New for Spring!

These wonderfully sunny days have already got us looking forward to spring! Be sure to stop by the store and check out some of our new goodies, as we've started carrying a few new brands in the last months and will continue to be receiving awesome new items every week!

Here's a little bit of a sneak peek of what you might get to see:

Contraptions from Keva- Awesome build-it-yourself kits from Keva/Mind Ware. Build your own catapult, trebuchet or plank tracks!

   

Big Sister Rosy Cheek Dolls- Lovely soft-body dolls from The North American Bear Company. Three "Big Sisters" plus multiple adorable outfits to dress them in.

The Puppet Company stage puppets - Our newest line of puppets all the way from England! Specially made for puppet shows!

Clayzee Eraser Kits- Make your own erasers in wild colors and imaginative shapes! We have the learn-how kit as well as the refills!

The Piggy Story art aprons and play mats - We are SO EXCITED to finally carry some aprons that are great for art as well as cooking! The Piggy Story makes great, plasticized aprons with pockets in fun and colorful patterns. They also make portable play mats in the same cool patterns that are great for protecting table tops or picnicking in the park!

Newly redesigned Cuddlekins line by Wild Republic - After a lot of waiting, we've finally gotten in a huge shipment of the newest Cuddlekins from Wild Republic. These realistic, ultra-soft animals come in big and small sizes, and are true to the animal kingdom! The orange octopus and Asian elephant are some of our new favorites!

Snow-my-gosh!

Well, it's been quite the week in Bellingham! Starting with Monday's snow and then the wind and torrential rain yesterday, we finally experienced all the winter weather we were beginning to think we had escaped! Though it did make getting around a little bit of a hassle, everyone was definitely glad to get some time to play outside and enjoy the winter sports that only snow can make possible!

Today Robin led a "King Winter" felting workshop and it went wonderfully! All these wintry kings look very regal and sparkle just like the snow.Felting is a great activity to do during these blustery, gray months when being outside is just kind of icky. In fact, all of us have been feeling more inclined to stay indoors lately, and that's why we're really excited to be getting many new arts and crafts kits in stock!

Robi and Tina went to the toy show in Seattle last week and brought us back many new exciting items, including make-your-own erasers, the original Doodle Art kits and awesome new activity aprons with pockets and cool patterns! Our make your own soap and perfume kits have also been very popular lately-- they're great projects for a rainy day!

...and a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from all of us at the Toy Garden! We are hoping for a happy, creative, fun and prosperous year here and for all of you as well!

Now that the holiday craziness has finally subsided, we're turning our thoughts forward to the new year and the fun and exciting things happening soon at the Toy Garden. January brings back our felting workshops (Saturday mornings 11:00-1:00 pm) with a great lineup stretching all the way into March:

• Felted Gnomes
• Felted Little Red Riding Hood
• Felted King Winter
• Felted Wolf
• Felted Grandma
• Felted Heart Decoration
• Felted Purse
• Felted Nest w/ Eggs
• Felted Baby Chick
• Felted Basket
• Felted Bunny

For more details check our website's listing here or click the link at the top of our blog page to see what classes are coming up next. Due to space restrictions, classes are limited to 10 people (ages 10+) so be sure to call and pay over the phone or stop in at the store anytime to reserve a spot on the list!

Also, don't forget that our monthly Kid's Club event is coming up on January 16th! Since many of us have been patiently waiting and crossing our fingers for the snow to fly at Baker this winter (mostly to no avail) we thought we'd make some flakes of our own! This month, bring your best scissor skills and your imagination and we'll provide the paper to make all kinds of wintry weather of your own!  Recommended ages 5+ (younger children welcome when accompanied by extra scissor supervision & assistance) January 16 4-6 pm

Decking the Halls for December!

Stop by and check our our Elves' Workshop!

December is almost here, so get your advent calendars and Menorahs ready! If you haven't been in yet to check our our felt stockings, handmade German wooden ornaments, candle fans and nutcrackers, be sure to stop by soon as things are going fast! 

The first and closest-to-our-heart event this month is the Community Toy Store. The Community Toy Store serves families that are having a difficult time financially during the holiday season. They accept brand new toys, clothes and gift cards and sell them at for at least 75% of the original price to families in need.The money raised is then donated to local charities such as Rebound of Whatcom County and The Whatcom Dream, organizations that support families and work to break the cycle of poverty. This year come in to the Toy Garden and recieve 10% OFF any toys purchased for donation. For more information, visit their website at http://communitytoystore.org/whatcom/. 

One other way to help the community this season is by getting your gifts wrapped at the Toy Garden. All throughout the holidays, the Whatcom Humane Society will be wrapping presents by donation in our store. We're so glad we get to provide an opportunity for this wonderful charity to raise some money and also help you cross one task off your holiday to-do list! 

Also, don't forget that there is still a Kids Club event despite the holidays! We know that sometimes sending thank-yous can be hard to remember, so get a head start by joining us to make festive cards of your own! We'll provide the art supplies, you bring your imagination! Join us Wednesday, December 28th from 1 to 3 pm; space is limited so call to sign up at (360)-714-8552 

Happy Holidays from the Fairhaven Toy Garden!

