The Biz: The Grapevine

Kids have a mind-boggling array of choices when it comes to electronic entertainment. Between high-end gaming systems, online interaction, handheld games, and TV on demand, most youngsters have more than enough to keep them glued to an audio-video set of some kind. Still, there’s something about traditional, creative, real-time forms of fun that can capture a child’s attention and interactive imagination in a way that pixels simply cannot.

The days of lugging an overstuffed, humdrum diaper bag with little to no finesse are gone! Ju-Ju-Be brings a hip new look with fortified uses to baby bags, backpacks and accessories. The brand is the brainchild of Kristen Hunziker and Joe Croft, who are both parents themselves. Boasting years of experience working with top companies, such as Lands End and Oakley, they turn what was once considered utilitarian type items into remarkably stylish and desirable products. Kristen applies her impeccable fashion sense in apparel merchandise, production and design, while Joe puts his inventive and technological skills to work.

Family traditions serve a couple of different purposes: first, they instill a pride and awareness of a person’s heritage, and secondly, they help keep precious memories alive of dearly departed family members. Traditions can range from naming a firstborn child after a grandparent to giving a specific gift on a certain birthday. Even families that have current traditions in place can start new ones, and The Giggle Guide™ has a great suggestion: a Jubilee Keepsakes First Birthday Cake Knife. This novel gift is given to new parents for their baby’s first birthday, then used on every subsequent birthday, or saved for use at the child’s wedding.

“Eleanor the hippo talked a lot, which is good sometimes… but sometimes not. It’s fine to have a conversation full of honest information, But sadly what she’d sometimes do is tell a tale that wasn’t true.” People, famous and not, have been making observations about truth versus lies for centuries. Andy McGuire, author of Eleanor the Hippo Learns to Tell the Truth, adds his sage observations to the mix with an engaging children’s book teaching kids ages 3 through 8 the benefits of, and reasons to practice, honesty.