The economy may have hit a rough patch – to put it mildly – but the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the Seattle area, and we've found a mix of smart, practical gifts for new moms to prove it. These products are designed by local moms and child care experts. So, treat your favorite new mom – or yourself – to a great gift that also helps support the local small business community.
SammySackbaby Stroller Blanket
Theresa and Cameron Okell created the very first SammySack stroller blanket in 2006 to keep their own kids warm and dry while out walking near their Alki Beach home. In the past, they had tried rain covers, but felt like the kids were closed off from the fresh air – and the blankets they brought from home and tucked and wrapped around the kids were not waterproof and wouldn't stay in place.
Curious whether her blanket idea could be a real baby product, Theresa showed a sample to Krista Means, owner of Georgia Blu, a West Seattle children's boutique. Without much hesitation Means said, "I'll take 10," and just like that, an idea turned into a company.
The SammySackbaby is a weatherproof baby blanket designed to attach with straps to car seats, baby bjorns, and strollers. With a nylon outer layer and soft fleece inside, it keeps babies warm and dry regardless of the weather. SammySack's unique foot pocket feature and kick-off proof design ensures that little ones stay covered right down to their toes.
The SammySackbaby is a new, smaller version of the original SammySack that can be used for infants up to 1 year old. Original SammySacks fit kids ages 1 to 4.
• FIND THEM at Georgia Blu (4707 California Ave. S.W.), or online at www.sammysack.com. Special offers are available online. $60-65
My Sweet Baby Designs Nursing Covers
Three years ago, Sara Lohse, a local "mompreneur" and busy mother of three, made it her mission to offer nursing moms privacy options that are as pretty as they are practical. The result: My Sweet Baby Designs nursing covers. These reversible cover-ups are made with high-end fabrics and designer embellishments like broach-style clasps and buttons. They're washable and they come with a pouch you can slip into your purse or diaper bag. Each cover also has a convenient pocket to hold pacifiers or nursing pads.
• FIND THEM at Bella and Max (817 238th St. S.E., Suite C., Bothell), or online at www.mysweetbabydesigns.com which offers free shipping on all orders and has several styles listed at sale prices. $50
SwaddleDesigns Organic Blanket
These super soft, certified organic cotton flannel receiving blankets were designed by Lynette Damir, a registered nurse and mother from Seattle. They come with an exclusive 1-2-3 Swaddle Tip Tag swaddling instructions sewn on the blanket, which makes swaddling easy, even for newbie moms and dads.
The SwaddleDesigns Organic Blanket is larger than most receiving blankets at 42" x 42", but its lightweight fabric keeps it from being bulky, allowing it to easily fold and fit into a diaper bag or large purse. The blankets are processed and preshrunk in an Earth-friendly way without the use of chemicals or pesticides, so you can rest easy and your little one will, too. Blankets come in myriad colors from fuchsia to kiwi green.
• FIND THEM at Tottini (259 Yale Ave. N., Seattle), or online atwww.tottini.com. $30
The Kemby Sidekick
The Kemby Sidekick is a super cute diaper bag and a baby carrier that comes in one slick and stylish piece. Created by two Seattle-area mothers, Julia Young and Kimi Boal, the Sidekick is an ingenious creation meant to simplify a mom's life.
Young came up with the idea when she her son, Max, was an infant. She thought it would be fabulous if two key baby essentials – a baby bag and a baby carrier – could be combined in one product. Having searched the market and come up empty, Young set about creating the Sidekick with her good friend Boal.
The Sidekick comes in three colors and designs and is made with baby-friendly wipe-clean fabric. It has a built-in changing pad and a place for your cell phone and can be worn three ways: over the shoulder, across the shoulder or on the waist.
At $165, it's pricey, but because it's designed for versatile wear and will hold children up to 35 pounds, you'll be able to get a lot of good use out of it – especially if you use it with multiple kiddos.
• FIND IT at Bump Urban Maternity Wear (920 N.E. 64th St., Seattle), or online at www.kemby.com. $165
Satsuma Designs Baby Booty Bamboo Barrier
Satsuma Designs' new Baby Booty Bamboo Barrier is a naturally antibacterial diaper pad cover designed to keep any nursery healthier and fresher thanks to bamboo's germ fighting properties. Bamboo also is more absorbent than cotton – another good reason to make it a fixture on your changing table.
Satsuma Designs' co-founders Jennifer Porter and Shannon Gottesman started the company as they were searching for baby products that were good for both the environment and the little ones – and the grown-ups who care for them.
• FIND IT at Birth and Beyond (2719 E Madison St, Seattle), or online at www.satsumadesigns.com. Birth and Beyond carries other Satsuma products, including baby blankets, hats and onesies. $26 (Birth and Beyond carries other Satsuma products, including baby blankets, hats and onesies.)
