Grand Avenue Baby

Style & Function for Busy Moms on the Go: líllébaby Oslo Diaper Bag

Katherine Heigl was spotted carrying the líllébaby Oslo Diaper Bag on Halloween. The red bag added a great pop of color to her outfit, but we’re sure the color wasn’t the only reason the Oslo Bag was her go-to diaper bag for Halloween festivities with Naleigh. The líllébaby Oslo diaper bag is the perfect bag for busy moms on the go!

Slim and lightweight it’s also roomy with multiple pockets to keep items well organized.  Everything from diapers and wipes to keys, camera and cell phone are within easy reach.  The bag can be carried over the shoulder, across the chest, as a backpack and even on a stroller with the convenient, built-in stroller clips.

The Oslo’s cushioned changing pad takes diaper pads to a new level with a removable terry cloth liner for easy washing and tabs that allow parents to have a diaper ready to go. Two hidden pockets under the front flap allow easy access to tissues and wipes. A magnetic top closure keeps the bag’s contents secure while making access quick and easy as well as silent (Velcro can be a challenge to open quietly).

The Oslo diaper bag retails for $75 and is available in four colors, Black, Brown, Grey and Red. For more information or to purchase the líllébaby Oslo diaper bag, please visit www.scichild.com.

Want to learn more?  Visit Coffee with the Mrs. and check out Amy’s very thorough review of the Oslo.

Introducing Petit Trousseau

Welcome to the world of Petit Trousseau, where every day offers special moments with your children! 

 

Founder Betsy Jinks Lefkovits believes that it need not be a special occasion or holiday to dress well and experience and capture great moments with your children.  Women who concur will appreciate Petit Trousseau’s brand new line of season-neutral clothing for girls and boys, from layette to size 8, where impeccable tailoring, meticulous attention to detail, and subtle embellishment combine to create an aura of pure refinement.  The collection is designed to be a reflection of your exquisite sensibilities—and the beginnings of your children’s own unique style. 

 

We hope you’ll become a fan and share the excitement of Petit Trousseau’s first season.

 

Que chaque joir soit mémorable.

 

Make every day an occasion.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is Here...Get Out and Enjoy It!

líllébaby I Am EveryWear Challenge

After the coldest, snowiest winter in decades, it’s time to get outside and enjoy the sunshine! To encourage parents to get out & about with their babies, Scandinavian Child has created the líllébaby I Am EveryWear Challenge. Throughout the month of May 2010, parents will be encouraged to share pictures and stories as well as advice for getting out on IamEveryWear.com.

The IamEveryWear Challenge is also a challenge to Scandinavian Child to spread the word about the EveryWear Carrier with the goal of recruiting parents from across in the United States to participate.  Scandinavian Child’s progress in the challenge will be tracked on the home page of IamEveryWear.com.

The contest is open to all parents with infants, whether they’re using the EveryWear or another carrier for their baby, and throughout the 30-Day Challenge prizes will be awarded.

To be eligible for the Grand Prize*, participants in the “I am EveryWear” Sweepstakes must do the following:

1. Complete the entry form on IAmEveryWear.com
2. Submit two emails or blog posts showing photographs or videos of yourself out and about with your baby to Challenge@SCIchild.com

Engage in at least one of the following activities:

 

3. Post to SCI Facebook with stories & pictures of getting out and about with baby

4. Tweet (via Twitter) adventures using the hashtag #iameverywear

5. Email to your moms group or tribe of friends "pitching" the advantages of getting out & about with your baby

*Grand Prize: The Ultimate “On the Go” prize package will include the brand new Micralite Fastfold Superlite stroller (pictured below), two new líllébaby Diaper Bags – Stockholm and Oslo (pictured below) and a brand new EveryWear Carrier (pictured below). The grand prize will be announced by June 15, 2010 and awarded by June 30, 2010.

