Please Join Us for Our Communion Trunk Show

Happy New Year everyone! It’s January, which means it’s time for our annual Communion Trunk Shows. Our first trunk show will be in our Longmeadow, Massachusetts store on January 15th, 16th and 17th. We will have the entire US Angels collection on display, as well as collections from other leading companies. You’ll also find headpieces, jewelry, accessories and gift ideas.

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Kiddly Winks January Communion Trunk Show

*  Dress Fittings
* Special Orders
* Gift with Purchase
* Enter to Win Our Raffle!

And, when you place an order or purchase a dress, on any of the three trunk show days, you will receive a 20% discount off your headpiece as well.*

For your convenience, our trunk show will run for three full days:

* January 15th and 16th, from 9:30AM – 5:30PM
* January 17th, from 11:00AM – 4:00PM

Please call to R.S.V.P. and make an appointment with our knowledgeable staff. (413)-567-0688

We look forward to seeing you!

My Best,

Joy

P.S. And, if  you live in the Farmington Valley, please join us for our Communion Trunk Show in our Canton, Connecticut store on Saturday, February 20th, from 10:00AM – 5:30PM. Please call 860-693-8014 to make an appointment.

* Please note, the 20% headpiece discount offer is valid only on dress orders and purchases made during the Communion Trunk Show dates.

Thank you, Jane!

Did we mention that children’s book illustrator, Jane Dyer, was coming to Kiddly Winks and that we were more than a little excited about it? Ok, so maybe announcing the event on the home page of our Web site, AND in 4 or 5 email blasts, AND here on our blog, AND in the local newspapers was a little excessive. But we were SO excited!

Well, yesterday was “the day,” and Jane spent the entire afternoon with us! Clearly many of  you were as excited as we were because lots of you showed up with your little ones and Jane signed a mountain of books!

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Children's Book Illustrator Jane Dyer at Kiddly Winks

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Young Jane Dyer fans & "Sugar Cookies"

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And then she read from “Hurry, Hurry, Have You Heard?’ and “Move Over, Rover.”

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Jane Dyer reading to an engaged audience!

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And then she showed us how she comes up with the drawings for the books she illustrates.

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Jane Dyer explaining how she creates her book drawings.

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And then she signed some more books, and read a little more and showed us more of her drawings and paintings.

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Jane talking about her books with an aspiring artist

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And we all had such a great time…

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Quiet reading time from Jane Dyer books.

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….we hope she’ll come back soon!

Thank you, Jane! And thank you, for coming everyone!

Joy

P.S. And if you couldn’t join us yesterday, Jane graciously signed a number of her books and left them with us, so you can still purchase them for wonderful holiday gifts!

Why We Love Jane Dyer

There are so many things to love about Jane Dyer!

Over the course of a long and distinguished career, Jane has illustrated almost 50 children’s  books with a variety of wonderful authors. And, amazingly, she is completely self-taught as an illustrator.

Growing up, Jane’s mother read to Jane and her twin sister every day. Her favorite stories were those from a set of books originally published thirty years before she was born, and which had illustrations that evoked another sense  of time.

In her work today, Jane continues to be inspired by those early childhood images, and she tries “to convey the feeling I had as a child – that one could climb right into the illustrations on a page and inhabit those worlds. Although I did not go to art school, I believe those hours spent developing my imagination, along with my love of illustrations from the past have been my training.”

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Jane Dyer in Her Studio

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I discovered Jane’s books somewhere around 1993, and we’ve carried them here at Kiddly Winks, ever since – adding each new title as it’s published. Jane’s books are amazing in that they never get outdated! Each new generation of little ones absolutely delights in her illustrations and they really do feel like they become part of the story!

In addition to “Hurry, Hurry, Have You Heard!,” some of our most favorite Jane Dyer titles include: “Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love.”

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Sugar Cookies

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And our most popular book from Jane, “Time For Bed.”

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Time For Bed

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Hopefully, you can see just a little bit of why we’re so excited about having Jane here at our Longmeadow store…signing books AND reading from one of them!

So, join us next Friday, December 11th from 3:00PM – 5:00PM at our Longmedow, MA store, and meet this most wonderful children’s book illustrator!

In the mean time, stop by either of our stores, or order from our Web site, to be sure you’ll have a copy of your favorite Jane Dyer books for her to sign. And remember, if you can’t join us, Jane will sign any books you’ve purchased when she’s here – you can pick them up later or we can ship them to you, or your gift recipient.

