Your Purchase Through 9-1-09 helps the Starlight Children’s Foundation

For every purchase that is made at BabySakes.com through September 1st, BabySakes will give you 5% off your purchase and we will donate a BabyPrints handprint keepsake to the Starlight Children’s Foundation of Canada when you enter coupon code STARLIGHT at checkout.

The Starlight Children’s Foundation helps seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.

Starlight Children’s Foundation is currently putting together Starlight-in-a-Box care packages for families of babies that are hospitalized with serious illness. These packages will be delivered to hundreds of hospitals and will help families engage in activities with their babies while they are hospitalized. The impression keepsakes will be included in these care packages so that parents can create a lasting keepsake of baby’s hand or footprint.

To participate in this program just enter coupon code STARLIGHT at checkout and you’ll receive 5% off your order and BabySakes.com will donate a Pearhead BabyPrints handprint impression kit for these families.

The Best Baby Books for Adoption

Tell your baby's adoption story with "The Story of Me."

Here at Babysakes.com we understand every child is unique and deserves a special book to document their lives. That’s why we offer a wide selection of baby memory books to fit every family situation. When a child is adopted, there is a unique aspect to their birth story that makes it difficult to use a traditional baby record book. However, there are a number of  adoption baby books designed just to tell the story of the adopted child.

The Story of ME Adoption Baby Memory Books
The Story of ME baby book allows you to customize everything from the cover fabric to an optional embroidered name and photo window for a special first photo. The hand-sewn cover fabric choices are wonderful, but you also have the option of providing your own fabric for an even more special and more personalized touch! With The Story of ME, you get to choose from several different styles of page packs that fit neatly into The Story of Me’s three-ring binder.

The optional adoption page pack include 18 pages to tell the story of your little one’s adoption, whether it was open or closed, domestic or international. Since the baby book is a looseleaf binder, you can easily  customize this book by adding or removing pages at any time. What a great way to tell your child’s story!

This is what Jenna Devereaux from Granite Bay, CA had to say about the Story of ME baby memory book:

“Love the book. I chose it because it was one of the only books I could find for adoptions. It has all the pages for all the information you’ll want to write about your baby. I love the fact that you can add blank pages, religious pages, etc. If you like to scrapbook, this book can be used in that manner. It’s a great book for anyone.”

It's the adoption page packs that make the Tessera Baby Book special!

Adoption Baby Books by Tessera Publishing
Tessera Publishing makes a wonderful adoption baby memory book as well. This album comes in 4 gorgeous cover options and features a post bound binding (screw posts that allow you to add or remove pages). The album includes pages to cover baby’s first three years and offers a huge selection of optional page packs to tailor the album to your family’s story. With the Tessera baby memory book, you can add the Domestic Adoption Page Pack (includes pages such as “Starting The Process,” “About Your Birth Mother,” and “Adoption Documentation”) or the Foreign Adoption Page Pack (includes pages such as “Your Homeland Culture,” “Travel Itineraries,” “Visiting Your Country” and more). Since you can insert just the pages you want, you can choose how much information to include about the adoption process of your baby. Hillary Carter from Ruston, LA raves:

“This album was the only one I could find that was a really great option for adoptions. It is absolutely elegant and beautiful. It has pages for almost anything you can imagine.”

Penny Laine Adoption Baby Books

Penny Laine Adoption Baby Albums
Penny Laine offers a selection of adoption-specific baby books in a choice of four fun fabric covers. Each book contains enough pages to record your baby’s milestones as well as all adoption information. This album also includes a special “Birth Parent’s page pack” that you choose to include in the three-ring binder style album. The Birth Parent’s page pack includes pages such “Things You Might Like to Know About Your Birth Mother,” a “Birth Family Tree” and “Things we talked about with your birth Mom.” Each cover has a photo window for a first photo and includes a color-coordinated satin ribbon.

This gorgeous adoption-specific album has many fans! For example Crystal St. Pierre from McKinney, Texas says:

“Very beautiful book. I adopted my daughter so finding a good adoption book wasn’t easy. This book was what I was looking for.”

And, Peggy Streck from Brook Park, OH said:

“Wonderfully specific to adopted babies, who are special in their own right! Plenty of useful pages to fill with all sorts of personal info. Very well done.”