 

FOX Good Day LA: lillebaby diaper bag and Micralite featured as Hot Moms' Must Haves

High Chair Recall: Tips for Choosing a Safe High Chair

With the recent the recall of more than a million high chairs in the United States, Brenda Berg, Chair of the Juvenille Products Manufacturing Association (JPMA) and Founder and CEO of Scandinavian Child gives information on what parents should look for in high chair safety on My Carolina Today.  For more high chair saftey tips, click here. 

 

We've Been Busy: A Peek at Our Newest Lines

2010 is off to an exciting start. We're thrilled to be a part of the launch of three fabulous children's apparel lines - Petit Couture, Skylar Clothing and Tiny Pants!  We just returned from Children's Club and are getting ready for the lines to launch in LA this week. See the lines in person in Los Angeles in the California Market Center - Kids on 6 - Suite B601.

 

Here's a peek!  

Petit Couture is a socially-minded, premium children's line that fuses modern sophistication with artisan and whimsical styling for the fashion-conscious mom and her kids.  The signature Petit Couture designs feature sophisticated color choices, details and embellishments. Each piece in the debut collection features Petit Couture’s signature owl motif and gold metallic, rhinestones or glitter details and is proudly produced in the USA.

 

Inspired by Wen Reese's two sons, Jackson and Mac, Skylar Clothing is designed for boys' quiet sides. "Boys have a sensitive side that often gets overlooked," Wen explains, "I wanted to create a line that gives them an alternative to robots, rocket ships and race cars."

Featuring a variety of eco-friendly fabrics, Skylar celebrates children’s natural ability to be present in the moment – whether they are digging in the dirt, climbing trees or racing cars.  And because children are always moving, Skylar playwear is simple, comfortable and designed to let the kids – not their clothes- be the star of the show.

 

 

Tiny Pants proves that “style comes tiny too” with its debut collection for girls ages 2-14.  Created for mini stylistas in training, Tiny Pants offers runway inspired pieces designed especially for girls and not just shrunken down versions of women’s apparel. Tiny Pants launches for Fall 2010 with a range of fashion-forward pieces in a candy-colored palette of fuchsia, green, purple, navy and chocolate. The line's clear raincoat was the talk of the show at ENK's Children's Club!

Celebrating the Year of the Tiger

The Year of the Tiger begins February 14, 2010, but why wait to celebrate?  The Tiger is said to be lucky, vivid, lively, engaging and brave. In celebration of the Year of the Tiger, we wish our clients, colleagues and friends the very best for 2010 and hope everyone finds their “inner tiger” to face the New Year with courage and optimism. 

We certainly faced our own challenges last year, but we did our best to see the opportunities that arose from the challenges.  We cheered our Kids on 6 colleagues as we all came together to collectively market the kids business on the West Coast and make buying trips enjoyable for retailers.  We embraced social media – learning everyday how to make the most of this new tool for our clients’ and our own businesses.   And we looked closely at how we do business to make sure that we continued to offer our clients tremendous value.  As Earnshaw’s Editor in Chief Caletha Crawford nicely put it in January’s issue, “…the principles we learned from the toughest days of 2009 will serve us all well whether recovery is right around the corner or far off in the distance.”   We may not be sad to turn the page on 2009, but we certainly wouldn’t trade the lessons we learned.

Here’s to a year of great courage, creativity and optimism!

Connecting the Dots: A Brief History of Grand Avenue Baby

Grand Avenue Baby launched in 2006 and quickly earned a reputation as a go-to resource for the best products in the mom and baby category for media, influentials (celebrities, stylists, tastemakers) and consumers.  Since the beginning, we wanted Grand Avenue Baby to provide clients a holistic approach to PR & marketing because as long-term marketers, we know that celebrity outreach and public relations must go hand-in-hand in order for a program to be successful. So while we continued to outreach under the Grand Avenue Baby name, our firm name became Grand Avenue PR to better communicate who we are and the services we provide.

