online gift registry @ bootyland

When I was pregnant, it seemed like everyone I knew wanted me to register for baby gifts.  My out-of-town family especially wanted to be able to go online and pick a gift, pay for it, and have it sent to me.

Of course, this was eight years ago and online registries weren’t quite what they are today. I resigned myself  to registering at Target and Babies-R-Us…which are ok for some things, but they didn’t have the stuff I really wanted.

Now there are online registries that allow you to pick and choose items from any store and add them to your list with ease. I like MyRegistry.com; the site is easy to use and has some cool features, and of course you can use it to add gifts from Bootylandkids.com to your registry.

The screenshot above (click to enlarge)  shows a picture of a sample gift registry I made. It took about five minutes to register for the service and get started. Once you’re registered, you add a button to your bookmarks toolbar that allows you to add items from any website directly to your registry. You can also sign up for a cash gift option, announce your registry by email, link your MyRegistry.com account to other online registries and opt to have a text message sent when a gift is bought off your list.

If you’re setting up a baby-gift registry, I’d definitely recommend checking out this option. Why settle for registering with the big chain-stores if you don’t have too?

PVC-Free Rain Gear @ Bootyland

It’s that time of year again in Seattle – rainy season. The weather is turning colder and the clouds are back, but the kids still need to go outside and play. We’ve got great options to keep your little ones safe and dry while they have fun splashing in the puddles.

Puddlegear by Abeko is made of a soft, light, tear-resistant fabric called Atek. Atek is a polyurethane-coated stretch fabric that is wind and watertight. It is PVC free and is certified by Oxo-Tex to be free of 100 harmful chemicals. It is light, comfortable and flexible so it’s great for active kids, and it’s easy to launder which is nice for parents.

Why PVC Free?

Lots of kids’ rain gear is made from PVC, so what’s the big deal?

According to the Center for Health Environment and Justice,

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic, commonly referred to as vinyl, is one of the most hazardous consumer products ever created.  PVC is dangerous to human health and the environment throughout its entire life cycle, at the factory, in our homes, and in the trash.

Our bodies are contaminated with poisonous chemicals released during the PVC lifecycle, such as mercury, dioxins, and phthalates, which may pose irreversible life-long health threats.  When produced or burned, PVC plastic releases dioxins, a group of the most potent synthetic chemicals ever tested, which can cause cancer and harm the immune and reproductive systems.

PVC is also full of toxic additives that off-gas or leach out of products. These additives are harmful to our health and they also make it nearly impossible to recycle most PVC products.

Puddlegear by Abeko is a safe alternative to raincoats and pants made from PVC. We have raincoats and pants available now in select colors and sizes, and we are able to special order other colors, sizes and styles as well.

Adorable Alpaca Hand Puppets

If you’ve ever been in Bootyland, you’re probably familiar with the rack of sweet little alpaca wool finger puppets that lives near the cash register. These puppets are so cute and so soft – they’re practically irresistible. Our customers love to play with them while we ring up their purchases…and I’m not talking about the kids.

Now finger puppets are great fun, but sometimes you just gotta have a hand puppet for your puppetry needs. So I’m excited to tell you that we now have four different hand puppets available in the same soft alpaca wool.

Just like the finger puppets, these hand puppets are hand knit by women in the Andes of Peru in an artisan workshop that follows fair trade practices. The yarn is hand spun from organic raw alpaca and is machine washable.

The four hand puppets available are:  Zebra, Dog, Giraffe and Rabbit and they retail for $20.00. They meet or exceed ASTM safety regulations and are for ages 2 and up.

Natural Rubber Baby Teether – Sophie the Giraffe

Sophie the Giraffe

Good news for Seattle’s cranky babies; Bootyland just got in a shipment of Sophie the Giraffe baby teethers.

Sophie is made of 100% natural rubber and colored with food paint, so she is completely safe for babies to chew. She’s soft, light and pliable and shaped just right for little hands to grab – and she gives a cute little squeak when you squeeze her head or belly. Her horns and ears provide the perfect texture to soothe sore, teething gums. Plus, she’s so adorable that she’s sure to be a favorite toy.