Looking forward to seeing you next Friday!

My best,

Joy

Jane Dyer at Kiddly Winks, Longmeadow!

We are so excited to tell you that one of our most beloved children’s book illustrators, Jane Dyer, will be with us in our Longmeadow store on Friday, December 11th from 3:00 – 5:00 pm. She will be signing books and reading from her best selling holiday classic “Hurry! Hurry! Have You Heard?”.

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Jane Dyer is Coming to Kiddly Winks!

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If you can’t join us in Longmeadow on December 11th, you can still order one of Jane’s books and she will sign it for you while she’s here. Call us, or visit our Web site, to place your order and get a wonderful keepsake for the little ones in your life!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Joy

Mystery Discount & Free Online Shipping Reminders!

 

Just a quick reminder, before you dash off the celebrate Thanksgiving with your loved ones, that we have two FABULOUS events coming up on Friday!

First, on Friday, November 27th, our HUGELY popular Day-After-Thanksgiving MYSTERY DISCOUNT event starts at 7:00 am – SHARP – at our Longmeadow, Massachusetts and Canton, Connecticut stores. (This is an in-store event only!) For three hours, until 10:00 am, you could get 10-25% off your entire purchase.

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Mystery Discount at Kiddly Winks

When you bring your purchases to the check-out counter, you’ll get to pick a Mystery Ball that has a special discount number written on it. It could be 10% off your entire purchase….or it could be a whopping 25% off your entire purchase! It’s a mystery!!

Here are the rules to think about as you ponder your purchases!

* This is an In-Store event only, alas, it’s not available this time around on our website
* One Mystery Discount per family (…so don’t try to disguise grandma and have her come in separately)
* Not valid on previous purchases, gift cards or with other discounts or coupons
* Is valid only for in-stock merchandise
* Juvenile products, Bugaboo™ and sale items are not included
* No gift wrapping

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Next, starting on that same day, is an online only event – FREE shipping on all online orders $75 and over…for three whole days. We’re doing our best to help you get through the busiest, craziest shopping weekend of the year!

And here are the rules for our FREE shipping event!

* This is an online event only, alas, it’s not available this time around on our stores
* Your order total must be $75 or over excluding applicable taxes
* One FREE shipping offer per family
* Offer valid from Friday, November 27 through Sunday, November 29th
* Express shipping and oversize package charges will still apply
* Valid only for ship-to destinations in the continental United States only
* Not valid on previous purchases or with any other discounts or coupons
* May be used only for in-stock merchandise
* No gift wrapping

And, finaally, don’t forget that your catalog coupon is good only through November 30th! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get 25% off any one catalog item.

So visit us in either of our retail stores or our online store and let us help you celebrate the season with wonderful gifts for your little ones!

My Best,

Joy

This Week’s In-Store and Online Holiday Events!

How is it possible that Thanksgiving is just a week away? Ready or not, it’s that time of year again: the holiday season has begun!

Last week we had a fabulous time seeing all of  you at our Adults Only Shopping Nights! We had two fun evenings of holiday shopping, socializing, great food and festivities! It was wonderful to catch up with all of you, as well as share our favorite new toys and “finds” for all the little ones in your lives.

This coming week our holiday events continue with one online and one in-store event.

First, on Friday, November 27th, our HUGELY popular Day-After-Thanksgiving MYSTERY DISCOUNT event starts at 7:00 am – SHARP – at our Longmeadow, Massachusetts and Canton, Connecticut stores. (This is an in-store event only!) For three hours, until 10:00 am, you could get 10-25% off your entire purchase.

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Mystery Discount at Kiddly Winks

When you bring your purchases to the check-out counter, you’ll get to pick a Mystery Ball that has a special discount number written on it. It could be 10% off your entire purchase….or it could be a whopping 25% off your entire purchase! It’s a mystery!!

Here are the rules to think about as you ponder your purchases!

* This is an In-Store event only, alas, it’s not available this time around on our website
* One Mystery Discount per family (…so don’t try to disguise grandma and have her come in separately)
* Not valid on previous purchases, gift cards or with other discounts or coupons
* Is valid only for in-stock merchandise
* Juvenile products, Bugaboo™ and sale items are not included
* No gift wrapping

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Next, starting on that same day, is an online only event – FREE shipping to a single destination on all online orders $75 and over…for three whole days. We’re doing our best to help you get through the busiest, craziest shopping weekend of the year!

