This year for Christmas, my wife and I decided to purchase a Bamboletta Doll for each of our girls. Friends and family alike were appalled that we would purchase such an expensive gift for our 2 and 6 year-olds. They had no problem telling us either. For the most part, we just let them go. Few of them were going to see things our way anyways, so we found it better to smile and move on. I have seen many of the rooms belonging to the children of these parents, toys thrown from one side of the room to the other with complete disregard. Children with literally SO many toys they have forgotten half of what they have. The general attitude is, if it breaks, no big deal, another one can be purchased at (insert the name of any big box store here) and back in their arms within the hour.
Don’t get me wrong, we are far from 100% Waldorf or anything similar. My kids have their share of plastic toys, regardless of how much we plead with family and friends to avoid them. My 6-year-olds collection of Monster High Dolls make me cringe every time I look at them. The best we can do right now is to aim for a healthy balance between the two worlds. Also, I think it’s important to acknowledge how lucky we are to be able to afford to make this choice for our children. I know that there are many people out there who don’t have this luxury.
For a few of our friends and family, we shared the Bamboletta story and why purchasing a gift from a company like this was important to us. How we would much rather our children have a select number of high quality items that they would appreciate rather than 100 crappy plastic items they could care less about. As someone who finds great value in both making and receiving handmade items I am so happy there are companies like this able to make it in the economy today. I dare you to read about this company and visit their store WITHOUT wanting to snatch one up yourself!
I know that the holiday gift season is over, but I hope that as birthdays and other special occasion come around you too will seek out handmade items to purchase for your loved ones. OR better yet, I hope that YOU will be the ones to make these items for the people you care about. It’s hard, in today’s fast paced world to sit and find the time to do this. But perhaps if you do, you will find that those “high priced” items are well worth every penny.
THIS is a great post about buying handmade vs. everything else. Ittakes a look at two similar products and dissects the materials, labor, social aspects, cost, etc. of each item.
On a side no, I have NO regret in purchasing from Bamboletta. We found their customer service to be top notch. We had a few questions and concerns about a few things and they responded to each of our emails quickly and pleasantly. The dolls arrived in the cutest shipping boxes and everything about them was magical. What a GREAT experience. I honestly cannot say enough wonderful things about this company!! See how adorable these dolls are for yourself here.
the happy mess 