Giant Teddy Bear Ambassadors to NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital

Donated Teddy Bears Bring Smiles to Staff & Pediatric Patients

Nobody likes to be in the hospital. Seeing children there is especially painful for those who love them. Giant Teddy donated 50 bears to NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital to act as good will Bear Ambassadors for the Child Life department, in loving memory of Talia Cohen.

The staff welcomed the donated teddy bears with a lot of smiles and fun moments.  The bears are the 24inch size from the Tubs Giant Teddy bear family. Giant Teddy makes many styles, colors and sizes of bears up to 6 feet tall.

The Child Life department is a wonderful resource for children and their families. The members of this team are not there to take blood, give shots, or other medical treatments. They are specially trained experts who are there to help children and families cope with hospitalization and the questions and stress that being there can bring.

Child Life specialists work with every department in the hospital, including the ER and Oncology.

The 50 big bears from Giant Teddy went through a brief training in how to be great Child Life team members before being assigned to all departments except Oncology, which has strict guidelines on what exposure patients have to anything from outside the hospital.

Shannon Meland, MS, CCLS, is a Child Life Specialist in the Pediatric Cardiac and Intensive Care unit who helped coordinate the bears' arrival and assignments. She told the bears to have fun and that their main job was to make patients smile.

The teddy bears, in many colors including red, amber, pink, mocha, cream and white, all assured her they were up for the job.

Ms. Meland said the reaction from staff and patients was overwhelmingly positive.  She shared the story of one little girl waking up from surgery to find her mom and a teddy bear waiting for her. Having the bear there was a wonderful distraction from the fact that she was in the hospital recovering from surgery, and she was so excited to find out he was hers forever.

Asked what the staff thought about the bears, Ms. Meland said, "The number one reaction from everyone was about how soft these bears are!" There were also a lot of comments on the number of different colors you don't often see, such as red.

Talia Cohen's family is so appreciative of the Child Life department and all the many ways they helped make Talia's time in the hospital as comfortable as possible.

"I know that Talia would be so happy to see the Child Life department, which spent a lot of time with her, walking around making people smile with those teddies." - Judy Amsalem  

Giant Teddy is based in Anaheim, California, and specializes in teddy bears from 18 inches tall all the way up to 6 feet, in many styles and colors including personalized teddy bears.

NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital ranks in all 10 Pediatric Specialties, more than any other hospital in the metro New York area, according to the 2013-2014 U.S. News & World Report "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings. The Child Life department has a wish list for anyone wishing to make donations.

 

5 Creative Ways to Ask your Date to Prom with a Giant Teddy bear

Prom 2014 will be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G ... especially if your memories include a Giant Teddy bear for prom! This is a night you'll remember forever.

And it all starts with asking the person you want to share it with to go to prom with you.

Here are 5 Creative Ways to Ask your date to Prom with a Giant Teddy bear:

1. Leave a Giant Teddy bear with a "go to prom with me?" shirt design on your prospective date's front porch, then send a text that something important is outside. Wait for the "Awwwww!" after the door opens.
   
2. Pick your prospective date up but have a Giant Teddy "go to prom with me" bear in the front seat waiting - seat belted in of course! Tell your date you picked up a hitch hiker with a question for him/her. 
   
3. Deliver your "go to prom with me" Giant Teddy bear to your prospective date at school (not advised if it breaks any school rules to do so or if you aren't fairly sure you have a good chance of a "yes"...) because showing flair in front of others can win you bonus points!
   
4. Order a pizza while at your prospective date's house - preplanned by you, of course. Drop your Giant Teddy prom question bear off at the pizza place, arrange your surprise with the manager to be sure it goes right, and tip well in advance. Be sure your date opens the door when the pizza guy shows up! Bonus points if there are friends there to witness your cleverness. 
   
5. Ask your date to prom with a short treasure hunt that ends with them finding the Giant Teddy "Will you go to prom with me?" bear. Wait for the big hug and the big, "YES I'll go with you!"at the end. 
   

Your special prom memories start with asking a special person to be your date - do it with Giant Teddy bear style! You can see all of our Prom Teddy Bears on our website and choose the perfect bear. Overnight shipping available in most areas of the Continental US. 

Big Green Teddy Bears are Perfect for ANY Holiday!

Why GREEN Teddy Bears are the perfect choice for EVERY holiday - By Willy Shags (full disclosure - I'm a green teddy bear, but I promise the facts will convince you.)

So sure, I have lots of Giant Teddy bear friends and relatives of all sizes and colors, and they are all adorable (we are seriously cute and cuddly, I promise, no matter what color you choose.)

