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Easter Sales Hopped Up and Down

One Store Tripled Sales, While Others Stumbled

By Julie L. Jones

April 2008

Easter sales were all over the place at 17 specialty stores across the country, TDmonthly Magazine learned, with five stores reporting an increase or numbers in line with last year, and others suffering from the infamous recession, still-wintry weather and vacant towns due to Spring Break.

A ROUGH START TO SPRING

“We've had a selection of unpleasant weather and there is a recession going on here even though the real-estate market has been a little up. I've noticed sort of a slowdown in discretionary buying,” David Friedlander, owner of Children’s Planet antique store in Louisville, Ky., told TDmonthly, pointing out that his sales dropped after the first week of January.

George Emerson, owner of The Walrus & Carpenter Toys in Middletown, R.I., was disappointed to see that his store’s sales had fallen by 30 percent compared to Easter 2007. Lamenting the state of the economy and high taxes, one anonymous retailer in Florida also reported a 30-percent decline.

At The Toy Factory in Jacksonville, Fla., “it was slow enough that [the owner] sent employees home early Saturday,” Manager Kenneth Box told TDmonthly.

But for others, the picture was more pleasant.

EARLY, BUT NOT FORGOTTON

Perhaps the biggest success of all was a 400-children-strong “Bunny Hop” involving Green Frog Toys and seven other kid-friendly stores in Portland, Ore.’s Pearl District — specializing in everything from cupcakes to children’s clothing. Kids went from store to store, enjoying activities and receiving stamps on a card that qualified them for a gift-certificate drawing once they reached the last of the map-marked locations.

So busy stamping and distributing prizes during the Saturday event, storeowner Patricia Fiedler and her staff were more than pleased to realize later that Green Frog had “tripled in sales versus last year” — in an event that cost them a mere $36.

“If people get together, you can be much more successful,” Fiedler told TDmonthly, adding that they plan to pull off a similar event for Earth Day on April 22.

Cape Cod Toys in Mashpee, Mass., encouraged repeat customers by hosting the Easter Bunny the weekend before the holiday, then posting kids’ pictures on the wall so they could return to take them home, Manager Linda Peterson said.

David Ekwall, owner of The Wooden Toy in Wethersfield, Conn., saw a 5- to 10-percent sales increase, and Sandy Friedman, owner of Accipiter in Raleigh, N.C., also estimated a 10-percent gain.

“People are tired of this bad economy,” he told TDmonthly. “Easter sort of was an opportunity for people to relax a little and have some fun stuff ... without breaking the bank.”

Connie Hoeft, owner of CR Toys in Kearney, Neb., logged a similar 8 to 10 percent increase in sales, due in part to actively emailing customers and reminding them of the holiday.

WHAT SOLD

Hoeft varied the traditional easter basket by recommending card games — including Sixteen by Alpine Games, which quickly sold out and has been reordered. The brightly colored Thumball by Answers in Motion and modeling dough from Play Clay Factory also sold well, she told TDmonthly.

Products by the Marshmallow Fun Co. — especially the Bow & Mallow — were best sellers at The Village Toy Shop in New Hartford, N.Y., according to Owner Jane Willis.

Games and Webkinz by Ganz, “of course,” sold more readily than kites since springtime wasn’t quite underway, noted Diane Gervais, manager and buyer for Middletown, Conn.’s Amato’s Toy & Hobby.

Though not a traditional toy store, Abracadabra in New York City capitalized on the costumes that make up 40 percent of the store, renting out 15 mascot-like bunny costumes, Co-Owner Robert Pinzon told TDmonthly.

To read the rest of the article, please visit: http://www.toydirectory.com/monthly/article.asp?id=3169

About the Author

About ToyDirectory.com® and TDmonthly™ Magazine
For more than 10 years, ToyDirectory.com has been connecting retailers and manufacturers within the specialty toy industry. It has been ranked by Yahoo! as the most popular business-to-business directory for the toy industry since 1998. TDmonthly Magazine, an online trade publication for the toy, hobby, gift and game industries with more than 27,800 registered retailers, is dedicated to being the most comprehensive monthly resource for the toy industry through trend reporting, reviews, trade show coverage and a 12,000+ searchable database of products in more than 100 categories.

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easter books for children

Celebrate Easter in India

As schools break up this year for the Easter hols in April, you may want to take your family to a far away exotic destination, which does not burn a hole in your pocket. If this is the story with you, I would suggest that you look East this Easter. Sounds familiar? Yes, I am talking about that easily affordable exotic destination called India.

Years of colonial rule has left its mark on the country. The nation’s secular character combined with its Christian population has ensured that festivals like Easter are celebrated with pomp and show. This is especially true for Christian dominated areas like the premiere beach destination of Goa, the glittering city of Mumbai, alluring Kerala and other Southern regions, and the beautiful seven sisters (an epithet for the virginal North Eastern states of states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura). In fact, Christmas and Good Friday are national holidays in the country. So, you can rest assured that during your Easter hols in India, you won’t miss the English celebrations back home.

