Finding the Next Generation of Personalized Baby Toys

Sometimes simplicity breeds creativity. If you think about architecture, some of the most beloved buildings in the history of mankind have their roots in simplistic design. While the glass pyramid at the Louvre might seem like some type of avant-guard experiment in architecture by someone who worships at the post-modern alter, the pyramid is a simplistic design that has been around for tens of thousands of years. In fact, post-modernism relies on simplicity in its design; it just likes to push the envelope a bit further.

Before I get off on too much of a tangent, as much as we love creativity, we also love to balance it with a comforting simplicity which we hold near to our heats. Take the personalized baby toys that we grew up with as a child. For as much as technology has made its way into our lives, the toys we remember from our youth are usually of the simplistic breed. For as much as we loved Transformers and dream houses with moving parts, we also yearn for Lego's, Barbies and My Little Pony's which use simple designs to give a more specialized, personalized feel.

Today's personalized baby toys, blankets and plushes tend to follow the traditional idea of simplicity that continue to be commonplace after generations. As stuffed animals never seem to go out of style, one of the most popular of the personalized baby toys continues to be designer stuffed animals. While teddy bears continue to be a popular item, different animals have begun to pop up in the plush world. If it's a cute animal chances are you can find a plush of it out there: frogs, bunnies, penguins and especially hippos brings delight to the face of babies and small children. Heck, you can even find "ugly" animals such as platypus' and manatees (though, manatees are very huggable, if you think about it). Plus, with these plushes being personalized, each of the dolls (some of them handmade) come with the child's name embroidered on them. Call it human nature, but if something is personalized with an embroidered name we tend to hang out to it longer then if it is just another anonymous belonging.

Some of the cutest push animal dolls I've seen in recent years have come from the North American Bear Co. This company not only offers a full line of personalized plush stuffed animals, but also stuffed animal cozys are designed as blankets so a child can use them for both sleep and play time. These cozys feature such animals as hippos (or, as they call them "Flatopotamus"), a "sleepytime" rabbit complete with stripped night cap, a frog ("Flatofrog") as well as a "Flatodeer", "Flatophant" and, of course, a "Flatobearius". All these are simplistic in nature yet sophisticated and subtle and are sure to become some of those simple and beloved toys that your child will keep as a keepsake into their adult years.

Author Kimberly Green still has a treasures her oldest child's first personalized baby toys - they were the best personalized baby gifts ever received!