Pukies Four-Pack Burp Cloths
These cleverly-named burp cloths come in natural colors and fun patterns that can help disguise messes and turn stains into fashion statements. Because Pukies aren't ruined with the first stain, they're less likely than your standard burp cloth to be relegated to the stash of dish and dust rags under your sink. The fabric is a unique blend of soy and organic cotton that withstands wash after wash and mess after mess. Pukies are packaged in sets of four reversible cloths that are soft, eco-friendly and durable. Created by Samantha Asay, founder of Edmonds-based Pukies.
• FIND THEM at Tottini, (259 Yale Ave. N., Seattle), or online at www.tottini.com. $32
New Mama Kit by Jurnee
The New Mama Kit by Jurnee is a nurturing gift bag, created by Seattle mamas Darcy Greene and Jeannie Cziesla. It's packaged in a handmade shoulder bag made of designer fabric and is filled with treats to help moms celebrate the new phase in their life and make the transition a bit more comfortable. The Mama Kit bag has an inner pocket for keys and a cell phone. Each kit includes Seattle's premier, organic Theo chocolates; a custom blend "Mama Warrior" tea for those sleepless nights; a short book of words of wisdom with advice and anecdotes from other mamas; French lavender-scented bath salts; a fabric-covered photo album, perfect for toting photos of the new baby; and a lavender, flaxseed and rice pad that can be heated in the microwave, perfect for soothing an aching back or C-section scar.
• FIND IT at Bump Maternity at Bellevue Square or online at www.jurneeproducts.com. $75
On-the-Go-Remedy Stick ($12.99)
This all-natural, universal skin-care product designed to help treat cuts, scrapes, rashes, sunburn, diaper rash, windburn and chapped lips. It was created by Shelly Holbrook, a former labor doula and childbirth educator. Holbrook’s passion for organic skin-care products led her to start Plein de Vie (French for “Full of Life”). This handy, multi-purpose skin-care stick is made with essential oils that have anti-bacterial properties. It helps keep a cut clean just as the antibiotic ointment Neosporin might, but it is full of organic ingredients that nourish and protect baby’s skin. The half-ounce tube easily fits into any purse, diaper bag, or first-aid kit. FIND IT online at www.pleindevie.com.
That Baby DVD (19.95)
This is the music video for young kids that parents can enjoy, too. No nursery rhymes here – just kid friendly covers of classic songs that you probably already have on your iPod. That Baby DVDfeatures songs written by artists like Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, and Natalie Merchant. The DVD was filmed right here in the Pacific Northwest and created by a true “mom and pop” company – a husband and wife team, Rob and Lisi Wolf of Mercer Island, with the idea that you can actually encourage your children to love music, motion, song and dance while you also enjoy the music, as well. The DVD and related CDs received an iParenting Media Award as one of the “greatest products of 2008.” That Baby DVD retails for $19.95 and the equally wonderful That Baby CD (which we reviewed in our December 2008 magazine) for $14.95. FIND THEM online atwww.thatbabydvd.com and at Crackerjack Contemporary Crafts (1815 N. 45th St., Suite 212, Seattle) and Island Books (3014 78th Ave. S.E., Mercer Island).
Pacifier Clip ($6.95)
Sasha B. Designs, a company created by Portland-based mom Sasha Graham, offers pacifier clips in fun, bright cheerful prints like retro circles, cherries and ladybugs. These smart clips make binkies easy to find – simply snap one end of these ingenious little devices to baby's binky, clip the other to baby's clothes and say goodbye to lost or unsanitary binkies. FIND IT online atwww.sashabdesigns.com, plus a list of local stores that sell it.
Eco Plush Mini ($18)
These super soft, small blankets from boopalina+bebe are the perfect size for stroller rides or car trips. The small 15-by-15-inch square, made with eco-friendly organic bamboo, is ideal when traveling light. You won’t find any basic blue or pink here, not even a safe gender-neutral yellow. Kristen Angelo, boopalina+bebe founder and mother of two, designed the eco plush mini in fabulous prints and patterns, with the same energy and artistic eye she uses to design the line’s contemporary children’s artwork and modern mobiles. You will wish she made one in your size. FIND IT online at www.boopalinaandbebe.com or at Inside Out (115 Ave. A., Snohomish).
Bringing Out Baby: Places to Take Babies and Toddlers: Seattle, the Eastside, and South Snohomish County ($12.95)
This is the second edition of local mom and author Rebecca Johnston’s guide to the best places to visit with babies (and slightly bigger children too). It’s a complete guide to keeping you and your little one entertained and stimulated on any given day. Last updated in late 2006, it provides ideas for indoor and outdoor outings, complete with the hours, address, Web site and contact information of each location, as well as details to help you choose the right outings for you and your little one. Listings include everything from baby boot camps to shops and theaters that are baby-friendly so mom can do what she wants to do while hanging with baby. FIND IT at at Tottini, (259 Yale Ave. N., Seattle), or online atwww.amazon.com.
Amy Hatch is a Seattle freelance writer, devoted Godmother and mom-in-training.