By booking your flights to India during Easter, you can look forward to a delightful hotch potch of celebrations, as practices and conventions of Indian Christians differ from region to region. Perhaps, Goa is India’s best Easter holiday spot. This entertaining city with its long erstwhile Portuguese lineage turns into riot of fun during Easter. Fun and frolic spills out on the streets, where singing, dancing, and street plays further add to the charm of this magnificent destination. Colourful carnivals become the order of the day and a host of easter games keep everyone in the best of spirits.

A celebratory fervour engulfs the Christian community from Lent and finally reaches its peak on easter sunday. There is no end of hearty lunch, dinner, and Easter parties. People flock to the churches in hordes, where colourful rituals and holy prayers reach a booming crescendo. Usually, parents do not decorate easter eggs for their children, but buy the same from gift shops. Easter bunnies also sell out in dozens. There is an overwhelming spirit of sharing as smiling happy people exchange gifts after the church service. Besides the holy cross, colourful lanterns also count among the favourite easter gifts in India. Almost every Christian household bakes mouth watering Easter cakes or at least buys one.

This is also the time when you can look forward to the best deals in shopping and accommodation. Many of the hotels adorn a colourful look with Easter theme parties, while the airlines do their bit by operating cheap flights to India. So, wish you a memorable Easter in India.

About the Author

Jack Olivor is a Travel Agent and Nobel Writer in UK. He writes about travels, flghts and hotels in most of his blogs and articles. He is associated with http://www.southalltravel.co.uk as agent only. Visit his blog http://jackolivor.blogspot.com/ for other related write-ups.

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Free Powerpoint Templates For Easter’S Day

Easter is observed on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. It is a religious holiday that commemorates the resurrection of jesus christ three days after his death by crucifixion some 2000 years ago. For Christians, Easter is a day of religious services and the gathering of family.
For the year 2009, easter sunday celebrations fall on 12th April.

If you need to make some presentations for easter day or make photo albums with PowerPoint for your family reunion, these free PowerPoint templates for Easter's day hope would help you do better.

For more free PowerPoint templates for Easter's day, you can click here.

After making your presentations, if you need to further convert your PowerPoint to video for viewing presentations on portable devices or website and burn PowerPoint to DVD for distribution or broadcasting, you can reference the two links above.

Other information about Easter Day:
The actual conditions to determine the date for Easter are:
-> Easter must be on a Sunday;
-> this Sunday must follow the 14th day of the paschal moon;
-> the paschal moon is that of which the 14th day (full moon) falls on or next follows the day of the vernal equinox; and
-> the equinox is fixed in the calendar as March 21.

In many churches Easter is preceded by a season of prayer, abstinence, and fasting called Lent. This is observed in memory of the 40 days' fast of Christ in the desert. In Eastern Orthodox churches Lent is 50 days. In Western Christendom Lent is observed for six weeks and four days.

 

About the Author

http://www.ppt-to-video.com?page=105
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GLORY OF JAAP SAHIB

GLORY OF JAAP SAHIB

Jaap Sahib, given place of prominence in the Dasam Granth is the invocation made by the khalsa-a hymn in praise of the omnipotent God. The attributes and qualities of God delineated herein are based on the transcendental nature of God, He who is without attributes as in the ideology of Nirgunwad. While on one hand the form and shape of the Almighty God as portrayed in Gurbani have been further honed and highlighted, on the other hand there is an elaboration and embellishment of it. There is specific purpose behind this literary creation and it has been written in a unique style.

In fact, of all the transcendental literature written in the middle age the Jaap Sahib stands out unique for delineating the humanitarian attributes of God who is without attributes by presenting them in a worldly and universal form. It has proved itself as a cardinal literary piece in all northern Indian literature for its brilliance, sublimity and majesty. The Jaap Sahib has no equal.

The Jaap Sahib has evolved as the product of extensive reflection, cogitation and deliberation through moments of awe and reverence experienced by Guru Gobind Singh Ji. In this creation the various attributes of God almighty have been depicted ö He is without caste, without creed, without community, without religion and he is Îfearlessâ. He is the destroyer of enemies too. This aspect of "the destroyer of evil" proved a great force as it enthused the terror ö stricken multitudes into such an awesome force of might and courage that it could not be suppressed any more.

From the point of view of diction and style too it is a matchless piece of writing. The vocabulary used and the connotations suggested by these words have lent it a universalism that makes it significant and meaningful for people of all religions. This is why people of varied religious backgrounds have accepted it and even today read it with great devotion. Indeed, the quintessential message of gurbani is not limited to followers of any one religion but hold true for people of all religions. This is why it is said to have a universal appeal. Infact, this universalism is not limited to the message only. It also holds true for the language or diction. Because for gurbani every language is pure, every word is sacred.

