build a bear reviews - Stuff Parents Need

Thanks to Build-a-Bear for sending along Minnie Bear to keep us company at Disney World. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always!

It’s no secret that both of my girls LOVE stuffed animals. They come by it honest; my collection topped out around 200 animals when I was a child. I’m pretty good about saying “no” for most toys when the request is made, except for stuffed animals!

And of course, both of my girls have their most precious loveys that they sleep with every night. I’ve been thinking about how to handle this for our upcoming trip to Disney World (missed those posts? Check out my Disney vacation tips post and my Disney vacation budget post). If either one of these loveys were lost, it would be…not the end of the world….but just ever-so-slightly less devastating than that. It would RUIN our trip, you guys, not even kidding. But since we’ll be gone for a week, I think they are going to be getting in the car with us. But let me tell you something, they will go from our house, to the car, into the hotel room, back to the car, and back to our house. THAT IS IT!!!!

To help keep the girls occupied in the park, we need some loveys that they will enjoy. So how awesome is it that Build-a-Bear has just come up with a Minnie Bear? She’s an adorable pink bear with a signature Minnie Mouse bow and LOTS of fun Minnie accessories. She will make for a fun playmate while we wait in line or during strolls all over the park. And while it would not be fun if she were to get lost, I know that we would survive the ordeal, which is more than I can say for certain with bunny and doggy.

One thing I have always loved about Build-a-Bear plushes, and what makes them stand apart from other stuffed animals, is the attention to details. Look at Minnie Bear’s feet! While Build-a-Bear has lots of super cute shoes that you could buy for her, aren’t her little bear feet (er..paws?) adorable?

The same holds true for the accessories. If you have never been inside a Build-a-Bear store, it is a treat! The outfit selections will blow you away, and they will be easy to use on different loveys from Build-a-Bear. Check out this great feature: pants with a hole in them just for little tails! Hee Hee!

So even if you have a different Build-a-Bear lovey that you’d like to get all dolled up for a trip to Disney World, or if you just have a Minnie Mouse fan in your house, check out the full line of Minnie accessories, perfect for Minnie Bear or any other Build-a-Bear in your collection!

I’d love to hear: do you have a travel policy in your home in regards to your child’s favorite stuffed animals or other favorite toys?

Since my oldest is just shy of 4 1/2, and since she absolutely adores stuffed animals (which we call loveys), I’ve been thinking that the time has arrived for us to get our first introduction to Build-a-Bear. The folks there treated us to the Build-a-Bear experience, and I wanted to show those of you who have never been exactly what it is like (because if you are like me, you are curious!).

When you arrive at Build-a-Bear, you are greeted with an entire wall of plush figures, just waiting to be stuffed. They come in a variety of price points, which I noticed ran from $16-$25. They do also have smaller plush animals that are already stuffed for $10, just fyi.

Darah picked a pink elephant and Layah chose a lion. Then we headed over to the stuffing section, and Darah got to press on the peddle while the sales associate stuffed each creature and chatted with the girls. I couldn’t help but notice how great the associates at the Chattanooga location were with kids!

After you get your animal stuffed, and before it is sewn up, you get to place a heart inside of it. This was a very sweet moment, and Layah really got into it!

Once the stuffed animals are all sewn up, it is time to take a bath (which is really just blasts of air). There are brushes available for making your lovey look nice and clean.

And now that your stuffed animal is created and clean, it is time to get dressed! This is a VERY fun part of the experience, but let me give a gentle warning to parents that this is also the part of the experience that can get quite pricey. You don’t have to pick out an outfit at all if you don’t want, but the choices are really hard to resist.

We took Layah’s lovey, which she named Rawr, over to the “dressing room” and tried out an outrageous number. It was a hit!

Darah found a Valentine outfit for her elephant (which she also named Valentine). And she also carefully selected a pair of shoes. High heels! 🙂

And no outfit is complete without some adorable hair bows. Valentine even got a hair bow on her tail! Rawr couldn’t be left out of the hair bow fest, either.

Build-A-Bear strikes me as an absolutely PERFECT place for a grandparent to take a grandchild for an extra special date, or for any other special occasion that warrants a celebration. What I really liked about the concept, though, is that children are encouraged to bring their loveys back into the store. They are welcome to give them baths again, and to check out all the great new accessories. They can even play dress up with their animals there, and they aren’t under any obligation to make another purchase. After all, we go to the mall and try on clothes, why shouldn’t our Build-A-Bears? 🙂

And while dressing your animal from head to toe can add up, you can also spread out those purchases over time. Perhaps you buy a tutu on one visit, and a pair of shoes on the next, and build up a wardrobe slowly. The creatures are so lovely on their own that even without their costumes, they are completely lovable.