giveaway – the extra special kind

One of the more unusual aspects of being a toy designer for many years is the high volume of random toys I accumulated long before I became a mom. Like, 16 large bins filled to the brim. The summer before Birdie was born, I invited a long-suffering friend over for an afternoon of organizing and re-organizing (see the image below!). I was trying really hard to let go of some of the product that had been hiding under our stairs for years. But what actually happened? The extra toys just moved from one of many bins labeled “Keep for baby” (or keep for me!) to bins labeled “giveaway”. Funny. Considering I didn’t have any intention of hosting giveaways on a blog at the time, I think it’s a little eery.

But it’s good for you! I’m starting a new series of giveaways. Giveaways of discontinued product from the history of my much lauded, infamous, award winning career. Or, more realistically put: toys. Today’s giveaway includes two products I remember designing back in the last century, 1999. We had a wood factory in Victoria, BC that made all of the wooden toys using Canadian-sourced hardwoods. The dyes were natural and, of course, baby safe. It was all gorgeous product that I miss greatly, and the people making them cared so much about the toys they made. These two mini pull toys – (they’re about 5″ tall) are from a series of Tiny Tug Toys (name also by me, how original) with felt accents. Those felt bits are full of blood, sweat, and tears. They were produced in Hong Kong with a separate vendor. It was a surprisingly complicated process for us at the time: coordinating materials, production, timelines, and safety between two manufacturers who had never worked together or with the other’s materials before. I think I was even in Hong Kong to confirm some of the details. I miss that life sometimes. Then I remember the crazy hours, crazier meals (turtle head soup? no thanks) and the havoc to my body, and I’m a-ok.

The details: There will be two winners – one wins a frog, one wins a ladybug. These pull toys wobble when they roll, and their heads and feet rotate too. They include the original packaging, and are age-graded for 18 months and up.  Please note: if you give this to a child under three you will need to cut off the shiny bell on the front (easy peasy). New toy testing standards make the bell unsafe for kids under 3.

How to enter – Mandatory:

1. Leave a comment describing your favorite toy as a kid, or the favorite toy of your kids now.

How to enter – additional entries (one comment per entry):

1. Subscribe to Small for Big via RSS reader, then comment here.
2. Subscribe to Small for Big’s daily emails, then comment here.
3. Take the quick survey in yesterday’s post, then comment here.
4. Follow Small for Big on Twitter, and tweet about the giveaway, then comment here.
5. “Like” Small for Big’s Facebook Fanpage, then comment here.

This giveaway will be open from Tuesday, May 11th through Saturday night, May 15th, at midnight. The winners will be announced the following week with the help of the lovely and amazing random.org.