Have you been to a Build-A-Bear Workshop? We took our boys for their first visit and we all had a ball! This holiday season is the perfect time to visit a Build-A-Bear Workshop near you and create some fun-filled family memories.
On a recent Sunday afternoon, we popped into the Build-A-Bear workshop at SouthPark Mall in Strongsville, Ohio. I was delighted to see the excitement in my kids eyes as they looked around and took everything in! Right away we were greeted by a friendly staff member who explained the process and what we could expect. Throughout our time there, many employees were on hand to answer questions and help in any way. I could tell that they loved working at Build-A-Bear as much as we loved visiting.
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If you’ve never visited before, be sure to give yourself about an hour, as The Build-A-Bear Workshop is definitely an experience and you won’t want to rush. With 6 areas to visit, such as “choose me”, “fluff me” and “dress me” you’ll find that each stop is a special memory to be made.
One of the hardest decisions your kiddos will have to make is which furry little animal they are going to take home. Bring your patience, because with so many cute choices this may be a tough decision which will need extra time. In fact, if your children are anything like mine, they may even want to change their mind a few times before moving on to the next step. I noticed that the prices started at only $10 which I thought was an excellent price for the size and quality of the animal.
Once they had chosen their furry, unstuffed animal we were directed to an area were they could choose to customize it with music, sounds, sayings, and/or smell for a small additional charge. My kiddos listened to just about all the sounds but surprisingly none of them choose to add anything at the stage. They did however choose to customize their bear with a unique smell. While there were several to choose from, they all picked bubblegum.
Next up is stuffing! During this step, Build-A-Bear allows your child to participate by having them step on the pedal, which blasts the stuffing into the bear…how fun is that? Staff members even allow the kids to decide how ‘huggable’ to make the animal, by adding more or less stuffing. Once your animal is stuffed, you can give your bear a heart to put inside before it’s sealed up. Each of my boys loved participating in this step as the staff member made it a personal experience for each of them.
Before heading over to the clothes, the boys brushed their bears and gave them a little “wash” and fluff in the tub. With having three boys, I didn’t think they would be nearly as interested in the clothing area but boy was I wrong! Build-A-Bear offers so many adorable outfits that even my boys had a hard time deciding which one to choose. From play clothes, costumes, hats, holiday outfits, pajamas and more, there are hundreds of different options!
I even found some clothes by my favorite guilty pleasure…One Direction!
Next up, we headed over to the computer stations to make our adoptions official! Here, you’ll be able to give your little animal a name and create a birth certificate. You’ll also be able to sign up for Build A Bear’s mailing list which will alert you of upcoming sales and email you special coupons throughout the year. I really appreciated how easy to use the computer stations were which allowed my oldest to complete it on his own.
Even though our new buddies have been home with us for almost two weeks, my boys are still in love and take their bear EVERYWHERE! In fact my oldest brought his polar bear to his first ballet just last night. If you are looking for something FUN to do during Christmas break, I’d definitely recommend the Build-A-Bear Workshop! We had a fantastic time and we can’t wait to go back!
Be sure to keep up-to-date on all the Build-A-Bear happenings and follow them on Facebook! Also, if you visited McDonald’s recently you may have a $10 off $30 coupon from the cute little Build-A-Bear toys that were inside the Happy Meals!
FLASH GIVEAWAY: While at Build-A-Bear I picked up a $10 gift card for YOU! This giveaway is only open until noon today (12/20/13) so enter quickly! To enter, simply leave a comment below! Good luck!
Get a subscription for yourself and get a free one as a gift (or give both as gifts and they’ll never know how little you paid!!).
