Build A Bear Birthday Fun with Far Nanny

While we were in Vegas my mom really wanted to do something special for their birthdays, so our last night, we headed for the mall on the Strip and hit up Build-A-Bear. Now, Sycely’s old hat with this whole process; we started the tradition of making an animal on every vacation as a souvenir so this fell right in line with that. Ella’s just getting to the point where she can really do it on her own and get into it, and of course, Mom had never been so we had to show her the ropes too. For those of you who’ve never had the “joy” of visiting a Build-A-Bear workshop the following tutorial is for you (and if you have been before, just scan through, because, let’s admit it: our kids are just really cute) :)

So, the first step is to choose your animal-they offer you all kinds of creatures, standard teddy bears, featured seasonal animals and a variety of others like bunnies, dogs, cats, etc. This trip Sycely chose a snow owl (no big surprise there) and Ella picked a curly, sand colored teddy bear.


Once you’ve selected your furry friend you stuff them with fluff. You step on a big peddle on the floor and that turns a big rotating blower that spits the fluff out into your animal. You give them a quick squeeze to make sure they’re the right amount of fluffy and then you’re ready for the heart ceremony.

The heart ceremony goes a little something like this:

First you pick a heart out and you rub it in your hands to get it warmed up.

Then you clap it in your hands a few times to get it started and give it a beat.

Then you shake it up high and down low so your furry friend will be healthy and energetic, happy and playful.

Rub it on your hair so it’ll always be soft and on your forehead so it’ll be smart.

Rub it on your nose so it was will always smell good.

Rub it on your tummy so he never goes hungry.

Rub it on your ear so it will always know your voice…

And give it a kiss so it will always know your love.

Then you tuck the heart inside your animal and sew up the back.

Next you take your new friend over to the fluffling table and blast it with some puffs of air as you scrub its fur (or feathers, in Sycely’s case.)

Then you’re ready to create your animal’s birth certificate. You type your info into the computer, give your friend a name and out comes a birth certificate with your furry pal’s vital stats like height and eye color, and of course, name and birth date.



Build-A-Bear, of course, a money making operation so there’s a store full of clothing and accessories if you feel the need to dress your friend up in a swimsuit, tutu or roller skates (or push them around in a wheelchair!) Since it was a special birthday treat with Far Nanny Sycely picked a tutu and ballet slippers (how appropriate) for her snow owl. Ella was quite content snuggling her furry new friend naked just the way he was :)