Webkinz. As Alison Zisko reported 2.11.08 for trade journal Home Furnishings News, “For the uninitiated, Webkinz, manufactured by Ganz, are small plush toys that come with a secret code that unlocks a secure Web site, enabling children to take care of a virtual pet online. It offers games, trivia questions and all sorts of ways for children to mind the health and well being of their pet, as well as create and decorate rooms for it on the computer. Webkinz are introduced periodically. Introduced in April 2005, they retail for around $12.95 apiece.”

The article further states ,”“We sold almost half a million dollars in Webkinz last year,” said David Calcaterra, vice president of Thrifty Florist, which operates 16 of the combined flower and gift shops in the metropolitan Detroit region. “People bought other things. In the month of December, it made a difference.”

So far what they are talking about is the selling of the stuffed animals, Webkinz, themselves. What about actual products that license them. Seems like a terrific boost to sales of anything i.e. bedding, tabletop items themselves, furniture, pajamas….lunchboxes, backbacks. It’s a thought, or more like a recommendation. I haven’t checked into licensing the product myself, not yet.

I will say that it is one of those things Moms are recommending to other Moms and is a topic of conversation between Moms….always a surefire way of seeing the beginnings of something very big.

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A Guide to Finding Great Recycled, Sustainable, Renewable Objects You Will Love by Dale Evans. Shopping today in Barnes and Noble is like seeing a microcosm of where the world’s head is at, literally,…

I thought I’d share some of these gems, which you may or may not have already taken notice of; but by the time it hits bookstores like this and with sole tables or merchandisers devoted to their display, well you can pretty much figure these interests have the rest of the world’s attention already, on some level….

A table showing just books related to How to be Green….

A merchandiser with How to Guides for your IPod, Your WII, Your XBox, and your IPhone….(this I liked because the graphics seemed far more intelligent than an Idiot’s Guide to the Same thing subject matter)…plus it’s just smart merchandising, I mean it kind of speaks to those things many received for Christmas this year and now need to figure out how to use, yes?

and, a section on Travel Essays….books to give one a particular perspective on destinations the world over (not just Fodor’s Guide to Italy or the like), but readings that would touch one on a deeper level, it suggests we’ve evolved some from just learning how to get around a country to actually having something more to say about it and this was a fairly large section, one of their 4 foot ones and all shelves from top to bottom. Seems there are many having epiphanies while traveling these days….

and of course the Bargain Books section which held a package I took a particular liking to because not only did one get an exercise ball, but a DVD on how to use it and a pump to blow it up, all at a bargain price;

Ultimately we decided on one green guide book, “Cool Green Stuff,” (and I plan to share the best of the best with you from that book) skipped the How to Guides for now, and settled on “Eat, Pray, and Love” which is a non fiction account of the author’s journey to finding herself through meditation and travel (in Italy, India and Indonesia)….Oprah recommends it, it’s been a New York Times bestseller, and my daughter is off to Beijing in two days to study for a semester, so I figured we’d cover several things in one stroke by buying that book…..and only for now, I took a pass on the exercise ball….

First things first.

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I only wish this book had been available when my daughter was three, five, six, or 10. I mean we made things….sugar cookies, right? Isn’t that what kids can do, easily. I seem to remember trying a few other things but of course, I’d lose her attention. But here is a really good way to fully engage them in the kitchen: using recipes, beyond sugar cookies, that they can take control of and that is what this book is about, letting the kids lead the way, and not get discouraged while they are at it. You still need to be there to supervise, but can you imagine how happy the kids would be if it were them making the bananna fudge bread instead of Mom?

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