A page from the "This is Me" adoption baby book.

This is Me!
If you want an album that is more of a comprehensive historical record keeper,  then the This Is Me Memory Book is just for you. This 76-page book has a post binding so pages can be added or removed easily. This book is gender-neutral and is great for domestic as well as international adoptions – there are versions for adoptions that are country specific, including China, Russia, South Korea and Guatemala and more. 

“This is Me” allows you to document your child’s life all they way through age 18. The book is great especially if you are adopting an older child or a child with special needs as well! It includes a huge variety of adoption pag you might not find anywhere else, such as “Places I Lived / Foster Families,” “Health Information About my Parents,” “Why Don’t I Live with My Birth Parents,” and more.

The international adoption versions include a map of the country of adoption as well as a brief history. Andrea Young from Spring Lake, NC had this to say about the China version of the This is Me book:

“My husband and I are in the process of adopting from China and I was looking for an adoption baby book.  This book is perfect!  It has a section on China and also info pages about the adoption as well as information through the years (it goes up to age 18).  The book itself can be taken apart to add or remove pages.  I’m looking forward to filling it out!”

Baby Baby - A Memory Book

Baby Baby – A Memory Book
On the other end of the spectrum is a baby book that doesn’t specifically address the adoption situation, but is designed to eliminate pages that are typically unique to a birth family. So, the Baby Baby  – A Memory Book album looks more like a traditional baby book, but is written in such a way that it works wonderfully for adopted children as well.

Its gender-neutral palate and retro-sixties motifs make it classic and hip all at the same time. It can be personalized with baby’s name and date of birth. The pages are lovely and the verbiage is extremely flexible which makes it an appropriate book for all kinds of families!

For instance, gone are pages detailing pregnancy and references to the hospital. Instead, the album starts with a page titled “First Glimpse” which reads “We found out you were coming on ____” and continues with space for a photograph for an adoption photo. Instead of a “Visitors to the Hospital Page,” there is a page titled “Who Visited You” which works perfectly for any celebration welcoming the adopted baby to the family.

So, this album is absolutely perfect if you do not want to detail the specifics of the adoption, but still want to have a baby book that can be filled out completely without awkward blank pages. The “Baby Baby” Memory Book helps you record childhood memories up to Kindergarten.

Of course, each book is acid-free, archival quality and is appropriate for adoption. And all are ready to be made into a cherished keepsake with those special memories written by a loving parent. You can view the complete selection of adoption baby memory books here.

Posh Halloween Costumes for Baby

Ribbet Ribbet - your child could be a froggie for Halloween!

It’s that time of year again. Time for ghosts and goblins – or rather, fluffy bunnies, bears, frogs and horsies. (We here at Babysakes.com get scared too easily and prefer our trick-or-treaters to be of the adorably cute variety.) 

There is nothing better than having a baby product serve double duty, so when we considered the amazing booties and coats at BabySakes.com – well, we got to thinking. What better way to dress up baby for Halloween but in a costume that is not only plush and luxurious – but is really a winter coat that will keep them warm in the upcoming colder months!

Bearington Baby offers a wonderful selection of coats and booties for babies 6 – 12 months and 12-24 months. Can’t you see your little one dressed up as an elephant in the Lil Peanut Elephant coat and matching booties. Or how about as a frog in the Froggie coat and booties. Better yet – how about as a pink bunny with the Pink Bunny coat and matching booties or as a sweet little lamb in the Lamby Coat and booties (with any luck the bunny and lamby coats and booties can pull TRIPLE duty as an outfit for the spring holidays.)

These coats are plush and fuzzy and make you want to snuggle your little one even more. Think of all the candy they can procure looking so cute (and if they don’t have any teeth – think of all the candy you get to eat on their behalf!)

Dress your baby in luxury with this faux mink!

Of course there is also the added bonus of looking like a million bucks. These Bearington Baby animal-themed coats and matching booties have the look of mink and leopard – faux of course. Your little one could be a cat or a grizzly or polar bear  – or just look fabulous for Halloween.

For those of you who want to stay a little closer to home – or the farm – these Mud Pie coats and booties are perfect. With a quack quack here or a neigh neigh there, imagine your baby roaming the neighboorhood in one of these amazing coats and matching booties.

