Nursery Online is gradually settling into its new office in the north west of England. So don’t forget to use 0151 203 6301 to contact us and our @nursery-online emails rather than my old btinternet.com one! Check the address you automatically use.

We have lots of ideas up our sleeve to increase the information we provide to you so keep clicking through to see what’s around – and, of course, don’t forget to send us all your news.

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The team at Little Helper are celebrating this week as the new FunPod HighChair arrives and is ready for launch next week.

Originally due for launch in August this year, The FunPod HighChair underwent design modifications following its preview at Harrogate earlier this Spring. The FunPod® HighChair now includes an extra feature and function with ‘D’ rings, allowing upgrade to a 5 point harness and can now be used as a trayless HighChair, meeting all European safety regulations.

Available in a natural wood colour with a free reversible cushion worth £14.99 in lime and caramel, the FunPod HighChair is a fantastic new 5-in-1 product that has evolved from the multi award-winning FunPod. The FunPod HighChair can be used when baby starts to wean and can be used as both a high chair and a low chair with tray. Taking away the tray is really easy and it gives the extra benefits of a trayless highchair and low everyday chair. When baby becomes a toddler, the quick release screws allow speedy transformation back into our original FunPod safety device for use at kitchen worktops for up to 5 years.

The award-winning FunPod can be used between the ages of 1-6 and provides a safe environment to get your toddlers up to the worktop on their own safely constructed platform to help, interact, learn and play. Get them involved and see how much they love it!

To see the Little Helper FunPod HighChair in action head over here

Get more from one HighChair – a lot more! RRP £159.99

For more information please contact Felicity Mitchell on 0845 230 1538 or e-mail felicity.mitchell@littlehelper.co.uk

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A bright new recruit has joined Team Azaria in the form of Junior Account Executive Melissa Carter. Fresh from university Mel will be using her business acumen to assist the Azaria team with their goal of dominating the baby and parenting pr world!

As a new member of the dynamic team, Mel will be involved in all aspects of the business including writing press releases, assisting with media, attending trade fairs as well as web design and general account assistance. She’s also helping to raise Azaria's online presence. She said: “I love working here, PR is so fast-paced and I love the rush and excitement when great pieces of coverage come out each day. The Azaria team is so upbeat and genuinely cares about how they service their clients, so it’s a great environment to work in.”

Amber Steventon, Managing Director of Azaria says; “An agency is only as good as the staff it employs and we have very high standards when it comes to new recruits. The right 'can do' attitude is essential and we knew Mel would have this straight away. She has slotted in to the team seamlessly and is already adding value to the agency."

For more information, contact amy@azariapr.co.uk or call 05601 152078

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Prized in the category “Great Role Play and Life Skills”, The FunPod® was tried and tested by a team of parents from national toddler activity group Talking Tots.

Talking Tots is a national toddler activity group which helps to boost children’s communication skills and social confidence. It was created in 2005 by Tracey Park and Lisa Houghton, paediatric speech and language therapists. Tracey and Lisa saw first hand that children’s communication skills have declined in recent years so set about creating a pre-school activity, based on play and fun activities. They help children develop better communication skills – specifically things like listening, attention skills, taking turns in conversation, using words and sounds appropriately and having the confidence to talk to people.

All the toys included in the Talking Tots Great Toy Guide have been checked by a panel of child development experts. To be included in the guide, a toy must:

* spark a child's imagination
* encourage a child to interact and communicate
* be well made and great value for money
* allow a child to be creative in how to use the toy

The FunPod® ticked all these boxes with the testers raving about the FunPod and its use in the home. ”My daughter adores it, although she and her cousin fight terribly over who gets to stand in it so we might need two!” commented one tester.

Available in Maple, Red, Black and white, The FunPod retails from £14.99

For more information please contact Felicity Mitchell on 0845 230 1538 or e-mail felicity.mitchell@littlehelper.co.uk

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Sleepytot is the innovative baby comforter launched back in September and after only a couple of weeks was awarded a Gold Award at the 2008 Practical Pre school Awards. Now the renowned Millpond International Sleep Clinic has endorsed Sleepytot.

