Our fun-filled Build-A-Bear store visit

Recently my children were lucky enough to get asked to review our local Build-A-Bear store. Let me start by saying that my children are HUGE Build-A-Bear fans, so please do not underestimate the excitement once they realised what a treat they were in for - I hadn't told them before we got to the shop so they were initially quite shocked!  I'm sure Build-A-Bear needs no introduction but just in case you don't know, it's a store where you pick a teddy, stuff it and if you so wish, choose from a vast array of outfits and accessories.

We were warmly greeted by Nicki, the store manager who introduced us to a lovely young lady called Evie who was going to help us with our bears. Evie spent time explaining about all the bears that were available, including the new ones and gave us some handy hints and tips on how to pick. It's not easy when there is so much choice and the world is your oyster, let me tell you. Finally my son selected a German Shepherd (he loves dogs) and the little lady picked one of the new specials, Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony.

Once we'd selected it, we went to pick sounds to go in our bears. I thought that maybe my boy would want a barking sound for his dog, and I was secretly praying he didn't pick the One Direction sound, but after much pressing of buttons he opted for Star Wars. My daughter is less indecisive and went straight for the My Little Pony song. 

After both teddy and sound had been selected, we were off to the stuffing machine. This bit is fun, the children get to press the pedal to make the stuffing come out of the machine and into the bear, then before it's all sewn up they have the very important task of checking that it's cuddly enough! After this in goes the heart (you have to make a wish along with doing a few other little rituals, all very important) and teddy is all sewn up.  The children were very excited as they also both got to have a go at filling the stuffing machine - I was also quite intrigued by this. I thought the machine would stop and the fluff would be shoved in but no - it gets whizzed up a pipe!

Once your teddy is fully stuffed, you of course need to give it a brushing before you get choosing clothes.

If you can't find an outfit you like out of this lot, well you never will. There is literally something for everyone - "normal" clothes, uniforms and many different well-known characters. You can buy a complete outfit, or mix and match with separates and there are lots of different colours and types of shoes to compliment your outfit!

Of course having a Star Wars sound in the dog meant there was really only one choice, and as my son is not keen on the dark side, he opted for a Jedi Knight rather than Darth Vader. My daughter carried on the rainbow theme, choosing a very flashy rainbow tutu and some rainbow platform wedges, complete with a sparkly halter neck top - not unlike the kind of outfit I'd like to wear myself on a Saturday night...

Evie, our Build-A-Bear helper, mentioned that sometimes there are outfits that don't fit so well on the four-legged friends so before we made our final decision she made sure we tried on the outfits. It was touch and go with the Star Wars but using our Jedi powers we managed to squeeze him in. 

The final thing to do was create our birth certificates  Previous experience has told me it's better to start thinking about this in advance and so we were ready and waiting with our names. My daughter stuck with the name of the pony, Rainbow Dash but the German Shepherd pup became Obi-Wan. (Are you getting the feeling there's a Star Wars fan in the house yet?).

The children thoroughly enjoyed their trip to Build-A-Bear and the teddies have already become firm favourites, barely leaving their sides over the past few weeks. They even love the boxes they come in and have spent a good few hours colouring them in!  One of the things I love about Build-A-Bear is that the accessories and outfits are quite reasonably priced, meaning the children can save up their pocket money and buy more for themselves.  

The staff at Build-A-Bear really try their hardest to make it a pleasant and fun shopping experience - and I can say this not only from this review visit but also because I have been to birthday parties here on several occasions. Working with excitable children must be a bit stressful at the best of times but they always do it with a smile on their face.

All-in-all, it was a great experience and I came away with two great quality and fabulously  dressed bears as well as two very happy children!

With thanks to Build-A-Bear who covered the cost of the bears, sounds, clothes and shoes in return for this review.