For more than a year now we have kept our doors open seven days a week. After much consideration, we have decided to modify it to six days a week.

Please note our new store hours.

Starting July we will be closed on Sundays. We plan on resuming Sunday hours again closer to Christmas. Our hours for Monday through Saturday remains the same: open from 10 AM to 7 PM.

The good news is that we are planning on a few Saturday events over the next few months! Yay!

About Fun Friday

Fun Friday is a weekly event at KangarooBoo in Valley Junction. Join us every Friday at 10a.m. for interactive storytelling, singing, and crafts. A fun way to foster a love for reading and develop your child’s imagination. This event is free — no registration required.

What: Fun Friday
Where: KangarooBoo, 415 5th Street, West Des Moines, Iowa 50265
When: Each Friday at 10a.m.
Who: Babies and kids, 6-months to 6 years old.

We are truly honored to have been nominated for the Shine a Light program from American Express! Please help shine a light on our small family business. We need at least 50 endorsements to be eligible to be considered for an American Express business fund of up to $100,000. It will greatly help KangarooBoo to serve our customers and our philanthropy efforts even better!

It takes just a few minutes to send in your endorsement:

Step 1: Register or Login at Shine a Light.

Step 2: Visit the nomination page and click on the “support this story, endorse now” button. The image below shows the button that needs to be clicked.

We greatly appreciate your support! With this grant we will be able to make KangarooBoo even better locally and online!

A very big Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

p.s. Please send in your endorsement by Sunday, September 13th.

p.p.s. Please forward our request to your friends & families via email, Facebook, twitter, myspace or whatever other means. We need your help.

Twitterling Mobile

We have just received a notification from HABA regarding a problem with the Twitterling Mobile.

One isolated complaint was filed with HABA this week regarding a metal piece falling out of the wooden holder at the end of the string. It is the piece in the woman’s hand as seen in the picture on the left. It is important to note that the piece that fell out for this consumer is metal and not magnetic. The actual magnetic piece is sewn inside the fabric on the birds back and is therefore inaccessible.

There are two different design runs on the Twitterling Mobile. The older version has wooden pieces at the end of the string. The newer version has a plastic end on the string to hold the metal piece. There has been no incidents of failure on the version with the plastic end. The complaint Haba received this week was on the version with the wooden end.

For anyone who have purchased a Twittlering Mobile, please check the end of the string to see whether it is wood or plastic that is encasing the metal. We will be sending out an email notification to everyone who has purchased the mobile from us.

If the end of your mobile has wooden casing, please contact us to receive further instructions on how to get a replacement from HABA. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact HABA or us at KangarooBoo.

Thank you and we sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.

Thank you for all of your lovely words, kind emails, and steady support of our family business this past year. There were ups and downs and many learning opportunities. Thank you for making it such a meaningful year.

On behalf of all of us here at KangarooBoo, I would like to send our best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy and wonderful 2009!

The winner of our gift registry giveaway contest is Denise C. of Florida.

Congratulations! You will be contacted via email.

A big Thank You to everyone who participated!

Recently KangarooBoo won two Iowa Web Awards! The competition was pretty fierce, and we won two great categories: Best e-Commerce Website and Most Socially Responsible Company or Website.

Since we strive every day to make customers happy, create value and change the world, these two awards tell us we’re on the right track!

Getting ready to decorate for the holidays, but want something a little different? Check out these gorgeous, funny angels from Haba.

The soft angels come with a loop to hang on the tree as ornaments, or on hooks around your house any time of year. Their bodies are soft, but their beautiful faces are beechwood with cheery painted expressions. I can’t help smiling every time I pass them.

Each of their dresses are delicately beaded or embroidered with different designs. And their fuzzy string hair is a hoot! We can’t stop ruffling it here in the office.

The wooden angels are just as versatile as their hanging sisters, and they can stand on their own two feet. They also have fun string hair sticking out of their pig or pony tails.

My daughter plays the violin and my son sings, so I’m already looking at those two as stocking stuffers.Whether you are decorating for the holidays or just want a few extra smiles around the house, these girls are sure to offer a moment of calm as you walk by and catch their infectious smiles.

 We’ll be adding more holiday decorations in the coming days, so stay tuned! 

We’re really excited in the office about a new brand of toys we’re carrying: Selecta. I could barely keep co-owners Justin and Jennic out of the boxes so I could count everything!

Selecta uses sustainable wood for their toys, and uses the wood chips left over from production for their German factory’s exclusive heat source. The toys feel incredibly sturdy and the wood is a beautiful honey color due to Selecta’s exclusive beeswax finish.

My hands-down favorite is Pedella, the duck push toy. Pedella’s mostly wood, but has flat feet made of heavy fabric. His feet not only slap every time them come down on the floor, the rollers going over the fabric gives the toy a hilarious waddling movement as he’s pushed along. Papagallo is a close second, and we got many other pretty push toys.

I also love the Pepito and Benita stroller toys. I can sometimes get cute overdose, but these guys never fail to make me smile, and their noises are attention getting without being annoying. They’ll definitely keep toddlers entertained when they’re not so excited about being confined to strollers.

Selecta also has something I want for my 10-year-old: activity dice games. My kids know if they say “I’m bored” they immediately have to clean their rooms (the only way I could abolish this annoying phrase), but these oversized dice with different themes, Playing Outside, Rainy Day and How Can I Help, are a great go-to when trying to figure out what to do (and adding a little fun to helping around the house. Hmmmm… wonder if I could weight the “doing dishes” side).

Have questions or comments about Selecta? Let us know!

As many of you already know, KangarooBoo is very committed to doing good things in the world of children. KangarooBoo donates a portion of each and every sale to a children-related charity organization right there during our checkout process. One charity is chosen as the default charity, from our list of pre-approved charities. They all get rotated from time to time so every one of them receive extra exposure and funds. (Remember, you as the customer can change which charity the portion from your purchase goes to, from your account under My Stuff / orders. Please ask us if you are unsure about how to make that change.)

We are proud to announce the addition of two new charities to our pre-approved charity list.

City at Peace – New York
CP-NY is a local chapter of a national organization that works with teenagers to empower them to create safe, healthy, peaceful lives and communities. The program is a combination of activities that examine the interrelationship of the problems and conflicts that youth care about, and often suffer from. It also develops their capacity for addressing these issues. By using the performing arts as a vehicle, CP-NY is developing the next generation of engaged community leaders.

Bosom Buddies – Cape Town
Bosom Buddies is a non-profit Christian organization started and run by a mom to 3 kids. She was both frustrated and horrified at some of the treatments taking place at state-run hospitals where newborns and new moms receive next to nothing after labor & delivery. Bosom Buddies strive to provide a diaper bag to each and every new mom, filled with basic essentials for baby and mom. They want to ensure that no baby goes home without adequately clothed and each mom feels that their community do care and the birth is recognized and celebrated.

To read more about these organizations that KangarooBoo supports, click on the individual organizations names. We welcome your suggestions of other organizations to be added to our list of supported charities. Please email us and tell us more about the organization(s) that you would like to suggest.