French toy company Vulli has been producing Sophie the Giraffe for 46 years. She is made of rubber from the Hevea Tree and is free of BPA and phthalates. Sophie is safe for newborns and older, and is available at Bootyland or on our website: Bootylandkids.com

organic kids clothing for back to school

We have been searching for hip, eco and organic kids fashions (as always) and we recently found a company that makes eco-friendly clothing for boys and girls, sizes 2-12, manufactured in the USA.

It has become common to buy local and
organic produce; we are also trying to bring that focus into other areas. Many people have not considered the clothing industry as an area where we can be more eco-friendly, but we can by choosing organic cotton, hemp, soy or bamboo clothing made with low-impact dyes.

Conventional cotton is one of the most chemically-dependent crops, sucking up 10 percent of all agricultural chemicals and 25 percent of insecticides.  This is hard on the enviornment as well as on anyone who works with the fiber or the thread or the eventual fabric and garments themsleves.
With all of that in mind we are happy to have found a great line that brings in organic, green spun, and upcycled fabrics. They do it with style and have kids clothes from 2 to 12. So your eco- conscious family can find a hip urban style that is ethically produced and made in the USA.  Sustainable Kids donates $1.50 of every purchase to the Hands and Feet Project’s Children’s Village in Haiti. The company also supplies a box with prepaid shipping to Haiti, for kids and parents to fill with small donations, teaching the value of community support.

Fresh Booty: Mama K’s Play Clay

Mama K's Aromatic Play Clay

Mama K’s Play Clay is one of those products that I look at andwonder: Why didn’t I think of that?

Five 4-oz tubs of 100% natural, biodegradable, gluten-free play-clay, brightly colored with natural coloring and scented with organic essential oils of bergamot, geranium, lavender, lemongrass and sweet orange, Mama K’s Play Clay really engages your senses. Even the packaging is cute and it’s reusable/recyclable.

We’ve had Mama K’s in the store for a few weeks now, and we keep a coulple of sample tubs at the counter by the cash register. It’s great to see how our customers react to the Play Clay. Most of them take a big smell of the Sweet Orange or the Lavender and then smile and let out a relaxing sigh.  Imagine having this toy around for a cranky four-year old! Between the essential oils and the fun of molding, pounding and squishing you could really turn around a bad mood.

Mama K’s Play Clay is quite soft and pliable for little hands. The colors are rich and bright without looking artificial or neon.  The Sweet Orange clay is an earthy orange color, Geranium is dark pink, Lavender is rich purple, Lemongrass is herb green, and Bergamot is speckled yellow. Each tube contains five 4-oz tubs of Play Clay and retails for $25.00 at our store or on our website.

Bootyland Website (or click link above to go right to the Mama K’s Play Clay page).

Vote for Bootyland!

Do you think Bootyland rocks? Are we your favorite kid’s clothing store? Well, now is your chance to let everyone know.

We’ve been nominated for Parent’s Connect’s 2009 Parent’s Picks in the Best Kid’s Clothing Store Category – so please vote for us so we can get some free publicity!

The cool thing about this contest is you don’t have to register for their website to cast your vote. Just click here and you can vote for us. Right now a Bellevue store is winning – so we need Seattleites to represent.

While you’re there, you can register for a $2,000 sweepstakes prize too. Just think of the shopping spree you could go on with that! And click over to the Best Toy Store category and vote for our good friends at Izilla Toys -  because they rock. You can vote once a day until July 15th, and we really appreciate every vote you can send our way.

Bootyland @ Seattle Children’s Boutique Sale

The fabulous Plum Children’s Shoes has once again put together the Seattle Children’s Summer Boutique Sale, Saturday June 13, from 10:00 – 2:00.

Last year’s event was a big success, with tons of great deals to be had from many of Seattle’s favorite kid’s boutiques. This is a great opportunity to shop independent stores from all over the city in one convenient spot. Booths will be set up outside Plum, at 2913 E Madison St.; make sure to get there early for the best finds.

