Over and Out

The Christmas Season is over and now the New Year is upon us.  2009 looms not too far away.  My favourite part of the holidays is spending time with family and friends- I really do enjoy how most things close and people do slow down for a few precious days.  Tonight will bring together family and friends for a casual evening of fellowship, nibblies and perhaps a few adult beverages!

Offspring will jump into 2009 with a flurry of activity.  We've got a couple shows to attend mid-month and are hoping to pick up some new and interesting products for the store.  We've been doing quite a lot of research so I hope it all pays off!

That's all for now!  Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

The Final Countdown

It's been a while since I was last on, as with most everyone, the hustle and bustle of the holiday season has caught up with me.  I think I am actually in better shape than usual this year, but we'll see how bad I am stressing come 8 pm tonight!

My daughter hasn't quite figured out what Christmas is all about quite yet.  She does know the story of Baby Jesus and that it is a time for family and friends to be together but she could do without Santa Claus.  Hey wait, she has figured it out!  The true meaning of Christmas.  Leave it to a three year old.  At her request we'll be having a birthday cake and candles for dessert tomorrow night-  Happy Birthday Jesus!

I digress.....My trip to the mall

**The opinions expressed in the following post are those of my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Offpsring Baby**

So,  I just got back from some shopping at the mall and cannot believe the poor service I received at almost every store I went into.  Last time I checked it was the responsibility of the person behind the counter to ring in my purchases, take my money and send me on my way.  Apparently I missed the memo that I wasn't to contribute to the economy and should stay home so they could all sulk behind their cash registers and gossip among themselves.  

I would be in a much more foul mood had it not been for my funny experience at Walmart.  Yup, went in during regular business hours, six days before Christmas.  Good thinking.  Nonetheless, I got the few things I needed (gifts for my brother :p) and selected what I thought was a good line.  The man in front of me had a handful of items, another lady (with lovely seasonal hair clips) had her items on the belt.  All was well.  Then the man moved and the seasonally adorned lady's cart came into view.  Not only did she have a fair amount of snack food already on the belt, but her cart was full of Pringles, nuts, candies, cake mix, frosting, cookies, etc.  Not enough of any one item to suggest a large party, but an assortment of every snack item imaginable.  The man in front of me commented "Guess I picked the wrong line..." to which I suggested "At least we've got food if we get hungry."  The snack lady's husband arrived to peruse the candy items, what would he choose?  What wasn't already going home with him?  He was looking for Tums.  Go figure.

What's the Buzz?

Last night we joined the Region's coolest mummy, Adele from 91.5 The Beat, at the Mummylicious Christmas Party.  Offspring Baby joined forces with Busy Bees Indoor Playground for this event and 15 lucky mummies and their kiddies came, ran, bounced, crashed, ate, bounced some more and then screamed when it was time to leave.  A good time was had by all!  We sent everyone away with a $25 gift certificate for Offspring Baby, full bellies and (hopefully) tired kids.  WHat more could you ask for?  For more info check out:

  www.915thebeat.com/home/FunStuff/Mummylicious/tabid/1441/Default.aspx

You too could be mummylicious!

Rocking with baby (or small child)

I have a new favourite thing!  Yup, something else that for the time being I just can't live without.  Well, okay maybe I could do without it, but it's pretty cool and it makes my daughter happy.  Need I say more?  It pacifies my three year old!  While we were in Vegas at the ABC Kids Show Meg and I checked out tonnes of cool products.  We're always looking for gear that is functional and practical, well you can imagine how excited we were to come across Rockabye Baby CD's.  Featuring the music of many popular artists such as U2, Coldplay, Bob Marley, ACDC, Metallica and more (yes Metallica) performed using baby and child friendly instruments like glockenspiels, vibraphones and mellotrons.  All the music is so calm and soothing everyone will mellow out and in most cases, head off to dreamland.  I was even happier to learn that my local Kindermusik Director had found them and written about them in her November Newsletter.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kindermusik, it is a wonderful program for you and your child.  We started in the village program when Fin was just a baby and are still active in the Our Time Program at three.  We always had a great time and Fin loves the music!  For more info visit www.kindermusikcambridge.com  I believe they also offer free trial classes too!  We've got the Rockabye Baby CD's here at the store or shop online.  There is even a Christmas Classics CD, drop by and pick one up!

Weekend Update

I hope everyone had a good weekend.  It was busy around here.  Candyland finished up across the street in Central Park and on Sunday I volunteered my time at Flag Raiders Paintball Games in Kitchener at their first annual Christmas Big Game, Operation Rogue Elf.  Not only was it a great opportunity for paintballers to get out and play in the snow, but it was a charity fundraiser in support of Family and Children's Services.  Offspring Baby and Toy Tales co-sponsored the event and over $1100.00 was raised to help make Christmas merrier for those less fortunate in our community.  In case you weren't aware, Flag Raiders is a big proponent of community service and each Friday evening at the indoor facility on Gage Ave in Kitchener they offer Food Bank Fridays. Each non-perishable food item reduces entry by $2 and paintballs are half price.  Over the duration of the program Flag Raiders has donated over 14,000 pounds of food (the second largest donation in Cambridge from what I've been told.)  Not bad for a small business!  Now I'm off to do some shopping and drop off the gifts to Family and Children's Services.  It's not too late to do your part either, drop off a new unwrapped toy at our store and we'll make sure it gets to F&CS.  We've got Trees of Hope for sale too, $2.00 each.  It's that easy!  Happy Ho Ho everyone!

Here they are...

As promised here are the pics of our new sign and our super cool storyboard.  The pics really don't do either of them justice so I think you should just come into the store and see for yourself!

Lots to look at

It seems things are finally coming together around here.  First our outside sign actually arrived and was installed.  I think the gestation period of that sign was actually longer than a elephant!  Now people on the street will be able to easily find our store (and the customers from next door might be less likely to come in here for their hair appointments.)  I think my most favorite thing off all has to be the awesome storyboard that we have installed behind our POS counter.  In September we had pictures taken of the kids by Rachelle Hlaj of Little Smiles Photography www.littlesmilesphotography.net and she really captured the essence of the kids.  We thought it was important for our customers to see why we are here, what actually inspired Offspring.

I'll post a picture of it up soon.  Stay tuned.

First Post...

Welcome to the Offspring Blog.  Here you'll find out what's happening in the store, with our offspring and the offspring around us.

We've started our December sale, lots of great deals on in stock product like Klean Kanteens, ThinkBaby, strollers, car seats and more.  We sent out an email to our customers who had provided us with their email address, if you'd like to receive updates and info in advance on sales, new products and learning opportunities, just fire off and email to info@offspringbaby.com.

Candyland is on in Central Park located just across the street from our store.  The carousel runs weeknights from 4-8 pm  and weekends from noon-8 pm.  The park is beautifully decorated with lots of activities for children of all ages.  In honour of Candyland we decided to rent a candy floss machine and hand out free goodies.  Nothing like a sugar high!  Needless to say there is definitely an art to making candy floss.  Despite multiple university degrees we still managed to get covered in fluffy blue goodness!  There's some available here at the store, so drop on by and get spun!