For little ones who are spending the holiday indoors, or for our friends in warmer climates, can we suggest these fun Mud Pie sleepers? With the same EIEIO themes as the coats and booties (bunny, duckie, horsie and moo-cow), the sleepers have tails and feet and are just so cute we can’t stand it. Or if you see your baby as more of a superhero, then these Wry Baby snapsuits will help them be “Super Cute!”

So check out the fun animal-themed wear at Babysakes.com today and get your order in just in time for Trick-or-Treat. These are more than just baby Halloween costumes… they are posh baby outfits for all seasons! View the complete selection here.

Gotta Getta Gund, Baby!

Who can resist Pink-a-Boo Pony's sweet face?

We would like to announce our newest addition to our collection of baby keepsakes – Baby Gund. Gund, the quintessential purveyor of fine plush toys is now available on Babysakes.com.

But it isn’t just plush toys, Baby Gund now offers  wonderful collections with many adorable baby keepsakes and useful items to choose from.

The Happy Moments Collection from Baby Gund includes themed keepsakes for boys and girls. The boy’s collection has everything a boy could want – trains, planes and automobiles in fun primary colors. The girl’s collection includes flowers, gingham and embroidery in lovely pastels. The Happy Moments collection features frames, photo albums, pillows, hooded towels, banks and growth charts.

The delicate Li’l Boutique Collection also features a boy and a girl collection. Lovely stripes, flowers and rocking horse accents in pink and aqua adorn these lovely keepsake boxes, frames, blankets, photo albums and layettes.

Some of the fun Baby Gund collections are centered around a Baby Gund character. You can meet “Spunky” the dog who comes in pink for girls, blue for boys and a gender-neutral tan.  “Winky” the lamb comes in either white or pink. Both collections include plush toys, blankets, outfits and nursery decor.

There is also a collection of corduroy and patchwork snugglers that your child will love. Baby Gund’s “Snoodle” is an adorable blue puppy, “Pink-a-Boo” is a cute pink horse, and “Hopscotch” is a fun yellow giraffe. Each collection includes plush toys in a variety of sizes, blankets, and toys. They are cute and durable enough to be your child’s favorite friend for years to come.

Wonderful gifts for baby and moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas come from the Hugs and Kisses Collection. Frames, plush toys and photo albums show the world who baby’s favorite is. Is it Grandpa? Then the adorable plush giraffe says so right on his tummy. If it is Mommy, then a wonderful purple frame will showcase a touching photo of mom and baby and the words “I love my Mommy.” If it is Daddy or Grandma, there are photo albums for treasured photos. Each collection is centered around a special Baby Gund plush animal.

Spunky Huggybuddy - sure to be your baby's new best friend.

Can’t think of a fun shower gift? Why not check out Yummie Tummies or Bitsy Baby Bibs? These wonderful, high-quality bibs have clever saying and fun characters and are sure to be cherished as keepsakes.

There are also great gifts for the new big sister or big brother. The My Family collection includes plush, baby-safe  photo albums that can be shared. Also included are mom and dad and grandpa and grandma albums.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Baby Gund if there weren’t a whole bunch of things to snuggle. The Tender Beginnings collection has an adorable giraffe with pink or blue accents, in a variety of snugglers and plush toys. The Secure Snugs collection has a variety of blankets with plush characters included. Probably the most versatile snuggler of all are the Snugapuffs. Part pillow, part plush friend, these character pillows are soft and perfect for nap time.

But don’t take our word for it. Check out these new baby keepsakes from Baby Gund and other items yourself at Babysakes.com.

BabySakes.com Giveaway

To celebrate the BabySakes launch of the Baby Gund gift line, we are giving away a Spunky baby keepsake gift set. This giveaway will include the Spunky Huggybuddy, the Spunky Buddyluvs, and the Spunky Plush Puppy. The retail value of these items are $70 and make a great collection to give as a baby shower gift, or to pamper your little one. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post letting us know what your favorite item is from the Baby Gund collection.  We will select a winner on October 30th, 2008. Contest is open to U.S. residents over 18, void where prohibited… (complete rules here.)

Contest Closed – Winner Announced
The winner of the Gund giveaway from BabySakes.com is Tara LaMagna with comment number 7. Congratulations Tara!