We have some special items just for the sale – including toys from Playful World and Green Toys, organic cotton dresses from Fig (half off!), and an assortment of screenprinted tees and onesies. You never know what you might score, so we hope to see you there.

Prevent Lice Organically

Rosemary Repels Lice

Yesterday we talked about what to do when you find out your kid has lice. Now I want to tell you how to keep the bugs away.

Back when I was in elementary school, kids got sent home if lice were found in their hair. And they weren’t allowed to come back until all the lice and nits were gone. But that’s not the case today in most  schools.

According to Seattle Schools Health Services, “a student who is found with lice may stay in school and in class until the end of the day.” Which is not a big deal really, since lice are not harmful…just really, really, aggravating. Lice don’t jump or fly, so as long as an infested student keeps their head away from other student’s heads, and they don’t share hats, clothing, or brushes…it should be fine. Right.

Sure, that’s great…in theory. But my first-grader can’t help but hug her friends,  they all love to play dress-up and snuggle up together in the “quiet corner” reading books. There’s no way of knowing how many head lice outbreaks occur in a school year, because it’s not a “reportable” situation so no one keeps track. I’ve heard estimates of 6 to 12 million cases per year nationwide though. That’s a lot of nitpicking.

So what can you do to help prevent your child from bringing home the little buggers?

Fairy Tales Hair Care’s Rosemary Repel products contain essential oils that have been shown to repel head lice and other insects. The line is available as a shampoo, creme conditioner, styling gel, and leave-in conditioning spray. I’ve been using the leave-in conditioning spray on my daughter’s hair for the past 8 months, and since then we’ve escaped several school head lice outbreaks.

Bootyland has had lots of great feedback about these products from desperate parents who were at their wit’s end about the whole lice situation. Plus, the products are gentle and leave hair soft and shiny.

Say Goodbye to Lice…Without Pesticides

Lice Good-Bye

So your kid brought home the dreaded “lice letter” from school today, and sure enough, she has lice.  What do you do now?

All the moms at Bootyland have been through this, and we feel for you. We’ve found a great product that will help you eliminate lice and nits (eggs) without harsh chemicals – and it really works.

Fairy Tales Lice Good-Bye is a non-toxic, pesticide-free mousse that uses naturally occurring enzymes to remove lice and their nits from the hair.

If you’ve dealt with head lice in the past, you might be skeptical of this claim. How can it possibly get rid of lice without using poison?

The thing is, killing off the live lice isn’t the major hurdle to getting rid of a lice infestation. The adult lice and their nymphs can be stunned motionless, making them easy to comb out of the hair, but the nits are glued to the hair shaft, making them quite difficult to remove.

This is where the Lice Good-Bye product really shines. The mousse stuns the adult lice and then the enzymes work s to loosen the nits so they can be combed out quite easily. Pesticide-containing lice shampoos can’t do this – even if they do kill the lice, you’re still left with the arduous task of “nit picking.”

Removing all of the nits is the key to getting rid of head lice. Lice Good-Bye helps you accomplish this without exposing your child to toxic chemicals, and is available at Bootyland in Seattle, WA.

Please feel free to contact us with questions at (206) 328-0636, or email us at info@bootylandkids.com

Say No to Bugs

How can you tell if your child has head lice? The most telling symptom is head-scratching, but sometimes kids don’t start itching until the infestation is bad. During the school year, we check our daughter’s head once a week, just to be safe. Check behind the ears and at the nape of the neck. You’re looking for nits – small, grayish-brownish, oval shaped eggs attached to the hair shaft near the scalp. Nits are hard to remove, unlike dandruff flakes. Other signs

This is your enemy - destroy!

are red bite-marks, swollen lymph nodes, and feeling creepy-crawlies on your head. Lice and nits are hard to see, so check in bright (preferably natural) light. I like to just run the lice comb through my kid’s hair when she’s done washing it – it’s easier than trying to see them in her hair.