Accentuate the Positive!

Somewhere in the way-back machine there’s a song that tells us to “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and latch on to the affirmative.” Today, The Giggle Guide^® spotlights four manufacturers whose ever-so-marketable children’s products inspire optimism by encouraging good habits and positive self expression: Compendium, Inc., Shains, Journal Buddies, and Iscream. From colorful thank-you cards and message stickers to customizable jewelry and journals, these companies offer a multitude of upbeat avenues for kids to express themselves and spread good cheer!

A World of Thanks Helps Show Appreciation!

Acknowledgments for gifts on birthdays and special occasions are the obvious times for saying “thank you,” but what about remembering a friend’s parents for the camping trip or telling the neighbor lady how delicious her cookies were? Saying “thank you” is always appropriate when receiving a gift or for someone’s help or generosity –– and a thoughtful thank-you card is always appreciated, especially when it’s a World of Thanks card from Compendium, Incorporated.

Saying “thank you” is good manners and the universal way of showing appreciation. Teaching a child to express thanks in a timely manner is both easy and fun with colorful boxed note cards that are made especially for young children. Each box contains a set of ten notes on card stock (with matching envelopes) featuring an Ocean Habitat, African Habitat, or North American Habitat theme. Each has a lined area for a brief note and places for the recipient’s and child’s name. Six sheets of animal and message stickers allow the child to decorate and personalize these cards printed on FSC-certified papers with soy ink (MSRP $14.95).

You’ll be thankful too with your retail stationery profit center stocked from www.live-inspired.com

Shains™ –– Say It, Wear It, Mean It!

As an acronym, SHAINS stands for “State How Action Is a Necessary Solution.” Their slogan, “Say It, Wear It, Mean It” represents an expanded and personalized expression of that same concept. The collection by Shainsware enables children to make a statement and spell out exactly what is near and dear to their hearts.

Products range from Journals, bookmarks, bracelets, necklaces and belts to dog collars (for fuzzy friends), all fashioned from recycled colored rubber materials that stretch for safety and comfort and have holes punched to insert ABS plastic elements (ornaments). Packaging is recycled paper, but the sentiments are original to each child: permanent or as changeable as the colors of their socks and spelled out as statements-of-self or action icons to indicate a child’s love of sports, dance, and other faves. As a child grows and changes, the personal expression can also be recycled with a new set of elements to represent his or her maturing dreams and drives.

All items retail for less than $20 and suit children from age 3 through teen!

Get the positive word out by offering these statements from www.shainsware.com

Being Your Own Best Friend with Journal Buddies

Some children are confident in declaring aloud the things that go on in their hearts and head, but others are reluctant to express themselves because they are unsure. Composing their thoughts and testing them on paper –– in a journal that can be read, reread, and shared with trusted friends and family –– helps children explore their ideas before revealing their inner-selves to the rest of the world. That’s where Journal Buddies can help, because their award-winning kid’s journals encourage boys and girls of all ages to positively process their emotions and thoughts through journaling, for less than $16 MSRP.

Beyond helping to develop writing skills, journaling is self-examination. Journal Buddies offers different themes to help children create lifetime relationships, develop self-esteem, succeed in school, and just have fun. Guided journal entries lead children, as good parents do, to think positively about themselves . The journals reinforce good thoughts, by asking children to record special traits and talents friends would note about them, and by providing blank space to fill with whatever kids’ hearts and souls desire.

Retailers, foster your customer relationships! Provide Journal Buddies for parents seeking to help their children and children looking to help themselves! Write an order at www.journalbuddies.com

Putting Feelings into Doodles with a Scoop of Iscream

Doodled colors, shapes and lines tangle together to preoccupy kids, let their imaginations wander, and subconsciously express feelings that are hard to put into words. Doodles can help communicate what is on their minds.

Children are skilled doodlers, because they are unfettered by the conventions of formal art, but their work is often lost on recycled paper, passed notes, and the backs of reading primers. Why not give kids a special place to doodle and preserve their work? That’s what big and small journals ($8 and $6 MSRP) by Iscream do –– let children doodle, write, and be creative –– and do it guilt-free! In a journal, the doodles collect into portfolios that can be savored, preserved, and shared. Get the picture?

Iscream journals are spiral bound with durable covers that are artwork themselves; colored and wild with 3-D lenticular images that change when they’re moved. The small journals are 6.3” x 8.5 ” and the large are 8.25” x 10.5”, each with 140 lined pages of 60-lb. offset paper. All Iscream products are made in the USA.

Draw your customers’ attention with journals and other great products from www.iscream-shop.com