But I'm THE Green teddy bear - and none of the other bears like to admit that I'm the only color of soft cuddly big teddy bear that is ideal, fabulous, perfect and wonderful for EVERY holiday there is.

Sure, some will claim they are a "classic" color teddy bear, or that a pink teddy bear is perfect for Valentine's Day, or wouldn't a red or blue teddy bear be ideal for 4th of July?

Maybe.

But none of those colors is perfect for EVERY holiday.

Green is. Soft, plush, cuddly, rich, beautiful green fur on a cute teddy bear is totally perfect for them all.

You seem skeptical... fetch my calendar, I think it's time to show you the green in life.

Here we go!

• New Year's Day: Green is the color of renewal

• Valentine's Day: Green is the color of jealousy, and everyone would be jealous of you if you got a Giant Teddy bear

• President's Day: Green is the color of money and presidents are on money

• St. Patrick's Day: Do I really even need to say it? OK, fine... Green is the official color of St. Patrick's Day and many Irish traditions involve green (you can have fun reading my favorite Irish trivia on our blog!)

• Easter: Green is the color of life, the color of the grass and trees that bunny hops around in hiding eggs, the color of the decorative grass in baskets full of goodies, and even the color of many Easter eggs you buy or decorate yourself

• Earth Day: Green Day!

• Arbor Day: What color are most trees during their growth season? What? I can't quite hear you... oh yes, GREEN

• Cinco De Mayo: May 5th - there are 5 letters in the word 

                              G-R-E-E-N

• Mother's Day: Mom loves flowers with beautiful green stems (especially if they are sitting next to a Giant Green Teddy Bear)

• Memorial Day: unofficial start of summer and you know what summer is full of... GREEN things, including limeade (my favorite drink - Cozy and Sunny Cuddles put up a Lemonade stand every year but I put up a Limeade stand!)

• Father's Day: Green ties are always in style

• 4th of July: picnics wouldn't be any fun sitting on BROWN grass my friends 

• Labor Day: you get paid "green stuff" for your labors don't you?

• Halloween: Frankenstein's Monster, Witch's Brew, Wicked Witch of the West, drippy-goey-scary lettering... SO much green

• Thanksgiving: Thankful for green, and the best Green Bean Casserole ever made (we always use a recipe handed down by our Great-Grandmother Shags)

• Christmas: Green is everywhere!

• New Year's Eve: Some people celebrate too much and look a little green, some people spend a lot of green to go celebrate, and everyone waits for the green light to yell, "Happy New Year!" and isn't that where we started this list?

No matter what holiday you celebrate that I might have missed, I bet there's green somewhere!

And look how awesome my friend Cha Cha Big Love looks wearing her St. Patrick's Day outfit - Green looks good on everyone.  (Thank you Yvonne for letting me use Cha Cha's picture in my blog about GREEN!)

So there you have it. Green Giant Teddy bears are perfect for any holiday any time of the year. But we do love company - so get a green teddy bear and then you can look around on GiantTeddy.com for another bear. After all, you can't stop at just one!

-Love, Willy Shags (Giant Green Teddy Bear)

Giant Teddy Lucky Irish Bear Paw Cookies

On our Giant Teddy Pinterest Board, "St. Patrick's Day"

Giant Teddy bears are sweet and adorable and they all love to eat cookies to keep their squeezable softness plump and cuddly!

Whenever there is a special occasion, you need a Giant Teddy bear to hang out with you. And cookies.

For St. Patrick's Day, Giant Teddy has a lot of fun bears - come meet them all!

And for a sweet treat for your family, friends and your teddy bear this St. Patrick's Day, try this EASY and FAST cookie recipe from Waldo Shags for "Lucky Irish Bear Paw Cookies"

Waldo Shags named them that because no bear can keep his paws off of them and everyone is lucky to get some!

They make a fun cookie for St. Patrick's Day but you can change it up for any holiday at all by using different food coloring and flavoring.

Waldo's Famous Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup milk (or 1/3 of a cup of 1/2 and 1/2)
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 tablespoons of confetti candy (multi-colored non-pareils)
• green food coloring
• powdered sugar

Directions

Mix butter and sugar until fluffy and light.

Blend the flour and salt together. 

Add food coloring to your milk so it mixes in well.

Alternate adding part of the flour and part of the milk to the butter/sugar mixture. 

Add the confetti to the dough and mix (it will be stiff)

Roll into 1" balls and then flatten a bit. You can use a cookie scoop but be sure you roll them in your paws a bit to make them solid.

Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 350 for 13-15 min. Do not brown them. 

Cool on a rack. They look like this:

 Roll in powdered sugar. 

Waldo's Holiday Ideas:

-Use red to make pink or red color for Valentine's Day or 4th of July, with strawberry extract. Serve on a plate with strawberries. 

