Grand Avenue Baby

Finding Inspiration in Housewares

If you've read InStyle, O, Elle Decor, Real Simple, Metropolitan Home (and the list goes on) in the past few months, chances are the hip housewares from Alice Supply Co. have caught your attention. The brainchild of two fashion industry executives, Alice Supply Co. came alive with help from the creative genius of Clive Piercy, the founder of design office Air Conditioned.

Clive has crafted visual identities for companies like Roxy, Ekla, Quiksilver, Fathers Office and Hillstone (Houston's, Gulfstream) and generously shared his knowledge with small business owners during an evening with SMARTY. Very quickly into Clive's presentation it became enormously clear why I find myself coveting a garden hose and tool box.

It also became clear how important it is for a company's visual personality to reflect their product or service. If you're trying to create differentiated positioning in the marketplace, ask yourself:  What is your brand spirit?  What are the adjectives used to describe your brand? And then invest in design.

Stop Dreading "I Want to Help" and Help Your Toddler Become a Partner

“I want to help.” Hopefully I’m not the only parent that cringes when I hear these four simple words. Any parent who has ever tried to make dinner, bake cookies or wash the dishes with the “help” of a young child teetering precariously on a step stool must dread hearing these four words. The problem is, saying “no” may seem like the safest reply, but it’s not the best for your child’s long-term development.

Carol Gamble, a mom with more than 16 years of experience in the Montessori system, offers parents a solution: The Learning Tower. The only step stool on the market carefully designed to meet the specific needs of toddlers 18 months and up, The Learning Tower is a sturdy, non-tip structure that allows children to safely participate by raising them to countertop height where they learn by mirroring their parents and develop their sense of self by contributing as an active member of the family.

A perfect tool for kids in the kitchen, The Learning Tower’s unique accessories, the Art Easel and Playhouse Kit, expand children’s use of the Tower and sparks their imaginations. Little Partners is giving away an Ebony Tower in time for Halloween cookie decorating! Become a fan of The Learning Tower and post a Halloween picture of your little one for the chance to win. Visit http://www.facebook.com/LearningTower to enter.

 

Join Us for Friday, July 17 at 10 a.m. Pacific

Buy a Micralite TORO, Get a líllébaby FREE

Scandinavian Child is kicking off summer with a great offer for parents: purchase a Micralite Toro ($525) in July and receive a coupon for a FREE líllébaby EveryWear or líllébaby EuroTote (a $125 value!)

Rated the #1 Luxury Stroller (#2 Overall) by Consumer Reports, the TORO offers parents high-end design with unparalled usability. Extremely lightweight with an upright fold, the Toro is available with an optional bassinet and ATK accessory kit to convert it to a rugged all terrain stroller. Combine all of the TORO's features with an innovative carrier from líllébaby and you have the perfect on-the-go combo for summer!  

Click here to learn more!

A few pictures, a little text and viola!

"Cannonball" at thisMoment

We just started working with thisMoment and are quickly getting addicted to the ease of creating timelines and sharing moments with family & friends. As busy moms, we were immediately drawn to thisMoment's ability to incorporate everything we're already doing online (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.) in one place, but beyond that, we connected immediately with the concept of "a moment" and the desire to capture it for ourselves and to share it with loved ones.

Creating "Cannonball," helped me share (and stop for a few minutes to remember) Paige's pure joy that day. Best of all with thisMoment, I made the decision on who sees this moment. I can share it on Facebook or choose family only and for those of us who have "social networked" beyond our comfort zone, this is incredibly appealing.

Take a moment to check it out and please let us know what you think!

Market's Coming to Town

June Market officially kicks off tomorrow, Friday, June 12, and we can't wait to show retailers the latest and greatest at Grand Avenue Baby! Although Market officially runs thru Tuesday, June 16, our showroom is open year-round so retailers can come by (or call 213-627-1253 or email sales@grandavenuebaby.com) any day to order the fabulous products we represent.

Like the super cool tees from Tiny Revolutionary. So much more than a t-shirt line, Tiny Revolutionary has a pretty simple philosophy – "teaching kids to celebrate their individuality and approach the world with a compassionate spirit and sense of social responsibility is one of the very best opportunities to make the world a better place." Every time I see this Tiny Revolutionary's "I'll Change the World Someday" tee, I think to myself, "wow, my daughters have tremendous potential to make a positive impact" and it's inspires me to help them do just that!

Retailers who are looking to bring new brands into their store will love Scandinavian Child's super-affordable starter packages that get product with proven sell-through, like the lillebaby EveryWear Carrier, the Anka High Chair and Beaba Babycook, into the store.

       

And with summer and sundresses upon us, it's the perfect time to stock up on Francie Pants! Give girls the freedom to twirl, do a handstand or high kick and give their moms the relief of knowing Francie Pants has them covered. With 24 patterns to choose from, in sizes 2 – 16, girls everywhere will want to “Show em London, Show em…Francie Pants!” 

Here's to a great Market and a happy summer!

