When we arrived at the shop, Mama was surprised to see Hello Kitty stuffed toy there, as she had the impression that they only have "teddy bears", as the name of the shop said it all. However, it was interesting to see quite a fair bit of Hello Kitty stuff there! Both Gwendolyn and Mama was getting a bit excited about the whole experience...what's more interesting was that Lyn Lyn had actually set her eyes on the Hawaiian Hello Kitty costume, where she kept saying : I want the Hello Kitty with the grass skirt!
Off we went...
Step 1 : Walk down the aisle with the empty "teddy" bodies as a base to start from...Lyn Lyn was wondering how come those "teddies" were empty and flat, with an opening at their backs...
Step 2: After deciding on the white Hello Kitty body, she went on to look for the Hawaiian costume for her Hello Kitty! Whilst Lyn Lyn was looking at that special costume that she wanted, Mama wondered around to look at the variety of costumes for the "teddies"...Mama actually wanted one for herself, as the costumes were so cute! Mama picked up a pair of shades and tried them onto Geraldine, as it's impossible to find any shades for a baby! Unfortunately, Geraldine is bigger than any of those "teddies" and Mama couldn't get a pair for her! They have a lot of costumes, just as if Mama could shop for babies clothing...night slippers with pajamas, Hello Kitty t-shirts with matching denim shorts, etc etc...that place wasn't just for kids, but for adults too!
Step 3 : Stuff up the "teddy" at the machine by the staff there! What's more amazing is that they treat the "teddies" as special friend of the child, where the child will go and pick up a "heart" from "the heart box" hanging on the "stuffing machine". Then, the staff will ask the child to perform some action in rubbing the heart between her palm, kiss it, etc...to give them a special feeling, before finally inserting the "heart" into the "stuffed teddy" and then "sewing up the open back". It was so funny to see Lyn Lyn performing all the actions required and in so doing, she felt the "live" of her "teddy"!
Step 4 : After the "teddy" has been "sewn up", the child has to give the "teddy" a good scrub under the shower! The child is given a brush to brush the "teddy", so that it's all cleaned before the child brings the "teddy" to the dressing table! See Lyn Lyn was carefully cleaning and brushing Hello Kitty" under the "shower heads" (without real water).
Step 5 : At the dressing table, Lyn Lyn carefully laid Hello Kitty down and asked Mama to help to dress Kitty up in the costume that she's chosen. Mama had no clue why she's set her eyes on them...but seems like she liked them a lot! See, she's giving Kitty a kiss when dressing Kitty up!
Step 6 : After dressing Kitty up, Lyn Lyn was all ready to check her out at the payment counter...BUT...we were told that we can make a birth certificate for her special Kitty! So, one of the staff led us to the stretch of computers next to the cashier counter and Lyn Lyn sat down to enter all the relevant particulars!
Step 7 : It's kind of un-original that Lyn Lyn had named her cat "Hello Kitty", which it's generally known as Hello Kitty anyways. But she preferred to name her as such and so be it. After that, she had to enter her own particulars, including home address, etc...she did all the typing by herself, with Mama standing beside and spelling for her!
Step 8 : When all is done...Hello Kitty's birth certificate was printed and we're really ready to check her out at the cashier! How much was all these worth? S$67.80! Wow...nowadays, kid's toys are getting more and more expensive because of all these gimmicks in luring a kid into buying all these "special toys"! I believe most parents would think that it's really expensive for a "teddy"...when most of her "Spots" and "Steves" are just S$11! But if you look that the procedures that they go through, the thinking process required and the way they understand how a "teddy" is made, Mama treated it as a learning process for Lyn Lyn and it's worth it! If you see how she liked her "self-made" toy and what she said afterwards...you'll think that she takes more "ownership" of her own creation! Just to quote one line that she said : I like my Hello Kitty so much that I wanted to be with her forever and ever! So funny to hear that from the mouth of a child!
If you want more information about the Build A Bear Workshop, you may try their website here http://www.buildabear.com.sg/
Lyn Lyn had such a happy shopping trip at Vivocity! Not forgetting to mention that she's got herself 2 more pairs of Crocs shoes...with the new Dora design and a pair of Supergirl! Why did she ask for the Supergirl? Coz her classmate Zara, who likes Dora as well, had a pair of Supergirl Crocs...anyways, Crocs was having a GSS special that when you buy 2 pairs, the 3rd pair onwards would have 15% discount. Hence, Mama's bought herself a pair of sandals, as her current pair is broken already! In addition, Mama was shopping casually at Mothercare and found a pair of Dora flipflops...Lyn Lyn was so happy and Mama bought that for her too...so that she can wear that to the pool! Not forgetting about Geraldine, Mama bought her a packet of rompers too!
