Lubies – A Charming New Plush Toy and Collectible Series

I am excited to be attending my first International Toy Fair in New York as a member of the media. Once I signed up and my application was accepted, I joined the social networking community for attendees and gave a little background about myself. Soon I was receiving product information about some great products that people thought would be of special interest to grandparents. And I will be blogging about products I see at the Toy Fair after I attend in mid February. But a couple of companies have sent me samples and I am soooo excited about this one that I just can’t wait to write about them.

Lubies!!! They are just soooo cute and adorable. Lubies are round about 6 inches in diameter and each one is a different animal. They are ultra soft, squezzable, and can double as a ball. They will appeal to ages 0 to 99. My grown son thinks they will be popular with women in their 20s – he says they are the kind of thing they collect and give as gifts to one another. Each Lubie is a different animal and comes with a little tag with a “fun fact” about that animal. The monkey tag informs that the male howler monkey can be heard from ten miles away!
Lubies have been created by a new company, Dakota Designs. Dakota Designs was founded by Joy Michel and Michael Perry. Joy was Creative VP of Ty Inc. and the designer of nine of their plush lines including Beanie Babies. You can see that Joy has applied her expertise and creativity that she used at Ty with Dakota Designs. There are new Lubies being introduced all the time and they will definitely appeal to children and collectors alike.

I already plan two more posts about Lubies. I am saving one post about the rabbit and chick (two of my favorites) for an Easter preview – perhaps with a giveaway and one for the Spring when the first baseball player Lubie is introduced.

This Christmas was my first experience with toys for young children in about 20 years. So much that is available today seems to play music, try to teach numbers, letters, colors and shapes and be made of sturdy plastic. Lubies seem like such a refreshing change. They are just cute and allow for your grandchild’s imagination (remember that) to rule the roost. Lubies won a 2009 Preferred Choice Award from one of my favorite publications – Creative Child magazine.

Lubies are very reasonably priced at under $20 – from $9 to $17 are the prices I have seen the most often. Lubies won’t cause any damage to your home or give you a headache from playing the same singsong tune over and over. And if you play with a Lubie with a young child you are likely to enjoy yourself too and not get worn out – a worthy grandparent objective.

You can order Lubies from Amazon directly – Just click link below: