The Birth of Buddy
Written: Jun 07 '04
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Pros: Special experience, meaningful toy instead of dust-gatherer, high quality, limitless personalization possibilities
Cons: Noisy, can be overstimulating, can also be quite addictive!
The Bottom Line: Seems expensive, but quality, experience and near-guarantee that it will be a much-loved and well-used toy make it a great value
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| quirkychick's Full Review: Build-A-Bear Stuffed Bear |
The first time I saw the Build-a-Bear Workshop was when it opened at our local mall. After a brief walk-through, I decided that paying that much for a stuffed animal was ridiculous. After all, you could get fully clothed stuffed animals for a fraction of the price just about anywhere.
Fast forward a couple of years. My son, who is 4 years old, mentioned that he would like to have a special bear. He has several stuffed animals, one of them being a bear, but he hasn't "bonded" with any of them. For some reason, Build-a-Bear came to mind, and I decided to take him as soon as I could afford to. What better way to make sure his bear would be special, than to have him participate in its creation?
In the week or so leading up to our visit, I became just as excited about it as I'm sure he would have been if I had told him what we were going to be doing. Finally the day came, and we headed off to bring home his new best friend.
On the way there, I told him what we would be doing. He didn't seem as enthused as I thought he'd be, which disappointed me a bit. I told him that it might be a good idea to start thinking of a name for his new friend before we got there. At first, he wanted to use his own name, but I finally talked him into choosing a name that would belong only to his new friend. In the running were "Car" and "December," but he finally settled on Buddy.
Immediately when we got to the store, a friendly employee began instructing us on the process. I don't think my son heard much of what she said, because he was so dazzled by all of the cheerful, bright colors. It really is a very visually stimulating place.
First, he chose his new friend. The animals themselves cost anywhere from $10 to $24. He started by picking up the very first thing he saw - a white bear - until I showed him the whole wall that he could choose from. After I told him that it didn't have to be a bear, it could be any kind of animal he wanted, he happily, and rather quickly, settled on a shaggy, cream colored dog with brown spots, wearing a red collar. The selection here is pretty large, and I think a child could easily get overwhelmed. I'm surprised that my son didn't, but he seemed to know what he wanted. And thus we met Buddy.
On to the sound station. The possibilities here are literally limitless, and range in price from $3 to $8. Personally, I thought that the spoken words and the songs would prove to be annoying after awhile, but figured that a barking noise might be kind of cute. Fortunately, my son agreed with me, and we went with that.
Next, the stuffing station. My son was given the choice of making Buddy either "full" or "fluffy." He chose full, because I think he thought that "fluffy" would leave him only partially stuffed. I whispered to the girl at the stuffing station that she should go with "fluffy," so she did. This proved to actually be what my son wanted, as I thought it would. He was also given a choice regarding where he wanted the sound to go, and he chose the tummy. For anyone concerned about the sound accidentally going off at night, I'd suggest this area, as the sound button has more stuffing surrounding it there than it would in a hand or foot. My son actually has kind of a hard time making it go off.
The heart ceremony was cute. She had him warm the heart in his hands, and then he went through a series of actions. He put the heart up to his ear so that Buddy could hear all of the secrets that my son would tell him, then on his head so that Buddy would be as smart as he is, and then on his funny bone so that they would have lots of laughs and good times together. My son was instructed to close his eyes and make a wish, and then to kiss the heart before he put it into Buddy. He misunderstood and kissed Buddy instead, and then when it was time to hug Buddy and make sure the stuffing was right, he misunderstood and hugged the girl who was stuffing him rather than Buddy. Both made for cute moments, but she probably could have taken the whole thing a bit more slowly for his benefit.
After that, it was time for Buddy to be "washed." This part is really cute. They have "bath tubs" set up, with shower nozzles that blow air, as well as several little paw-shaped scrub brushes. My son had a great time with this...so much so, that in the middle of picking out clothes, he decided that Buddy wasn't clean enough just yet and went back for another "wash." I'm fairly certain that the Build-a-Bear Workshop, and these washing stations, will now become a regular part of our mall routine.
The clothing and accessory selection can be overwhelming, but we tried to keep it basic...just one simple outfit. Top, bottoms, underwear. My son wanted to add a belt and shoes, but those will come later. He wound up choosing a pair of white briefs, some khaki cargo shorts, and a hawaiian print shirt for Buddy, and since he also had his heart set on a construction hat, I let him add that to the ensemble. There was an employee on hand to cut the price tags off the clothes and bundle them together, both to make checkout easier and so that my son could dress Buddy before we paid for everything.
The paperwork was next. This is more fun than it sounds. The computers are as cheerful, colorful and user-friendly as the rest of the store, and each animal gets either a birth certificate or a little tailor-made story which includes the child's name, the animal's name, the birthdays of each, etc. Since the store was fairly empty when we were there, Buddy was able to get both.
Buddy himself was $18. His barking sound was an extra $3. Each item of clothing ran a few dollars apiece, and you can also get complete outfits, most of which cost $10 for the whole set. There are tons of accessories and furniture which I'm sure can really add up, but they're fairly inexpensive taken one piece at a time.
As far as the service goes...I was definitely impressed. They really managed to make the whole experience special for my son. A couple of things, though...if you have a child who's sensitive to noise, be advised that there are some noisy parts. Both the stuffing machine and the "bath" are loud, and my son covered his ears for both. He did acclimate quickly, and even went back to "bathe" Buddy a second time, as I mentioned, but this is something to watch out for. Also, I think the employees could have taken a bit more time with him. We were the only ones in the workshop getting an animal at that time, and while I didn't feel like they were purposely rushing us through, I did get the impression that they're used to dealing with long lines of people and trying to keep things moving. I wouldn't have minded a much more leisurely pace, and think that the experience could have been that much better for my son if they had taken the time to make sure he understood exactly what was going on. Even so, they were incredibly friendly and helpful, and seemed to enjoy what they were doing. The woman at the door made a point of admiring Buddy and fussing over both him and my son when we were on our way out.
Another thing that might be good is if they made a bigger deal of the ID program. Everyone knows about the heart inside the bears, but few people realize, before they actually go through the whole experience, that a tag with a bar code is placed inside each animal so that it can be returned to its owner if it's lost. Contact info is given at the time when the birth certificate or story is created, and Build-a-Bear keeps all of this on record so that the bar code inside the animal can be matched with the info they have. On the tag of the animal, there are instructions for returning animals if they are found, but the print is small and you'd really have to be looking for the information. If they advertised this feature more, not only would it be a huge selling point for parents whose children have been through the trauma of losing much-loved toys or blankies, but there would be more of a chance of lost animals being returned to their owners, since more people would know to turn them in.
I'm still of the opinion that you can get a stuffed animal much cheaper elsewhere. However, I'm completely sold on Build-a-Bear. For one thing, I really like the fact that they are so active in charity work for both children and animals (of the live kind). For another, the quality and construction of both the animals and the clothes and accessories are superior to the common ready-made stuffed animal, and the selection of extras is phenomenal, as well as being reasonably priced. Their slogan is "where best friends are made," and they really mean for that to be the case. Bottom line, these are not your usual stuffed animal, designed to sit on a bed as decoration. They're meant to be loved, played with, carted around, and will withstand a lot of abuse.
It's also true that a lot of what you're paying for is the experience. It is, however, well worth the extra money, because the experience is exactly what ensures that you will get your money's worth out of the animal. For this reason, I highly recommend that gift certificates be given rather than ready-made animals, if gift-giving is the intent. Buddy accompanies my son everywhere now, and does everything my son does. If he's playing with his cars, Buddy is right there. If he's watching TV, Buddy's watching it with him. My son "shares his food" with Buddy. He sometimes "gives him medicine" (in an empty spoon) at bedtime. Last night, my son fell asleep on the living room floor, and Buddy was right beside him, tucked under his own blanket. Buddy makes day care easier, and my son is trying very hard right now to be obedient and uphold his responsibilities, as he knows that if he does, at the end of this week he'll get to go back to Build-a-Bear and choose one new item for Buddy. Had we simply gone to a toy store and picked out something, I'm convinced that it would have simply joined the other stuffed animals sitting on his bed, but the way Buddy was created is what makes him special. Just watching my son's tender expression when he's rocking Buddy to sleep, holding him or kissing him makes it worth every single penny, and then some.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40
Type of Toy: Trains
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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Epinions.com ID:
quirkychick
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Location: Midwest USA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Mother of one sweet boy, in process of a divorce. Loves scrapbooking, knitting, photography.
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