Millpond is one of the UK’s leading authorities on infant sleep problems. They are regularly featured on the Supernanny forum and have featured on the recent BBC’s ‘How to Sleep better’ with Professor Robert Winston. Their work and advice is invaluable in helping children and parents of all ages to overcome this traumatic problem.

Launched at BPA Baby & Child in October, Sleepytot was Highly Commended in the Best Debut product category from the BPA. Now just twelve weeks into trading Sleepytot is being sold in over twenty-five high street and web stores across the UK and Ireland.

The Sleepytot baby comforter is a calming, invaluable aid to help settle babies. Soft and cuddly, it has an innovative but simple functionality – Velcro tabs on the paws to enable parents to secure any extras that may be needed through the early years.

From birth, Sleepytot is the prefect cuddly pal that can be snuggled up to when feeding and as baby gets older, pop a soother, teether or small blankie onto one of the paws so that baby can explore the textures.

For parents who are getting up during the night to find that lost soother this is the perfect solution. When baby grows and soothers or teethers are no longer needed baby is left with a snugly bunny to love forever.

For more information, head over to www.sleepytot.com or call 0845 009 4405

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Recent news has highlighted the importance of parent-child interaction and is a key design feature for Dorel’s range of pushchairs.

Between the age of birth and three the option for the child to face their parent is considered particularly important for a child’s development and happiness.

Dorel’s Quinny and Maxi-Cosi designers have, for many years, understood the need to have a pushchair that can be used forwards- or backwards-facing and this is a key feature on the popular premium pushchairs: Quinny Buzz, Maxi-Cosi Mura, Loola and Loola-Up.

These pushchairs also fit the Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix infant carrier so parents can easily transfer a baby from the car to the pushchair. This feature is not only convenient but it also allows full parent to child contact, meaning that newborn babies are less likely to become distressed.

For more information, head over to www.dorel.co.uk

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After much testing, evaluating and consideration, the organisers of the only awards scheme specifically for creative play products, are proud to name the craft kits and role-play toys which scored top marks and were awarded a Creative Play Award.

Creative Steps magazine is targeted at anyone caring for young children, from 0 to 11 years-old, providing fun creative play and activity ideas designed to engage, educate and entertain. Each issue contains dozens of creative projects for all ages, together with many product recommendations. Creative Steps is a vital source of information for parents, childcarers and teachers and is supported by www.creativesteps.co.uk, which has over 40,000 unique users.

Commenting on the awards, editor, Dawn Hopley said: “There are many excellent creative products and resources on the market and some that are not so good. Understanding the importance of creative play in a child’s development, these awards are designed to recognise the very best products that are available. We had many great toys and craft kits entered and a rigorous testing programme was implemented to make sure we had a balanced view of each. The products that won are truly excellent.”

Products were marked according to their category and age range being tested by the editor, a childcare professional and a children’s focus group, having to pass a stringent set of criteria to gain top marks.

Winners include; Interplay with the girl’s Wild! Science collection, The Little Experience with its ‘stitch-it! donkey’, Flair with the Ben 10 Comic Maker Kit and Vivid Imaginations with Crayola Colour Surge.

For a full list of results visit the website www.creativesteps.co.uk. The full list of winners and highly commended entries, together with judge’s comments will also be published in the Jan/Feb issue of Creative Steps magazine.

For more information on how you can be involved in next year’s awards contact Creative Steps by emailing dawn@creativesteps.co.uk

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Paul Evans left the nursery trade a few years back to devote his energies to the charity Brainwave. He has emailed asking for our help by popping into our local Majestic Wine store – shouldn’t be that difficult!

Here’s is Paul’s email:

“As you know I work for Brainwave Childrens Charity based in Bridgwater Somerset. Brainwave has been short listed by Majestic Wine to be their Charity of the year for 2009. It is up to each shop manager/staff to decide on who they are going to vote for so if you can find the time please pop into your local store THIS WEEKEND and tell them how fantastic it would be if Brainwave was selected.

