Today we went to Build-A-Bear to create a bear to donate to Toys for Tots. When I was at Time to Play I learned about the program with Build-A-Bear and Toys for Tots. We received a $40 gift card to use to buy a bear for the Toys for Tots program and we also kicked in our own money plus we bought some gift cards and an article of clothing for each of our kids. Opinions are 100% our own.

Build-A-Bear has a Santa’s Workshop theme to it starting on November 1st. This Saturday (11/15) our local store is having an event where they are going to have 100 bears to stuff and kids can come and help stuff the bears and give them hearts and names and more. Those bears are going to be donated to Toys for Tots. We learned that you can bring any of your Toys for Tots toys to your local Build-A-Bear and they have a donation box there.

We’ve done some Build-A-Bear trips in the past to promote new products that have come to Build-A-Bear and have always had a great time. The staff at the Emerald Square Mall is an excellent one and they always treat us well. They were so good with Andrew and Eva. Eva wants to go back and build a Toothless for How to Train Your Dragon 2. I was eyeing a Donatello Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle for myself. We’ve already been there for some My Little Pony toys in the past.

Eva and Andrew each brought their favorite Build-A-Bear plush with them for this trip. I had them do this because they are still young and while Eva completely gets that we were donating the bear that we made Andrew is a bit younger and might have had a harder time letting the bear go when we were done. I didn’t have to be that worried about it because Andrew tried to donate his own personal puppy when we were all done.

We got to Build-A-Bear and asked about their Toys for Tots program. that is how we learned about the event happening this Saturday. We explained that we just wanted to buy a bear, make it and donate it. They helped us right away. We were the first people to do that at our local Build-A-Bear.

Eva selected the bear and did most of the building. Allison took Andrew to play with different things and also choose something for his puppy, Fuffo. That is what he used to call dogs. Eva picked out a rainbow sparkly bear to donate.

When I told her that we were going to Build-A-Bear after school and what we were doing she asked if we might be able to place two hearts inside the bear. One for the bear and one for her so the little girl who gets the bear knows someone like Eva loves her. My heart melted of course. When we got there she asked the girl helping us make the bear about this and she said that she was just about to suggest that. Thanks for supporting that one and my daughter’s big heart.

After the bear was made and cleaned then Eva picked out a set of pajamas and slipper for the bear. She then did the birth certificate and gave the bear the name Hearts. She absolutely had hearts on the brain tonight.

Eva also picked out a nice Elsa dress for her bear, Cuddles. She loves that bear so much and was so distraught when she was donating Hearts into the Toys for Tots box and Andrew attempted to donate Fuffo. She started crying and couldn’t believe that Andrew would try to give away his puppy. Thing was, When Eva placed the bear in the donation box she was allowed to ring a bell. I know that Andrew simply wanted to ring the bell, too. And for a three year old, making noise trumps a stuffed animal.

We had a very nice time at Build-A-Bear and wish them success this holiday season in collecting donations for Toys for Tots.