Felted Santa!

As the end of the month and Thanksgiving approach , it's time for all of us to start thinking about snow, twinkling lights and especially delicious food! At the Toy Garden, it means practicing our wrapping skills, restocking the shelves and gearing up for a wonderful (and crazy-hectic) holiday season. 

Last weekend we kicked off the holiday shopping craze with Neighborhood Toy Store Day, which was a ton of fun and full of crafts and games for all. Robin and the felters crafted lovely little Tomtens on the 12th and yesterday Maria led a full class in making wonderful felt Santa Clauses (check out our facebook page or picasa web album to see the pictures!). Tuesday the 22nd is this month's Kid's Club event (leaf rubbings into place markers), which we hope will be a ton of fun. Space is limited so call and sign up today!

Post Thanksgiving, Fairhaven begins their celebrations with the Holiday Artwalk (November 25th & 26th, 5-9 pm) where merchants will display locally made arts and crafts materials, ornaments, jewelry, holiday cards and much more! Here at the Toy Garden we'll have hand-crafted German ornaments, candle holders and candle fans, nutcrackers and wool/felt decorations on display. Stop by the store to pick up a map of participating locations in Fairhaven today!

It's November already?!

I can't believe it's already November! This fall is flying by. We wrapped up October with a wonderful kids club event (painted pumpkins galore!) and a Halloween filled with awesome costumes and passing out tons of tiny toys. Almost 1,500 trick-or-treaters came down to celebrate the spooky occasion with us, and we saw everything from a mini Michael Jackson to a Port-o-potty.

Last Saturday workshoppers made miniature snowmen, and today Maria led the class in crafting felt ornaments. She used cool holiday colored felt and beads to make some of the most festive decorations I've seen so far this year! We also received the news that our Faber-Castell castle won the window-display portion of their contest, which is awesome! We were so happy to be able to participate in such a cool contest and we wish all the other winners and competitors a big congratulations! We were competing with some incredible displays and we feel very fortunate to have been chosen as the winner!

November is bringing many new events to the store as well, with Hape's "Play it Forward" contest wrapping up next weekend and Neighborhood Toy Store Day on the 12th. Stop by the store between 2:00-6:00 pm on Neighborhood Toy Store Day to participate in all kinds of crafts, game demonstrations, and juggling. We'll also be building a remote control machine, giving out prizes and cookies, and announcing the winner of Hape's play-kitchen contest. NTSD is sponsored by Astra, and all of their picks for best-toys-of-the-year will be on display!

The other great part of this day is that there will be an opportunity to help support a local charity, Blue Skies for Children. A silent auction of some of our most popular toys will be held during the week prior to NTSD and will conclude on Saturday the 12th. We especially encourage all of our customers to come in and check out this part of the event as Blue Skies for Children is a wonderful organization that does a lot of good things for our community that are especially important at this time of the year.

Last but not least, our free kids club will be happening on the 22nd of this month! Just in time for Thanksgiving, come in and make leaf-rubbing place cards for the holiday table with us! Using crayons and beautiful fall leaves, we'll make rubbings and then cut and decorate them as place cards. Space is limited so be sure to call and sign up! (Ages 5+ please)

Playing it Forward

Meadbha O'leary with her Faber-Castell Prizes!

Just in case you haven't seen the announcements on our Facebook page, the winners of the Faber-Castell 250th Anniversary Castle Contest have been announced (and we'd like to give another great big congratulations to Meadbha O'leary, our grand-prize winner)! We submitted all the castle drawings to the national contest (winners yet to be announced) and handed out some great runner-up prizes of art supplies to five other participants!

And now we've got a whole new kind of promotion going on! In an effort to promote charitable giving skills at an early age, Hape Toys is encouraging kids and parents alike to "play it forward" and enter charities of their choice to win a $1,000 donation. As extra incentive, Hape is also giving away 10 of their Gourmet Play Kitchens at 10 nation-wide retailers (1 per store). Customers who purchase any toy under the brand names Hape, Educo and/or Beleduc are eligible to fill out an entry form to win a play kitchen and also $1,000 dollars to their favorite charity! We're really excited about this contest because it gives us and our customers a chance to give back to important organizations in our community. Customers who have already filled out entry forms have submitted the Bellingham Food Bank, Sustainable Connections, Whatcom Humane Society, Nature Conservancy and Blue Skies for Children into the running (and that's just a few of them!).

Boo! Check out this week's felting class: Ghosts!

We're also pretty excited about this year's felting workshops, which have been producing so many awesome felt creations! Yesterday Maria showed the class how to make ghosts. Some were "classic", some had feet or trick-or-treat bags, some carried pumpkins...they were spooky and cute all at the same time! Next week's felted snowman class with Robin is sure to wonderful, and there are still a couple of open spots if anyone is interested! (Be sure to call ahead and reserve your spot).

Last but not least, don't forget that trick-or-treating in Fairhaven this Halloween is the best place to be! Stop by the store for a treat, we can't wait to see all your wild costumes!

For more information about trick-or-treating in Fairhaven, click here.