Fit Pregnancy Loves the líllébaby Everywear Carrier

The líllébaby EveryWear Carrier arrived last August and quickly earned fans at Fit Pregnancy. The only carrier on the market that allows a parent to carry a baby 4 ways - on her chest (facing inward OR forward), back or hip, the EveryWear earned an Editor's Choice Award and is now prominently featured in the magazine's April/May Buyer's Guide!

 

The innovative and multi-function lillébaby EveryWear Carrier is ergonomically designed to be comfortable for the Child and the Wearer by balancing the baby’s weight to the wearer’s hips and shoulders while allowing the child’s legs to be up in a 90% angle, which supports the correct sitting position for the baby's hip, pelvis and spine growth. This design also enables the EveryWear to be lightweight and compact because weight is distributed evenly – limiting the need for bulky padding.

 

Available in a stylish texture and neutral colors, the EveryWear features a soft lining, wind and water repellent exterior lining with light breathable microfiber with enforced edges for strength and durability. It includes two front pockets for keys or cell phone and its zippered pocket fits most diapers and wipe holders. Extremely light and compact enough to easily fit in a diaper bag, the carrier retails for only $100. Click here to learn more.

Organic Apparel: Good for Your Baby, Good for Our Earth

Organic apparel may seem like a marketing ploy, but there’s more to it than a hang tag. More insecticides are used on cotton than any other crop in the world and the use of heavy chemicals continues during cotton production and processing as well; as much as one-fourth of a pound of chemicals to make one cotton t-shirt and two-thirds of a pound to make a pair of jeans according to the Pesticide Action Network. These chemicals and heavy metals are either carried around for the life of the clothing – slowly off-gasing onto the wearer – or released into treatment plants, sewers and rivers, leading to one half of the world’s wastewater problems. The chemical runoff is so pervasive that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified many textile manufacturing facilities to be hazardous waste generators.

Beyond these health and environmental concerns, the end result of cotton grown and produced with conventional methods is a weaker, inferior cotton garment because the chemicals used in the growing, processing and dying of the cotton ultimately breaks the fiber down.

Organic cotton provides an alternative, offering unparalleled softness and quality and is safer for children and adult’s health.

Sage Creek Organics’ stylish collections for infants and toddlers are a great example of how far organic apparel has come. The company’s affordable heirloom quality soft organic cotton pieces are produced using methods and materials that have low impact to the environment and are safe and healthy for children.  

 

The Cradle put it perfectly, “We’re talking 100% natural goodness here! And, they have a large variety of colors and patterns to fit your style or mood. It’s good for your baby and good for our earth.”

We hope you’ll take a look for yourself!

 

Beaba Babycook: Convenience & Cost Savings

Everyone knows that making meals at home saves money. It's time that is worth so much and why convenience so often trumps savings. The Beaba Babycook puts the convenience factor in the baby food equation making it easier for time-starved parents to choose homemade baby food over commercially prepared food.

Recently introduced to North American juvenile products retailers by Scandinavian Child, the Beaba Babycook baby food maker is a one-of-a-kind compact appliance that functions as a steamer, blender, warmer and defroster. With a press of a button, the Babycook steam cooks vegetables, fruits and meats and then purees or blends foods to the desired consistency; all while preserving their vitamins and flavors and time -- meals are ready in less than 15 minutes! The Babycook can also be used to quickly reheat or defrost precooked foods, and is very easy to clean.

Add to the convenience factor fresher foods to help children develop lifelong tastes for healthy fruits and vegetables and less waste and you’ve got an easy recipe for saving money.*

*In comparisons with major brands of commercially prepared baby food, the Beaba Babycook saves parents between $300-$560 in just six months.

Is Daylight Savings Time making bedtime a challenge?

If a week of tough bedtimes is getting to you, try these three steps to help your child (and you) get some much-needed sleep!

1. Develop a sleep routine. Adults benefit as much as children from having a consistent series of calming activities to help them wind down at the end of the day.

2. Incorporate sound. Sound can be an extremely effective part of the sleep routine because repetition of a certain pitch or tone helps the brain slow down.

For a baby, monotonous sounds are especially calming because it mimics life in utero where baby was accustomed to hearing his mother’s heart beat and the sounds of the womb. Cloud B's Sleep Sheep™ provides an audio pacifier that can calm even the fussiest babies to sleep. Tucked safely inside a soft, fluffy sheep that attaches to the outside of a crib with a Velcro tab, the sound box lulls babies to sleep with the soothing sounds of a mother's heartbeat, spring showers, ocean surf, and whale songs.

Toddlers and big kids will love Cloud B’s Gentle Giraffe™, which offers a unique compilation of soothing sounds that educate as well as de-stimulate by transporting young listeners to the beautiful and mysterious plains of the Serengeti. The removable sound machine tucked inside Gentle Giraffe's back offers the relaxing sounds of rhythmic drums, a waterfall, the sounds of a safari trail, and quiet giraffes.

3. Be consistent. Consistency is the hardest part of developing a lasting habit, but experts agree it is the most important element of a good sleep routine and a lifetime of better sleep. Before you decide to save time by skipping a step in the nighttime routine remember: when children sleep, parents sleep.