-Use orange extract for Halloween. 

-Use green for one batch and red for one batch at Christmas and use mint extract (1/4 tsp. per batch) and use white confetti candy instead of rainbow.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Giant Teddy! 

Lucky St. Patrick's Day Giant Green Teddy Giveaway!

Our Giveaway is Now Over...but keep watching for more to come! Visit our social media pages and our blog to keep up with all the fun at Giant Teddy!

Are you ready?

I am!

We're Giving Away a 3 foot 

Willy Shags Giant Green Teddy

 Bear!

Details:

-Contest is sponsored by Giant Teddy, not affiliated with Facebook or any other entity.

-Contest Officially Starts Thursday March 13th, and entries will be accepted through Monday March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, 2:00pm Central Time. 

Up to 3 Chances to Win A 3 foot tall 

Willy Shags Giant Teddy Bear: 

-Enter to win on our Facebook Page. Find the Contest Post pinned to the top of our page, Like and Comment about why you love green teddy bears. If you'd like to share us with your friends, we'd love that too!

-Get a SECOND chance to win by reading Willy's St. Patrick's Day Trivia blog and commenting on the blog about your favorite St. Patrick's Day trivia from the blog. 

• You need a Google account to log in and comment on the blog
• You need to tell us who you are on Facebook if your user name is not the same!
• If you don't have a way to comment on our blog, we'll accept a comment on the Facebook post about your favorite St. Patrick's Day trivia item from the blog, but it has to be a new comment, not part of your comment on why you love green teddy bears. 

-Get a THIRD chance to win by adding us to your Google+ circles!

Giant Teddy on Google+ (make sure we know who you are on Facebook!)

-Prize is one 3 foot Willy Shags Green Teddy Bear for a single winner

-Winner announced on our Facebook Page on St. Patrick's Day at 8pm Central Time.

-Winner must have a valid shipping address in the 48 Continental United States.

Please Don't Comment on This Blog to Enter - we won't count comments here!

May the Luck of the Irish and Willy Shags be with you.

St. Patrick's Day Trivia with Giant Teddy Willy Shags

Who Can Resist a Big Green Teddy Bear?

He's charming and fun, and fluffy and green, a huggable big bear. And at this time of year, when all things green become just a little more important and special our resident Giant Green Teddy Bear Willy Shags has a lot of fun with St. Patrick's Day!

Be sure you check out our Giant Teddy Pinterest St. Patrick's Day board for some of his favorite food, drinks, games, crafts and bears!

Here is some of Willy's favorite Irish Trivia, just for you:

"You're Full of Blarney" means you have the ability to weave a pretty tale, talk about anything, and flatter people senseless!

"Kiss the Blarney Stone" is how you actually get to BE full of Blarney! There is a stone from the Castle Blarney in Ireland and legend says if you kiss it, you are gifted with luck and the silver tongue to say anything.

"Kiss Me I'm Irish" ... for those who can't get to Ireland, legend states that kissing an Irish person is the next best lucky thing.

"St. Patrick" wasn't even Irish - GASP! He was British. He was born in Scotland around the year 385.

"Shamrocks" are associated with St. Patrick's Day because Saint Patrick used the Shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Ghost) to the people of Ireland.

"St. Patrick's Mom & Dad" were Calpurnius and Conchessa, Romans living in Britain.

"Luck of the Irish" is a phrase that came from the number of Irish people who had luck in the gold and silver mines and struck it rich.

"Wearing of the Green" this relates to a lot of ideas, including that fact that Spring starts right around St. Patrick's Day (which is of course March 17th) and Ireland is known as the Emerald Isle for the lush green of the countryside. And of course, shamrocks are green! The flag also has green as one of the colors.

"St. Patrick's Day Parades" according to history and legend started here in America... some say there was a small one in Boston around 1737 and some say it was more official when Irish soldiers fighting in the Revolutionary War held one on March 17th around 1766.

"Pinch Me" for not wearing green. Irish people thought wearing green made them invisible to leprechauns, little fairy creatures who would pinch anyone they could see.

and speaking of them...

"Leprechauns" who were fairy creatures usually shown as little old men with beards and specific hats and coats who liked to cause mischief, made shoes, and kept all their gold in a pot at the end of the rainbow. If captured they have to grant 3 wishes to be released.

"Turn the river green" started in Chicago in 1962 when they dyed the river green for the first time on St. Patrick's Day and have ever since.

Visit all of our amazing St. Patrick's Day teddy bears on Giant Teddy's website or make your very own with a Personalized T-Shirt from our gallery - you can put any of our shirts on any bear we sell on GiantTeddy.com.