 

Our commitment to taking a holistic approach deepened as we watched amazing brands struggle to translate media and celebrity exposure into sales. Companies must connect the dots between PR and Sales to achieve maximum results. To help companies achieve these results, we evolved the Grand Avenue Baby concept to be able to offer companies an innovative and integrated solution to PR, Marketing and Sales: the Grand Avenue Baby Showroom.

 

In January 2009, the Grand Avenue Baby Showroom opened in the hub of Los Angeles’ Kids business at the California Market Center.  Through our brick & mortar and online showrooms we showcase a unique, hand-picked mix of quality brands – the finest in mom and juvenile accessories, apparel and gear – to media, celebrities, retailers and consumers.  Visitors to the Web site gain access to product information as well as Grand Avenue Baby blog posts on industry trends and highlights, products, topics and expert commentary and opinions.  Visitors to the showroom have the opportunity to “touch & feel” product and see it showcased in a retail environment.

 

The Grand Avenue Baby showroom package is an ideal solution for upcoming brands in need of a PR & Marketing launch and for established companies with internal marketing and/or sales teams that need tactical support. While Grand Avenue PR provides tailored, individualized PR and Marketing services, Grand Avenue Baby is a unique and affordable option for companies who need support with Media Relations, VIP Relations, West Coast Retail Relations, or a combination of the three.

 

Are you connecting the dots?  If not, we’d love to talk to you.

Advice for the Perfect Holiday Photo: Let Kids Be Kids

We had every intention of getting our family holiday cards ordered and out early this year, but once again finding the right family photo has slowed us down. Rather than get caught up in finding the “perfect” picture, we remembered what we learned from Julie Floyd, the founder of Classic Kids Photography. 

 

Julie offers one very important piece of advice: let kids be kids.  “When a child is doing what comes naturally, the photographer, whether it’s a parent or a professional, will capture that personality on film,” she explains.  True personality is often lost in the perfectly posed holiday photo. To avoid this, Julie offers the following tips for anyone gearing up for the holiday photo shoot:

 

1. Never say “smile” or ask the children to say “cheese.” The mouth will smile, the eyes will not. You must work for your smiles by entertaining your subjects.
2. Get down to their level. The photographer needs to bring the camera down to eye level. Even lay on the floor if necessary.
3. Fill the frame with your subject. A nice close shot is far more interesting to the viewer than seeing a lot of background.
4. Leave props out of the photograph unless the object is something your child can’t live without.
5. Make the shoot fun. If your family of four kids has to sit still for the picture, be sure that you are very entertaining. Enlist help from another adult if necessary.
6. Let kids be kids.  Don’t stress about Band-aids, braces, bruises and black eyes. Imperfections are charming and make kids look real. Don’t insist that hair is perfectly styled. Natural truly is timeless.

If you have other suggestions, please leave a comment. We'd love to hear them!

 

LA's Best Kept Secret: Sample Sale Days at California Market Center

Sample Sale Fridays are generally held the last Friday of every month, but during the holidays California Market Center welcomes the public EVERY Friday.  Located at the heart of Los Angeles’ fashion district, the California Market Center is home to hundreds of wholesale showrooms for apparel, accessories, gifts and home décor. Great prices can be found in showrooms throughout the Center.  

 

Grand Avenue Baby is taking advantage of the California Market Center’s Friday Sample Sales to give consumers what they want this holiday season: deals!  The Grand Avenue Baby Showroom (Suite B601) has been transformed into a holiday boutique with great finds from Millions of Colors, Red Wagon Baby, Miatom, Sage Creek Organics, Tiny Revolution, Besitos and Namaste, Inc. Featured product includes children’s t-shirts, apparel and accessories and women’s handbags at 50-60% off retail prices. 

 

Don't miss the chance to stock up for the kids or find fabulous gifts for everyone on your list!  Sample Sales continue every Friday through December 18.  Check out the California Market Center'swebsite for showroom information, directions and parking.