Brainwave offers a therapy programme that helps children with a brain injury such as Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Down's Syndrome or developmental delay reach their potential. Hundreds of children around the UK and all over the world have benefited from the programme and have come away reaching their potential.

If you want further info go to the web site www.brainwave.org.uk

I hope you can help me with this!”

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Remember those long hot summer days of ’76? Some of you may be too young - but now we’re all grown up, and slightly miffed about the lack of spectacular weather, Frugi felt it high time to bring back those good vibe times of childhood.

The range will brighten sales figure worries, cheeringly encouraging customers to invest in quality designs that are so beautiful they just can’t resist them! All that and they are organic, fair trade and last and last, so offer great value for money too.

The nostalgia inspired Spring collection is full of fondly remembered retro themes, with a contemporary twist, to ensure the new generation are encouraged to experience their childhood outside the X-Box and Wii! Space Hoppers, rainbows and go-karts galore adorn scrumptiously soft fabrics with layering options that will span fresh Spring days to high summer holidays.

Introducing the creative ideas behind the collection, Lucy Jewson, Frugi MD, states, “We love to celebrate all that’s great about growing up – building tree houses and go karts and making dens - so it seemed natural to bring back our happy memories of younger days.” Frugi designs the range to offer great “mix and match” versatility, meaning that customers often buy many outfits at once as they all work together so well.

Frugi’s excellent service, with 48 hour turnaround, gives wholesalers easy response to demand, without the commitment to holding a huge amount of stock and trying to predict sales months in advance - essential advantages in these challenging times. The collection is also well priced at trade prices ranging from £6 for t-shirts and babygrows to £12.50 for reversible hoodies and trousers.

The range includes Frugi Baby –great comfy designs from newborn to 2 years young, that feature the infamous ‘cut 4 cloth’ nappy styling. Frugi Kids is for 2 to 6 years cheeky – exciting outfits that celebrate childhood. Lastly, Frugi Mother offers frump free breast feeding tops including Diva dresses, Kaftan tops and flattering tie back tees.

Everyone creating these exciting clothes is looked after from organic and fair trade cotton growers to garment makers ensuring that the people, plants and the environment are all happy. The Spring range will be available online at www.welovefrugi.com from mid January 2009.

A preview of the catalogue can be downloaded from here.

For more information, head over to www.welovefrugi.com or call 01326 221930

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A new online marketplace called beansprog.com - designed especially for mums to buy and sell quality new, or nearly new, baby and kids’ items has been launched.

Unlike an auction site, at beansprog there is absolutely no need to ‘pay & pray’, no gambling on a bargain, no guessing at prices and staying up until all hours to see if you’ve won an item.

All items – from buggies to high chairs – are sold at a price that’s chosen by the seller. So for buyers it’s a ‘one click’ purchase and for sellers there’s no time wasted. Easy, safe payment via the ‘beanbank’ and a unique quality control checklist for second-hand items on the site mean that transactions are completed safely and with peace-of-mind. A small commission (10% of the item price) is levied when the item is sold and beansprog will donate 2% of all earnings to children’s charities via the Charities Aid Foundation.

For more information see www.beansprog.com

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Source inspirational, eco-friendly kidswear and accessories from around the globe with a visit to Premier KIDS this February. Buyers are offered the unmissable opportunity to see the latest designs from over 300 British and international exhibitors.

Premier KIDS will be showcasing aspirational and exciting Autumn/Winter 2009 and 2010 collections that are perfect for you and your business.

This February, Premier KIDS sees the return of some well-known brands including another eye-catching Bobux® & I-Walk® collection. Launched a year ago and created from the highest quality Eco-Leather, their super-soft, beautifully designed shoes are the natural choice for mothers worldwide.

Producing clothing for both boys and girls, Green Cotton childrenswear range is not to be missed. See them at Premier KIDS where they will be showcasing their range of tops, dresses, trousers, cardigans and leggings. All made from 100% certified organic cotton, their clothing is dyed and printed without the use of heavy metals, formaldehyde and phthalates.

