Today as a special outing for Addison on his second birthday we decided to take him to the Robina shopping center to build a bear for his birthday. It’s not something that you would do often as it can be quite costly depending on what extra accessories you pick for your special little friend. However as a birthday treat it sure does make a nice one!
Over the last couple of weeks I had taken Addi into the store to try and get him to make a few decisions, like what bear he wanted to make and get an idea of how he would like to dress him.
Today when Nanny and Mummy took him to the shop we let him out of the pram to have a proper look and see if he could pick the bear/dog/bunny etc etc that he wanted to make for his birthday. We were having very little luck getting Addison to pick the bear he wanted to make, however the clothes were no issue at all. He looked at the range and went straight to a little aviator jacket and denim pants and handed them to me.
Typically Addi had expensive taste!! The jacket was $20 and the pants $10. Thankfully I had a budget of around $55 all up for Addi’s birthday teddy and didn’t mind going over by $10 or so, but would do my best to keep as close as possible (it’s not always possible to stick to a budget when you let a 2 year old make the selections). Nanny also was going to contribute to making it a special birthday themed bear for Addi with some special accessories.
After a while we realised that Addi was acting out of character and was a bit out of sorts, just saying no to everything that we suggested. We decided to go and have a look around the shops at the other toys and have a break from selecting the bear with the hope that after some time away and a birthday milkshake he would be able to pick what he wanted.
Sure enough when we came back he was willing to make some decisions. Unfortunately I didn’t think Daddy would be very happy with what he had decided. Out of all he could pick from the one bear he kept coming back to and saying he wanted was a pink one!!!!! There was also a camo bear thrown in the mix at one point, that I wasn’t sure Daddy would approve of either.
One thing that hadn’t changed (amazingly) was the outfit. Eventually Addi picked an off white bear (one of the cheaper bears in the range, which helped us stick to our budget fairly well). We got the jacket and the pants, it was just a mater of some shoes. At first we were going with roller skates because Addi had pointed these out several times when we had been trying to pick a bear. But they were going to push the budget way out as you have to pick a pair of shoes and then buy the roller skates on top of this (about $25 all up). He picked a cute little pair of boots instead, which actually matched the outfit very well.
Nanny added some birthday things, such as a happy birthday cupcake (that Addi insisted was for him and not the bear), plus a birthday pack that contained a party hat, bow tie, birthday card and happy birthday sash.
You can add sounds to the bears as well for $5 each, so we put the happy birthday song that was available. That way Addi will always know that this bear was made for him on a very special day.
Once we had put everything into our shopping basket it was time to build Addi’s teddy bear! First they put the sound into whichever hand you like and then get you to stuff the bear. So you put your foot on a pedal and it blows the stuffing into the bear. This was all well and good at first but it is quite loud and Addi was a little bit scared of the machine, so Mummy ended up helping to stuff him. Then you check you are happy with how he feels by giving him a cuddle. It is then time to add a heart. You give it a kiss and put it into the teddy, the shop assistant stitches him closed. You can then take him over to the shower/bear bath and fluff him up and brush him off to make him all snugly. Then to the dressing room to put all his clothes and accessories you have picked onto your bear. Once you have done that you take him to the computer and register his “birth” which then prints out a birth certificate with his name (that you get to pick) on it and of course your bear’s date of birth.
After he is all paid for they put him in a house and you can take him home to love and cuddle! We only went $10 over budget so that wasn’t too bad over all. Addi got the bear he wanted and we got to do something special for his birthday. Here are the photos of us making Bearemy the Bear.
