As a blogger, there are certain emails that land in my Inbox which make me do a little happy dance and one such email is the one titled “Build A Bear Workshop” because it is such good fun. Whether you have young children yourself, are a child at heart or are simply looking for a great gift for someone who loves soft toys then Build A Bear Workshop is the place to go for a truly fun and special experience. We have been lucky enough to be invited back to Build A Bear Workshop 3 times now and the experience NEVER gets boring.
A couple of weeks ago Hubby, the three little Beans and I popped to Build A Bear Workshop in Leicester to meet their latest arrivals, the Promise Pets. There are currently four Promise Pets to choose from; black Labrador, Golden Retriever, Springer Spaniel and a white Persian kitten. On arrival, we were introduced to Zac who was going to help the Beans through their BABW experience in creating their Promise Pets and unlike some stores, BABW selects their employees carefully. BABW isn’t just a toy shop, like I said, it’s an experience so they make sure the staff are of the right calibre to interact with children and to make their visit a memorable one for all the right reasons. Zac was brilliant with the Beans, he knew straight away how to put a smile on their faces and encourage them to come out of their shy shells (yes they are shy at times).
Once they had each selected their Promise Pets, Zac took a section of their tag and popped it inside the pet. The tag serves a very special purpose because in the event of their Pet becoming lost the toy can be returned to any BABW who will be able to use the tag to find out who its owner is and reunite them.
Next Zac set the Beans to work in helping him to fill them up with special BABW filling. The Beans loved that they were able to help by standing on the pedal to operate the machine whilst Zac directed the filling and then passed each pet to their rightful Bean for a cuddle test. Next came the very important part in the creation of their Promise Pet – putting some magic into their hearts. Each Bean selected a heart and then performed a little ritual with Zac (watch the video below to see them in action) before popping the hearts into their Pets before Zac sewed them up ready for a final puff and fluff.
The very last step of their journey was registering their Pets onto the BABW system which would not only tell BABW who the Promise Pets belonged to but they would also be given a special Birth Certificate for their pet.
Promise Pets, just like all Bears and soft toys from BABW have their own range of clothing and accessories so we couldn’t leave without buying a couple of bits for each of them to make them stand out from the crowd.
Promise Pets have a dual function, not only are they are a lovely cuddly soft toy, they also serve the purpose of teaching young children how to care for pets in real life too. When you get home you can download the free app Promise Pets by Build-A-Bear from iTunes and Google Play to have interactive fun with your pet. Just input the 6 digit code from your pet’s tag to let the fun begin by playing mini-games to care for your virtual pet; feeding, potty training, vet check-ups, exercise and grooming.
(If, like me, you find when you get home that your children have already thrown the tags away, do not dispair!! There is a tiny tag on the Promise Pets bottom underneath the large tags and the 6 digit number at the top of the label is pet’s id number you need to enter on the app to unlock your pet).
DISCLAIMER: We were given Promise Pets free of charge in exchange for an honest account of our experience. All words, images and video content belongs to Mummy Matters and may not be copied without my permission.