We built a birthday monkey and not a bear! (Build a Bear)

Member Name: azana

Product:	Build a Bear
Date:	01/07/09 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: kids love it

Disadvantages: expensive

I'd always consigned "Build a Bear" to my list of children's things that looked good but were probably a rip off - no reason really other than probably like most parents having a huge soft toy mountain already (any non-parents reading this soft toys as gifts are not as great nor as original idea as you thought necessarily, sorry). In case you don't know build a bear is, unsuprisingly, a shop where you can custom make your own soft toy.

Following a birthday visit for my youngest my opinion of this store is greatly improved and I am sure that I will be going to the shop again for my other child when it is her birthday as the shop really is great. My experience is of the Reading store, which is situated in the Oracle Centre. There are other stores around the country, more and more it seems. The company was started in St. Louis, USA, in 1997, and does have an American feel about it, a visit to www.buildabear.co.uk will tell you where your nearest store is and firmly establish the Americaness of the idea "love and hugs" just isn't very British is it?

Preparing for our trip:

Despite my previously mentioned negativity towards an abundance of soft toys, which in my experience gather dust and are often not played with, my youngest does actually really like role playing tea parties and chatting to her teddies. She had been the lucky toddler to bring home the preschool Build a Bear teddy, complete with outfits, which goes home for the night to children who have behaved well. This successful visit lead to me thinking that maybe she could have a bear for her birthday. We decided to choose a time we could go just together and checked out the animals available on the website - my daughter is a 3 year old of the new millenium after all! We had a browse and got some ideas of animals and outfits - you can actually purchase from the website too.
I did look to see if there were any discounts or offers from www.myvouchercodes.co.uk, at time of our trip there weren't, but there are deals from time to time.

Visiting the store:

As we arrived the staff greeted us without pressuring us to buy and we were able to look at a few sample toys in all their finery and to proceed to building a toy at our leisure.

My daughter chose a "skin" to fill fairly quickly, this being an unstuffed toy. They ranged in price from £8-£15, she chose a monkey. The staff were lovely and helpful and encouraged my child to participate in the filling by pushing a pedal - the filling goes in a hole at the back through a not too scary tube. My child being only just 3 didn't over like the noise but was happy to participate in adding a fabric heart inside her bear and we also chose a monkey sound to go in his paw for an extra £2. The toys are all about 43cm high - so a good size to cuddle for any child.

The range of animals was good - from zebras to horses to actual bears. I was pleasantly suprised my child didn't choose one of the more lurid pink bears, her monkey was actually quite tasteful with plush pale brown hands and feet and a cheeky face. My daughter liked the fact that he had a belly button.

The member of staff checked how cuddly we wanted our animal, and then encouraged us to give him a groom once he was sewed up. The look on my daughter's face as she was given her monkey was fantastic and she showered him with kisses straight away and then set to choosing some clothes.

There were plenty of outfits and accessories available. I would say that the choice was all a bit "trailer trash" teddy rather than "debonair traditional English" teddy. There were a lot of sequiny tops and ra-ra skirts, the sort of thing I would rather not buy for my kids, but I am sure kids love them! For male bears it was all a bit "trainer and hoody" teddy - my daughter chose a tasteful-ish pair of jeans and a shirt, phew. We accessorised with glasses but could have chosen a walkman or any myriad of shoes and bags. Items are priced from £3 to £10 or so, and are of average made-in-China quality in my opinion, but attractive to children.

We were then encouraged to print off a birth certificate, and "monkey" got his own box to go home in, with breathing holes of course. Being registered via his birth certificate ensured that should Monkey ever go astray Build a Bear would endeavour to help re-unite him with his owner.

The whole package cost us £28.50 in total, which was less than I was expecting, though still not cheap.

After purchase:

After receiving the monkey my daughter proudly took him around the shops back to home and kept hugging him. We were one big walking advert for the franchise with box in hand (me) and blissed out monkey holder (my toddler) really selling the build a bear ideal. We did get a lot of indulgent looks off other parents and grannies, my daughter was so obviously delighted.

Monkey has become a firm favourite and already been on many trips. We did get an email to ask if we wanted to sign up to bearville.com where my daughter's avatar and monkey (on screen via his code from his birth certificate) could play games and interact in a safe environment. For the purposes of this review I had a quick look and got annoyed that the only avatar choice appeared to be white and blondish, my daughter doesn't tick either of those boxes. There was a sim-like world for avatars to walk around with average animation, this might appeal to older children but was a bit beyond a three year old. She did enjoy colouring in and customising his box which, sensibly, is of white carboard and has pictures of bears in colour-me-in style on, I think all children would enjoy this aspect of the purchase.

Overall:

The visit was more of a success than I could have thought and I can see why this franchise is so successful. I would think that it would appeal to children from 2 up to probably 10 or so - the HSM bears probably still just about appeal to that age group. This is one clever marketing ploy, but I have to say I really enjoyed our trip to the store, my daughter loves her monkey and I am a build a bear convert. I have given it 4 stars and not 5 only as the quality could be better - I know from the preschool bear's visits that they don't wear particularly well, and the clothes could be less tacky in my opinion, and it could be cheaper. Overall though my daughter loved it, and has insisted on sleeping with monkey every night to the detriment of 80p Ikea bear. Our visit was memorable and a huge success in my daughter's eyes, and so that for me makes the store a winner.



www.buildabear.co.uk for more information

Summary: A happy third birthday for my daughter