on a mission to prove  that production can be sourced in the USA at a competitive price, thus getting Americans back to work. Flipple is the first example: All production tooling is made in the St. Louis area.

Great Gift Idea. The versatile Flipple can be used in all sorts of ways:

  • As a kitchen funnel
  • Re-use bottles while camping
  • Fertilize indoor plants
  • As a garage funnel

  • Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!

The Beauty of Simply Lana


As a special Mother’s Day promotion, enjoy free shipping with any purchase of Simply Lana towels between now and May 13.

Amanda Sayler recently introduced me to Simply Lana, a line of beautiful, large round towels made with a unique buttoned loop, for easy hanging on almost anything. As sales manager, she’s been keeping me up-to-date on all their celebrity likes, too – such as chef Paula Dean, actor Patricia Arquette and super-mom Giada De Laurentiis, who uses the Little Chick towel in her daughter Jade’s playroom.

“Our towels make a perfect baby shower gift for the mom to be,” Amanda says. “The soft cotton terry is gentle on a baby’s skin, and our unique button loop will make sure the towels never fall down staying clean for your baby.” Made from durable, high-quality100% cotton terry with cotton trim, Simply Lana towels feature contrasting color combos and embroidered embellishments that appeal to everyone. “Because the towel drapes in soft folds, you can dry your hands on one bit, then turn it to get to the next dry section, so it’s always ready for you.”

The towels are super-versatile, stay in place (so stay cleaner) and will be loved and used by adults and children, cooks and golfers, moms and tennis players – everyone you can think of!

Growing up in the former Soviet Union, Lana Hall enjoyed the practical, analytic side of life. Earning several degrees in the medical field, she immigrated to the U.S. in 1994 –and that’s when she received a unique gift from a friend back in Russia: a circular kitchen towel, suspended from a center loop, so it could be hung on a cabinet knob or on a hook. Her scientist mind kept thinking of new ways to make it better –bigger, more absorbent, colorful, even more practical- so, she set about customizing the design, until Simply Lana was born. Her doctor husband –and all of her friends- simply love it!

  • Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!

The gDiapers Revolution


An “eco-adorable alternative to traditional diapering,” blending fashion with sustainability in a part disposable, part reusable diaper.

Happy baby, happy planet. Portland, OR-based gDiapers is a seven-year-old company that’s taking full responsibility for making babies’ bums not only cute, but fashionable, using natural and biodegradable materials –to keep the planet happy, too.

The gTeam at gDiapers gives parents the flexibility of a disposable diaper with a 100% biodegradable gRefill or they can opt for the reusability of super soft and trim-fitting gCloth inserts. gDiapers are plastic-free, elemental chlorine free, latex free and perfume free. gDiapers biodegradable gRefills are the only diaper to be certified 100% biodegradable. They can be home composted, tossed or flushed.  And they are Cradle to Cradle certified, which means that everything that goes into making a gRefill gets reabsorbed by the planet in a neutral or helpful way. Add to this a colorful array of diaper covers and, “Even diapering can be fun and inspiring from a design perspective,” says VP of marketing Kate French.

Jason and Kim Graham-Nye, parents themselves, founded gDiapers after finding out some stunning statistics about conventional disposable diapers –like they’re the third largest contributors to landfills in the world, and it can take up to 500 years for a single disposable diaper to biodegrade. After finding a company in Tasmania that makes flushable diapers, the couple brought the concept to the U.S., and the rest is gHistory.

What does the “g” stand for? Check it out online … my favorite is, “groovy, thriving, ground-breaking company out to change the world of diapers.”

What it means to be g … genuine, green, groovy, gorgeous, giggle, giddy, grassroots, growing, grateful, gazing … you get the idea.

  • Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!

Casual, Comfortable Native Shoes


Footwear for the future – designed for anybody, anywhere, anytime.

Vancouver, BC-based Native Shoes hit the streets three years ago with a good-looking, trendy line of footwear that molds to feet, is lightweight, washable and odor resistant –a fantastic combination, especially for kids.