Presenting beautiful clothes for babies manufactured exclusively in the UK using organic textiles, Organics for Kids will display their latest collection of blankets, sleep suits, bibs, dress coats, t-shirts and reversible hats, bibs and blankets.

For a full list of brands exhibiting at Premier KIDS this February, go to www.premierkids.co.uk/brandlist

To see all this and much more, including free daily buying seminars and trend presentations from a panel of industry experts, add Premier KIDS 2009 to your calendar and register for FREE entry today (enter PRIORITY CODE: VW5).

For more information, visit www.premierkids.co.uk

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Floppeze, one of the UK’s leading nursing pillows have reached a Global Distribution agreement with PAT-a-Cake Babies Ltd for their Botty Buddy product.

The Botty Buddy is the greatest invention to hit the baby world in 2008 and this has been proved by achieving a Gold award in the Design Category and Platinum in the overall winner of best design at the British Inventors Show 2008.

The Botty Buddy was designed by a farmer called Digory Rogers who in June 1996 was hit by a 37 tonne lorry whilst driving his tractor. His injuries were significant including a fractured skull, broken ribs, collapsed lung and fractured pelvis. As he recovered he struggled when changing his baby son and came up with the idea of the Botty Buddy. A unique changing mat with a devise attached to keep the baby’s hands from interfering with the nappy change by playing with the attached toys.

A commercial agreement has been reached by Digory Rogers, the patent holder of the Botty Buddy and Andrew Mitsi, the design holder of Floppeze Nursing Pillows to re-brand the Botty Buddy to ‘Botty Buddy by Floppeze’. The slogan to be carried by both brands is ‘Innovative Products for Baby and You.’

“We are so enthusiastic about this unique product that we are confident in achieving outstanding sales globally. We are currently in negotiations with a number of interested wholesalers and retailers not only in the UK & Ireland but as far a field as Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, South Africa and the Middle East. We expect sales to exceed all expectations and our target for 2009 is in excess of 100,000 units.”

For more information on the Floppeze contact 0845 257 1420 or go to www.floppeze.com

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Lollipop, known for their reusable nappies, are moving into accessories with Lollipop World, a dedicated area of the Lollipop website which gives parents an opportunity to peruse products specially chosen for quality, practicality and gorgeousness.

Lollipop are well known for their valued and friendly, knowledgeable advice when it comes to babies bottoms, so it’s a natural wriggle towards giving customers a hassle free shopping experience. No feeding and nappy changes in town, no parking or facing the weather and no disgruntled babies! Choices all aim to increase laughter, fun and discovery for babies to grown ups.

For more information, head over to the Lollipop website at www.teamlollipop.co.uk

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Amy Chappell, the Marketing Manager for Bambino Mio has now returned from maternity leave after having a beautiful baby girl called Molly. It was a home birth without any pain relief.

Amy will be working everyday apart from Wednesdays. Nisha, who has been covering her position for the last few months, will leave Bambino Mio on 12th December.

Amy can be contacted on 01604 883875

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Trunki are in a party mood at Magmatic Mansions, as the birth of the 250,000th Trunki is due today! So to celebrate they are holding a 1/4 million Trunki party at Playspace in Bristol with party snacks, fizzy pop and plenty of booze where we can enjoy wearing our selves out climbing, sliding and generally having a ball.

Owner and designer Rob Law started the early designs for this now iconic shaped case at University. "The original concept was my response to a national luggage design competition, which I went on to win whilst at university. The idea came to me while looking at ride-on toys and wondered whether it would be possible to design one in such a way that it could function as a practical suitcase, maximizing the internal space and sculpting a rideable shape around it."

Had the infamous Dragons of Dragons' Den invested in Rob’s original offer – 10% of the company at £100,000 - the investor would have doubled their investment 2 ½ years on! The company now has a turnover of 1.3 million with distribution in 30 countries worldwide, and over 500 UK retailers. The ¼ of a millionth Trunki is due to be dispatched this week – hence the celebration!

Trunki can be contacted on 0870 6260 002

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