Home And Family USA

Build A Bear Workshops have been popping up all over the world for several years now. Increasingly popular everywhere they appear, children are delighting in this concept. Enter the store with a child, any age and their eyes light up. Suddenly, they realize that they get to build a bear from their own imagination. They can stuff it themselves, dress it, create a personality for it - you name it. They look around and see that the Build A Bear Workshop has more than they can even comprehend. No matter what the child is into at that time, Build A Bear Workshop can accommodate their interests.

Quite a few adults have had their own eyes light up upon entering the store. They build a bear for a spouse, a child, a significant other, a special occasion - anything that may require a personalized gift. Or, perhaps they simply build a bear for themselves. Whatever the reason may be, creating a stuffed animal from scratch seems to have become a popular new craze. Anyone can shop for a stuffed animal. Stores have shelves and shelves of the same stuffed animals lined up. There’s no creativity and imagination that goes into picking one off of the shelf and paying for it. Taking the time to put your own personality into making your own bear is much more personal. People appreciate that gesture.

Children love to build a bear because it lets them have complete control over what their bear will be like. It can be a boy, or a girl, wearing whatever they want. They can name their stuffed animal and receive a birth certificate for this creation. This bear will be cherished more than their other animals, perhaps, because it was created by their own hands.

The prices to build a bear are not always cheap. In fact, the average price to build a bear is $32. The costs increase as more clothing or creativity is added. While parents want to encourage their child to be as creative as they want and build a bear to suit their every want, they may find themselves limiting their child to a certain amount of additions. Those on a budget can easily still build a bear that will be adored by their child for years to come, so long as they don’t let their child go too crazy. In the Workshop though, it is easy to become wrapped up in the process and end up with a larger than expecting price tag at the end of your experience. Just remember though, some memories are priceless.

People use language for communication, but few of us are aware of how deep our obsession with the written word goes. Some people are obsessed with fonts, spending hours and hours trying to find the perfect layout and appearance for a text. Other people stress out over their handwriting, trying to get their script just perfect to create the most beautiful letters they can. Other people get elaborate messages tattooed in different languages on their skin, sometimes in languages they can’t even read, just because they like the way they look.

When I opened up a bead store a few years ago, I tried to stock a wide variety of different products. I had a lot of earthy clay beads, sterling silver beads and more contemporary acrylic beads. One thing I didn’t realize would sell so well was my selection of alphabet beads. Yet the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Practically every variety of alphabet bead that I have sells out within a month of me getting the shipment. The sterling silver alphabet beads, the plastic ones and even the large ones for children are all quick sellers.

I was curious about why people bought so many alphabet beads and I started asking my customers about it. What was interesting was the great variety of answers I got. Some people just liked making friendship bracelets for friends, while others had more elaborate plans. I even knew one guy who proposed to his wife through an alphabet bracelet. He put it on her wrist while she was sleeping one night and, when she woke up, she had an alphabet bracelet that said “will you marry me?”

I’ve even met people who use the alphabet beads for some sort of personal message for themselves. A lot of folks have a motto that they like to keep around their necks at all times. It is sort of like a talisman. Sometimes it is a family motto, sometimes it is just a personal phrase that they view as inspiring. By creating an alphabet bead necklace, they hope to make it more part of them somehow.

When I started the bead store, I never realized how much I would learn about humanity. By watching how people like to decorate themselves, I can learn a lot about what they are into and how they see the world. Alphabet beads are yet one more aspect of human culture that deserves notice.