Ring in the New! Thank Heaven for 2011!

Who’s not ready to ring in new business? Let’s get started on a better tomorrow with a hope chest full of great children’s products! Resolve to buy both new and tried-and-true lines. The Giggle Guide^® is ringing the bell, sounding off about terrific products to help celebrate new business. Move forward with Best of Chums for gift-ready baby wear, Groovy Holidays for party ware, Tegu for green building blocks, and Sassafras for food and baking goods that little kitchen helpers love. These are just a few of the manufacturers you’ll find in The Guide that can help you attract more attention than noise-makers on New Year’s Eve!

Best-Dressed Babies Party with Best of Chums™

Best of Chums outfits 6-to-12-month old party boys in an eye-catching navy tee appliquéd with a hand-made red-felt fire truck and hand-crocheted red monster booties in equally “alarming” four-alarm red. Another chum looks to have left his hand-crocheted reindeer hat at the door after shaking off the snow, but his stuffed toy is clutched at his side to kiss and hug at the stroke of midnight!

For a favorite baby girl, Best of Chums delivers a delicious looking CHUMS TO GO “Sweets” 4-piece set assortment of shirt, pants, hat, and socks in wild orchid, buttercup, bloom, and pink pastels — all tastefully packaged as a take-out treat!.

Such innovative baby clothing, accessories, and packaging are the offbeat and delightful inspiration of Laura Millman. Conceived as the next generation of her 20-year career in the woman’s and junior markets, Best of Chums infant boutique clothing sports on-trend color combinations and innovative styling to clothing and accessories especially made for giving. All with a healthy dose of the “ahhh” factor, Best of Chums presents impulse buys made for celebrating all the best in new life!

Retailers can outfit their stores throughout the calendar year with cutely-packaged crochet booties and hats, garments, and more from www.bestofchums.com

Groovy Holidays Tops Off the Party Fun!

Hats off to Groovy Holidays for its party hats and favors designed for January 1 or any other special occasion! These joyful children’s products are constructed in brightly-colored felt and fabric to last. More durable than the usual paper party favors swept into the dustbin the morning after, these little keepsakes are simple works-of-art to be treasured as mementos of landmark celebrations.

Groovy Holidays makes kid-sized party wares with enough imagination to carry happy thoughts back to the treasure box under a child’s bed and forward through the youthful years to come. Envision felt penguin and snowman party hats for New Year’s Eve, polka dot cone hats, crowns with golden stars, and pirate party hats flying the skull and crossbones for $11 or less. Think of six felt animal bookmarks for under $23 retail. Imagine zebras, lions, and elephants portrayed as felt finger puppet party favors for $2.75 each.

The party goes on and on at www.GroovyHolidays.com

Throw a Block Party with Tegu Blocks

Make the New Year festivity a true block party this year, building on themes of imagination and sets of toy blocks from Tegu. No instructions required!

Toy blocks have entertained children for centuries, but Tegu wooden blocks with embedded magnets offer new dimensions of creativity in four different shapes: cubes, jumbo planks, and long and short planks. When the hidden magnets hold the blocks together in seemingly impossible shapes, kids will yell, “they don’t fall down!” and build whatever imagination dictates. Adults will marvel at the exquisitely grained and milled wood that appeals to eyes and fingertips.

While Tegu manufactures the blocks from tropical hardwoods, the company maintains a green conscience — sustainably harvesting only mature trees and reinvesting part of the profits to replant the Honduran rainforest. Tegu also employs socially-responsible business practices; based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the company creates living wage jobs at its factory and provides support for locally-established educational initiatives.

Founding brothers Chris and Will Haughey are marketing Tegu blocks in a variety of set sizes, including an 8-block starter set for $28.57 MSRP. Retailers, earn some green while maintaining a green conscience. Visit www.Tegu.com for information.

Sassafras - The Recipe for Sweet Success

Fun and colorful Sassafras baking kits give pint-sized chefs the recipe for sweet success at New Year’s Eve parties and year-long with dessert mixes, kitchen couture, and cooking utensils sized just right for children! Wearing a chef’s hat is de rigueur!

During New Year, the Let It Snow Holiday Apron Set ($17.49 MSRP) and Let It Snow Holiday Cookie Making Kit ($19.95 MSRP) may be most-timely choices, but Sassafras offers 92 others for different occasions — some designed for girls and some for boys. Who knows, the Kid’s Uck!Yuck! Dirt Pudding Tray Kit ($15.95 MSRP) may appeal to the New Year party palates more than sugar cookies or gingerbread!

Kits are for kids from ages 5 and up and require adult supervision when cooking is involved. Kitchen apparel fits sizes 4 to 8. All food products are made in the U.S.A., while other contents may be made and/or assembled in the U.S.A., China or Taiwan.

Visit www.SassafrasStore.com to view the kits, savoring them like hors d’oeuvres on the party table. For wholesale orders, call (800) 537-4941.