The company launched the Native Kids collection in Fall 2010, modeled after popular adult silhouettes Miller, Jefferson and Corrado. Made from the same unique foam-injection molded EVA, the kids collection is also free of animal by-products, waterproof, washable, shock absorbent and odor resistant –using the company’s low energy emissions manufacturing process and zero waste injected molds. Cool.

For the Spring 2012 season, Native Shoes collaborated with The Jim Henson Company on the kids collection look book, which features two stars from Fraggle Rock. Company reps tell me, “Fraggle Rock characters have a special place in the hearts of many young, stylish parents who grew up watching the show. Red Fraggle and Travelling Matt, not only target both parents and kids this season, but also fits into Native’s brand ideology of ‘Futuristic Nostalgia’ perfectly: designs for the future, connected with the past.”

Inspired by classic, casual silhouettes and everything we’ve ever loved about shoe design, the Native aesthetic results in shoes that are easy to wear and great to look at.

Sold everywhere from North America to the Middle East, you can also get your Natives online at Zappos.com, among other e-tailers. I’m thinking about getting myself a pair, actually -they look sooo comfortable.

***

Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!

Make Traveling with Kids Fun


This summer, there’s a TrayKit® for every kid!

Launching this year in the U.S., the award-winning TrayKit® and TrayKit® Traveller collection are fun for kids and practical for parents.

Already a smash in the UK, the TrayKit® is created by a British mom and offers parents a brilliant all-in-one solution that can make traveling a lot more enjoyable -not only for you and your kids, but for everyone else in any train, plane or automobile!

TrayKit® is a carry-on backpack that kids can pack themselves and easily carry along on any trip using the handle or shoulder straps. Once on-board, TrayKit® can be hung from the back of a seat or strapped onto train and plane tray tables. When kids open it up, they have an extendable play surface with raised sides, preventing any toys from going overboard, so no one has to crawl around looking for lost crayons and puzzle pieces. When ready to go, simply pack up the bag, so everyone -and everything- will be on time.

“Like so many parents, I have spent endless journeys packing and carrying all sorts of on-board ‘keep-them-entertained’ toys which all end up on the floor having rolled off their tray table or lap. TrayKit® is the perfect trip companion that will make your child the perfect travel companion!”

-Solvej, inventor of the TrayKit and mum of two

Available May 2012. Distributed in the U.S. through Kids Preferred and specialty retailers nationwide, the TrayKit® Traveller collection is a terrific line of coordinating travel essentials, including passport covers and holders, luggage tags, travel journal kits complete with pencils and erasers, and the very cute  TravelBug™ plush toy. Cool colors and patterns to choose from, something for boys and girls ages three and older –with a durable surface that can be wiped down easily.

  • Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!

AnnieWear Inspires Animal Lovers to Give Back


Pamela Pinta and Laurene Parletore have taken their passion and turned it into a reality.

“AnnieWear is an online gift store that gives back,” Pam tells me. “We donate part of the proceeds from every item sold to animal rescues nationwide.” AnnieWear offers animal-themed products for newborns, infants, toddlers and kids up to size 7, as well as things that appeal to moms.

Named after Laurene’s adopted dog Annie and inspired by nephew Roland, who was born around the time Annie was adopted, AnnieWear has already donated to Almost Heaven Golden Retriever Rescue (where Annie is from), Liberty Humane Society (where Pam volunteers), Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue, Purrs and Pooches, and The East Coast Maine Coon Rescue (where Pam was just elected to the Board of Directors).

Pam and Laurene are cousins who are both passionate animal lovers and avid shoppers with completely different styles and tastes. Pam loves all animals and adopts cats. Laurene loves all animals and adopts dogs. Neither are moms to humans, but they dearly love their nephews and try to influence their lives in a positive way.

Laurene says, “We cater to people looking for a unique gift for a special occasion, something that will make their gift stand out and their gift recipient appreciative.”

The pair began by creating their own product lines: the Life Line and the Annie Line. Both offer 100% ring-spun combed cotton one-pieces and t-shirts in traditional and contemporary colors for boys or girls. The Annie Line products features Annie’s picture, along with her trademark “So Stinkin’ Cute” graphic.

