The good life for LittleLife

I was so delighted to find the perfect toddler backpack for my kid that I decided to order them for my store. I was so delighted about the packs, in fact, that I told other moms about it, including that powerful network of Moms-who-Blog. And today, some of these moms have given it the thumbs up.

The LittleLife animal backpacks are featured as a must-have item at Sweetmama.ca and at WeeWelcome.

I am also happy to be able to offer stuff at my store that suits both little girls and boys. I want to make sure boys have cool choices for clothes and gear, but I'm all for equality, after all.

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One other noteworthy thing about these packs: they are of excellent quality.

Since the WeeWelcome blog post is on the reduce/reuse/recycle theme, I wanted to share my thoughts on this. I think most people forget the "reuse" portion of the equation. The products I carry, and this one in particular, are well made and durable. It means this $45 backpack is going to be in good enough shape to be handed down to the next toddler long after your kid has outgrown it.

In the meantime, I bet there are tons of $9.99 ripped backpacks with broken zippers in our landfills. A better quality product made by a reputable organization like LittleLife is also more likely to offer better wages to the workers who stitch and assemble these products compared to products with logos violating cartoon trademarks and copyrights and made by some fly-by-night hustler obviously out to just make a buck. I, as a business, care about these things and I only stock products that I, in good conscience, will buy personally.

Holiday specials

We, at TykeThreads, held a staff meeting over the weekend and reached a consensus: we officially voted NOT to have any holiday sales.

Let me explain:

One of the privileges of running my own business is that I can now make my own rules. This weekend, as I spent a nice relaxing weekend with my family, I realized that long weekends are best spent just hanging out and enjoying each other's company.

Also, one of the privileges of having an online shop is the convenience of 24/7 shopping. So, given the two points above, it struck me as odd that so many brick and mortar shops out there use the holidays as an opportunity to lure you into leaving your home and planning your precious weekend around buying things -- as if an extra day off is nothing but an extra opportunity to spend a day shopping.

As much as shopping is fun and entertaining, I think time is at a premium for most families. Long weekends should be spent just hanging out and/or doing something meaningful.

So, for the record: there will never ever be an Easter holiday special or a Passover special or a Ramadan special or a Christmas special or a Hanukkah special at TykeThreads.

Please shop at our store when it's convenient for you and don't let the fun of shopping interfere with other important things like attending parades, going to worship, or having a nice picnic together as a family -- no matter what kind, form or shape, no matter how big or how small your family might be.