And here are the rules for our FREE shipping event!

* This is an online event only, alas, it’s not available this time around on our stores
* Your order total must be $75 or over excluding applicable taxes
* One FREE shipping offer per family
* Offer valid from Friday, November 27 through Sunday, November 29th
* Express shipping and oversize package charges will still apply
* Valid only for ship-to destinations in the continental United States only
* Not valid on previous purchases or with any other discounts or coupons
* May be used only for in-stock merchandise
* No gift wrapping

And, don’t forget that your catalog coupon is good only through November 30th! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get 25% off any one catalog item.

So visit us in either of our retail stores or our online store and let us help you celebrate the season with wonderful gifts for your little ones!

My Best,

Joy

Adults-Only Shopping Night at Kiddly Winks!

The holidays are coming up fast, which means it’s time for our annual Adults-Only Shopping Night at Kiddly Winks! It’s so much fun for Michael and I to visit with our wonderful customers at these events every year. We get to catch up with what’s going on with your children and grandchildren (oh, we love pictures!). And we love sharing with you all the latest and greatest products we’ve selected since last year to help you choose the perfect gifts your children.

Kiddly Winks Adults-Only Shopping Night

We’ve gone to a ton of toy shows and conferences since last year’s shopping night and have taken months and months to find wonderful things that your children will play with, love and enjoy. We work continually to stay up with the latest research on children’s play patterns and  then select a group of toys to fit each of those stages of development.

This year we’ve also found a great sampling of the best family games and we’ll show you what we REALLY love to play! And then, of course, we have tons of extra special, fun, have-to-have-just-great-stuff for gifts and stocking stuffers! Your children ARE your most precious gifts and we feel honored to help you find the toys that will help make this holiday season special for them.

So join us at our Longmeadow, MA location on Thursday evening, November 12th or at our Canton, CT location on Friday evening, November 13th for a fun, adults-only evening of shopping and fun! Our wonderful staff is ready to enjoy an evening with you. The jazz music will swirl, the wine and cheese (and other yummies!) will be plentiful, we’ll do special prize drawings all evening and we’ll even wrap & label your gifts while you socialize!

By the time you leave, you’ll have one big item crossed off your holiday “to do” list and be ready to tackle the rest of your errands for the holiday season. Remember that space at our Adults Only Shopping Nights is limited, so call us in Canton, CT (860-693-8014) and in Longmeadow, MA (413-567-0688) TODAY to make your reservations in which ever location is closest to you!

We look forward to seeing you!

Joy

Infants Are Like Martians!

I know you must think that the title of this post is a very odd statement coming from a woman that adores babies! But in my travels, and often in our stores, I continue to hear parents saying, “Oh, my baby does not play with toys,” or “My baby shows no interest in toys.”

Granted, my belief is that the best stimuli for babies are truly their parents, grandparents, siblings and caregivers as they all interact with them. Singing, talking, reading, cooing, and observing the wonderment of everyday activities certainly entertains and has the greatest impact on an infant’s development.

But there is also a great value in a baby’s toys in the first year of life. However, it is critical that you show your infant HOW TO PLAY with the toy. So, that’s why I tell parents to pretend that babies, and even toddlers, need to be treated like Martians!

If a Martian landed on earth and you handed it a toy what would the alien do with it? Although babies are very smart, they, like Martians, have no clue what to do with a toy! One must teach their Martian, oops I mean baby,  about the attributes of a toy.
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Infant Toys

So when you’re looking for a new toy for your little one here are some attributes to think about and then present to your baby:
1. visual
2. auditory
3. textural,tactile
4. oral senses
5. gross motor and fine motor development
Purchase toys from every category to give your baby different sensory experiences. Also be very aware of your babies size, age and strength: toys should be small enough for her/him to manipulate.

One of my favorite early toys is called Baby Paper. Everyone I show this to looks at me funny, but buys it and then calls me to say,”You were right Joy, my baby plays with it constantly.!!!!!”

It is a small square fabric that has the crinkliest, crunchiest sounding paper inside. And because all babies love playing with paper this item allows them to hold it, manipulate it, crunch it and teethe on it. Its also machine washable, and comes in lots of colors.

A perfect and inexpensive first toy to discover with your little Martian!