Sometimes the sheer joy of toymaking gets lost in the midst of deadlines, cost discussions, shipment details and mountains of minutiea. Sometimes we all have a bad day, at home or at work. Or both.
And then life throws us a gift. So pure and magical that we cannot help but grin from ear to ear, beam from within and feel rejuvenated and happy.
Try to watch this video only once. Impossible. We are about to break the replay button.
"I'd say the Oddballs were a success... :)" wrote a mom on Facebook, not knowing she was making our month! Her little Tori's giggles are infectious. We feel tickled every time we watch.
And we're reminded of Whitney Houston's song "The Greatest Love of All..." Our children's love indeed is That. Our children's giggles light our homes. And our hearts.
As we say, the best gifts don't come from a store, they come from a child.
If we could offer you any gift, it would be a glimpse of the world through the eyes of a child. The B. Quote Screensaver is as close at it gets.
We've designed this gorgeous screensaver framing the wisdom of wee ones by a lush, olive green, patterned backdrop that flashes bits of brilliance at you. The illustrations within the B.'s animate in unexpected, magical ways. It's elegant and subtle…and hilarious, poignant and sweet. This is not the same screensaver every day. It dynamically updates as moms and dads around the country (and the world) post their kids' words on our Quote Maker.
It's our gift to you. For Mother's Day—and every day.
Download it today and enjoy a smile, a laugh or a wise moment of insight every time you pass your computer.
My day (my month? my year? my life?) is already better and "berrer" after watching this little guy sing a song that in our home has been "Hey Luke" for 19 years.
With a huge thanks to Lennon and McCartney, and apologies for our family tweaks to their lyrics, I wish all kids everywhere the uninhibited joy and self-assurance to sing their hearts out and live by our motto: Just B. Just You B. You.
Love,
—Gisela
Hey Luke, when something's bad Take a sad song and make it better Remember to let All into your heart Then you can start to make it better
Hey Luke, don't be afraid You were made to go out and get her The minute you let Life under your skin Then you begin to make it better
And anytime you feel the pain, hey Luke, refrain Don't carry the world upon your shoulders For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder Na na na, na na, na na na na
So let it out and let it in, hey Luke, begin You're waiting for someone to perform with And don't you know that it's just you? Hey Luke, you'll do The movement you need is on your shoulder Na na na, na na, na na na na, yeah
Hey Luke, when something's bad Take a sad song and make it better Remember to let All into your heart. Then you begin to make it better Better, better, better, better, better, oh!
A lot of the magic of holidays for little ones lies is the mystique. Dewey morning eyes light up to see an Easter basket full of goodies or a yard stocked with bright eggs peeking out from behind the begonias. Imaginations run wild wondering what color the Easter Bunny is, how high he can hop, and how fast he must run to make it to everyone's house before morning. And no matter how much guessing takes place, no one ever knows how to answer those questions for sure.
It's been quite a while since I woke up to find Easter treats waiting for me. But this year, I had the joy of joining Gisela and her family for the holiday weekend. After dinner on Saturday (and once little Rio conveniently went across the street to play video games), all the 'big kids' gathered in the living room. Mounds of candy were dumped into a humongous pile on the floor, and we got to work filling 1000 plastic eggs for the 17th annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt. (Can you believe a family would host this for 17 years straight?!) Every time I looked up to grab another egg or piece of candy, I had to marvel at our motley group. Here we were, teenagers, college kids, parents, and friends, all sitting together on a Saturday night, working toward a common goal.
Just as we were nearing the bottom of the candy pile, Gisela upended the last bag of plastic eggs onto the carpet. Almost immediately, teenage Sydney noticed small pellets of mouse poop interspersed with the eggs. While Syd screeched off to wash her hair (the bag had been emptied more or less over her shoulder), the rest of us got to work cleaning up. The plastic eggs soaked in the sink while we ate slabs of strawberry rhubarb pie laced with vanilla ice cream. Then the evening wound on a bit longer as we dried eggs one-by-one, swapping stories the whole time.
As I pulled pink and green and yellow eggs out of the soapy water, it was clear that the magic of the holiday doesn't fade as you get older. It does, however, shift. When you're little, the Easter Bunny gives you something to look forward to, something to talk to your friends about. And each time he pays a visit to your house, it stokes the ever-churning furnace of your kid curiosity. As the years pass, Easter (like many other holidays) becomes a great excuse to spend time with people you care about, and planning the festivities gives you something to talk about with your friends. On top of that, if you're lucky enough to have little ones in your life, you might just have the chance to play Easter Bunny. And I can't think of anything more magical than that.
Every time you buy a B. toy 10¢ get set aside to help children on the other side of the world who, by the mere stroke of fate, are less fortunate than our own. When you hold a dime in your hand it seems oh so small. So inconsequential. How can that little coin make a difference?
It does. It makes a BIG difference. Those dimes add up. They go to Free The Children to build schools, and water wells, and clinics, and alternative income programs. The four pillars of this holistic Adopt a Village model (Water—Health—Education—Alternative Income) are what sets Free The Children apart from many other organizations who help in only one of those areas. Building a healthy community through the Adopt a Village model is like building the framework of a house. Each pillar provides crucial support, without which the whole thing would eventually crumble. The Adopt a Village four pillars for community development are all based on the idea that no problem and no solution stands alone.
I have seen the work of Free The Children with my own eyes. Taken my kids to Kenya to mix cement and carry bricks with our own hands. Watched my 14 year old daughter carry a 40 pound jerrycan of water on her own back. I can vouch for these dimes personally. In a deeply heart-felt and committed way. Truly committed. So committed that now, after these two years of working with Free The Children through B., and after my own personal travels, I sit proudly on the USA board of directors of Free The Children. (Oh, the many places these toys have taken me…)
I hope that every time you play with a B. toy you will remember that you sit there with me. Every one of you who has chosen to support this quirky toy brand with the kraft paper packaging and the earthy colors and the big heart.
I want to share with you a story by Loren Eiseley that will stick with me forever.
One day a man was walking along the beach, when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said… ”I made a difference for that one.”
For this one and this one and this child who cannot thank you personally…we echo Marc Kielburger, co-founder of Free The Children, thanking YOU for your help. And we share with you Robin Wiszowaty's Asante Sana message all the way from Kenya. As program director in Kenya for Free The Children, Robin, more than anyone, sees daily how much B. funds are able to help children have hope for the future—and a childhood now.
We proudly show you a glimpse of the first Kenyan village Battat, B. toys and YOU are helping through the generous B. donations, a little at a time, a dime at a time. Meet Ngosuani, a remote village deep in the Maasai Mara where currently 98% of the women and 90% of the men are illiterate, families live on less than $1 dollar a day, a third of the children are in situations of child labor, and the average age for a first-time mom is 15. This is Free The Children's newest community in Kenya and exactly where your B. contribution is going.
My daughter Sydney traveled there last summer with a MetoWe trip to bring back the photos in the video above, to actually dig ditches and to meet the Kindergarten children who are so excited to go to school they could not stop hugging her as if she represented every one of those dimes, every one of you. (It is not lost on me that she was 14 at the time and by sheer cosmic fortune was born in Boston rather than there, where she would not know how to read or write, would carry water for hours a day, and would this year be married.)
Sydney brought back those hugs, and if I could post them all here I would. But all I can do is thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For being a part of the solution.