AnnieWear also includes popular brands such as Aden + Anais, Bibi & Mimi, Hatley, Kalencom, Kicky Pants, San Diego Hat Company, Vincent and many more.

AnnieWear products perform double duty for you: Unique gifts sure to be a hit that also help animals in need.

  • Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!

Get $65 in FREE Products! Join Klippie Klub!


Popular children’s accessories brand Itzy Bitzy Designs launches a new club that makes accessorizing affordable.

Do you have a little diva darling who loves wearing the perfect hair accessory with every outfit? She can never have too many hair bows, right? Wouldn’t it be great if all that shopping didn’t break the bank?

Look no further. Michelle Ruesch, founder of Itzy Bitzy Designs, introduces the Klippie Klub, a kit-of-the-month hair accessories club, where members receive a themed kit containing exclusive, newly released hair clips each month. It’s the perfect way to build an up-to-the-minute-cute hair accessories collection that’s incredibly affordable as well.
“Monthly subscription programs are very popular and allow the customer to enjoy products at a significant savings,” Michelle tells me. “We wanted our customers to be able to enjoy a wider range of our products by being able to offer them a substantial savings – and you will not find another club that offers such an incredible value.”

Get $65 in FREE Products. You enjoy fantastic savings from the start, with a choice of two memberships. The Krazy is only $15.99 a month – a 70% savings off retail. The Kasual is only $18.99 a month – a 50% savings off retail – and requires no long term commitment. FREE Shipping is included with each membership – another bargain!

For Children’s Retail Today Followers. Join now and receive the first kit FREE plus a FREE Klippie Klub Hair Accessories & Travel Organizer (total retail value $65.00). Help get the word out about this terrific deal!

  1. use this link to like the Klippie Klub Facebook Page;
  2. or sign up for the Klippie Klub Newsletter (Join My List) and be the first to receive special promotions and coupon codes;
  3. or start following the Itzy Bitzy blog;
  4. and share my posting (this one!) about the Klippie Klub on your own Facebook page!

And sign up for the Klub, of course!

Designed in the USA. Each month, members –and their diva daughters- can look forward to a beautifully themed set of hair clips exclusively designed only for club members, made from high-quality, trendy fabrics and colors. The sturdy clips are easy to open yet stay in place, and the soft inside is gentle on a child’s lovely locks.

Every little girl deserves to feel like a princess. We hope that our unique affordable program insures little girls will always have the perfect hair accessory for any outfit.

Continue reading →

Zomsters Brings Friendly Monsters to Life


Mom-owned Zomsters sustainable children’s fashion and museum-quality art collections are invading kids closets and rooms nationwide.

Leap Year Zaniness! Zomsters is based in Snoqualmie, WA (just up the mountain from me!) and offers a full line of earth-friendly art and clothing designed for kids featuring zany characters called Zomsters. Meet Wally, Harold, Stanley and the growing family of friendly characters here!

Zomsters are designed to make kids smile and to spark their imaginations. We create characters rich with unique traits, interests and backgrounds to teach kids about far-off cultures and places, and about career choices that aren’t as common.

-founder/designer Ronda Bergman

Ronda also designs to create awareness about how making small green changes in our lives can make big differences in the world. The company is committed to sustainable business practices, choosing environmentally-conscious materials like organic cotton, recycled paper and recycled aluminum cans. Zomsters minimizes its impact by using water-based, azo-free inks for non-toxic printing and selecting local manufacturers and suppliers to reduce shipping and materials waste.

Parents choose from a plethora of adorable products including one-pieces, knot hats, toddler tees … art blocks, cards and prints, water bottles and more. Coming soon: coloring pages, wall papers and more.

This Leap Year, find your inner Zomster and spread the word! Available online and select retail locations. Also wholesale.

  • Children’s Retail Today publishes new posts on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you want to get the word out about your innovative, imaginative and inspiring products for children, contact me today!