ViveVita: Ordinary Solutions from an Extraordinary Mom

For decades, mompreneurs have been a creative force behind product innovations in the children’s market. Not content to make do with what the retail world offers, moms often come up with ideas to solve common childcare problems. The Giggle Guide^® editors heard about a mompreneur that we’re pretty sure has no equal, and yet is relatable to the “everymom.”

Robyn Pellei is the mother of 10 children, ages newborn to 12, the most recent born last December. This former nurse is now a home school educator and teaches all of her children at home. She also teaches faith formation and shuttles several of her children to multiple sports activities. And in her spare time, she is the CEO of ViveVita (loosely translated as “Living Life”) and claims she’s living everyday life just like her customers.

Maybe she really doesn’t have a “just-like-anyone-else” schedule, but it’s definitely always interesting. ViveVita has created a buzz, mostly around Gripsterz, a voluntary walking rope. Robyn admits some people make comments about putting her kids on a leash, but she is quick to point out that it’s made up of toy rings that allow the child to hold on, not jerking them to and fro while on a field trip. Robyn claims Gripsterz gives both the caregiver and the child more freedom while maintaining or adding to the element of security, keeping the child close, without restraint.

Robyn has even named the happy little monkey ring holder, Grippy, and includes a Grippy adventure to encourage enjoyable experiences on-the-go. Want a fun way to display the Gripsterz in your shop? Robyn suggests putting one into use at the register, attaching it so that little ones have something fun to hold on to while Mommy checks out!

Robyn is brightening the children’s market with her other items, all of them more practical and colorful than the next. Her Bandle Bottle Labels and Bandette Cup Labels identify the bottle/cup owner by color or erasable name, as well as offering additional room for important instructions like allergies or dates. Ideal for daycare, birthday parties or anywhere multiple germ-spreaders gather, the vibrant colors make it easy for each child to know what’s theirs.

The labels also feature fun characters like monkeys and lions to make it even easier for little ones to identify. Parents can make the message permanent by simply boiling or dishwashing the band with the information still on. This could come in extra handy during travel season by using the labels around a child’s arm, complete with identifying information.

Show your customers how easy it is to brand a kid by offering Toothbands in complementary colors. Toothbands feature fun colors and characters and stretch to fit most styles and shapes of toothbrushes. They are BPA-free, lead-free and phlalate-free. As kids grow, parents can assign them each a color so they always know which cup and toothbrush is theirs, avoiding arguments and spreading germs.

And let’s talk about kids arguing, shall we? Any parent with a preschool or early school-age kid will immediately snap up the My Spot, which gives kids a way to identify their very own spot to sit for meals, in church, in classrooms, for time-outs and more. Made of soft, flexible materials, My Spot is soft on one side and non-slip on the other and features fun characters and colors. There is also a space for permanently writing names.

My Spot is washable, comes with a carrying bag and handle and easily fits into a purse or diaper bag. When asked if this kind of marking was as useful for families with two kids as it is for her 10, Robyn replied, “Absolutely! Kids love knowing what belongs to them, they understand ownership when it is easy for them — we’ve all heard it: ‘Hey, that’s MINE!’”

The idea behind the bright colors of all Robyn’s products is ultimately to empower young ones to easily recognize what’s theirs, so displaying the items together is ideal. The labels are also ideal for seasonal features — stopping the spread of germs in cold/flu season, travel season, and back to school are just a few ideas. They are also great for special needs kids and can be featured that way.

A really unique item that will appeal to your customers going green is actually blue! Kissaboo is a reusable, washable cover for booboos, bug bites, itchy areas, unsightly bandages, scars or bruises. It can also be used as a deterrent for thumb-sucking, scratching or picking. Kissaboos reduce waste and save money by eliminating the need for disposable bandages. Available in finger covers, hand/palm covers and elbow/knee covers, they are washing machine and dryer safe.

Robyn’s kids heavily influence what she offers and she proclaims them her ideal product testers.“I love sharing the discoveries that make my everyday life easier with other moms and caregivers. As my kids get older, our ‘everyday life’ changes and these changes definitely lead to new ideas for products.” And now with her Everyday Elegance line of housewares for adults, she gets to more directly influence the CEO of the house. “We moms need all the extra help we can get making our homes easy to maintain, and adding something pretty and useful is fantastic!”

If mommy’s not happy, nobody’s happy! Make your consumers ecstatic with products from www.vivevita.com