Another outstanding feature of the Jaap Sahib is the beautiful and amazing manner in which worship and might merge together. Might or power by itself is blind. When it gets bound to worship instead of becoming the destroyer of mankind it becomes the destroyer of evil. These writings encourage the saint-soldier to participate in war as the metre and rhyme scheme, full of alliteration and rhythm is set to martial moves. At the same time care has been taken that all moral values and norms of society are upheld while fighting evil.

Thanks to www.dasamgranth.org

 

About the Author

B.Sc.(Med.), B.Ed., M.A.(Edu.), M.Litt.(Edu.), Ph.D.(Edu.Psy.)PGDCA. Served as Science Master, Employment Department as Vocational Guidance Officer. Retired from Employment Department, Punjab India as Dy. Director (Off.) Serving now Arihant Computer Center and Many Medical Hospitals such as Sadbhavna Medical & Heart Institute.

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Games You Can Play at a Stuffed Animal Party

For my soon to turn 6 year olds birthday this year, she decided that she wanted to have a stuffed animal party. A stuffed animal party basically means that all the little girls invited will bring their favorite plush toy so that they can all play with them together. This is a great theme, but in order to keep the young ones attention, I knew I would have to be very inventive when it comes to creating games in order to keep everyone happy.

We had ten girls invited as guests, and I knew that with those kinds of numbers it was quite possible that someone would forget their plush toy at home. So that is why I decided to have a couple extra stuffed animals and teddy bears on hand. And sure enough two girls forgot their toy. One of the girl's forget her favorite teddy bear in her mom's car, and the other had just lost her favorite plush dog at school. Luckily, my extras managed to head off the tears at the pass, and then we could get to the games. Here are some of the games we played, and hopefully they'll be able to help you if you want to create your own stuffed animal party.

<b>The Stuffed Animals Treasure Hunt</b>

This one I had to think ahead for, as before the party started I hid a teddy bear somewhere in our house. I then used post-it notes to write down some clues. The first post-it note I gave to my daughter's plush dog, Fluffy. This clue would lead them to the next and so on, until they (and their companion stuffed animals) finally found the teddy bear. But the game didn't end there. The teddy bear himself contained another clue. You see, I had gotten some teddy bear cookies (to continue the theme) and hidden them also. This was a great game and all of the girls had a lot of fun.

<b>Pin the Tail on the Bunny</b>

While not as inventive as the treasure hunt, this variation of pin the tail is a classic for a reason. My daughter had a big stuffed bunny she had gotten for Easter. Realizing this would be perfect, I turned the bunny around so it's back was to the girls, and made a tail out of Velcro and some bandanas. That way, the girl's could be blindfolded, and whoever got the tail in the right place would stick with the Velcro. We played in teams, and the team that won (by pinning the tail the most times) would get to be the first to take a picture in the bunny's lap. This kept the girl's busy, and the prize was benign enough that we didn't have any jealousy issues.

<b>Stuffed Animals Fairy Tale</b>

After stuffed animal crackers and cake, we had time for one last game. We turned their plush toys, every plush dog, stuffed cat, stuffed raccoon and teddy bear, into a character in a fairy tale. This really let them be creative, and I was careful to make sure that each little girl's plushie got an important role. Since everyone wanted to be princesses, I let everyone do that and then they had to work together to overcome obstacles and get to the palace in time for the queen's birthday. This imaginative game was a great success.

As you can see, everyone had a wonderful time and my daughter said this was the best birthday party she had ever had! And the best part, I was able to throw a great party without breaking my budget! My daughter decided that this was a good omen for her year six, and I have to agree. With a little bit of imagination, a stuffed animal party can be a great way for everyone to have a blast!

About the Author

Get ready for the party! Stack up on teddy bears, plush dogs and many other stuffed toy animals from KCPlush.com. Find a teddy bears heaven and a kids' dream collection!

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Secular Franciscan Reflections for Lent

a christmas story book

Fancy Nancy Books - Great Examples Of Books For Children

If you are looking for some great reading materials that you can enjoy reading along with your child, perhaps you may be interested in reading through the Fancy Nancy books. These books are a series of stories which have been published by the writer Jane O'Connor, and they are so exciting that both you as well as your little girl will definitely be charmed by them.

What Age Group Would Enjoy These Books?

All these story books are typically deal for infants aged at least four years and upwards. You may find that a child younger than this will also be able to appreciate the colorful tales. The stories are generally self contained which means you don't need to purchase all the books from the collection in order to understand the plotline. Every single book contains beautifully created pictures which depict the escapades that the main girl of the books has.

What Are The Storylines Like?

The Fancy Nancy books are focused entirely on a young child known as Nancy. She has a specific personality type which helps make her very interesting. She is also just like other little girls and simply delights in collecting beautiful clothing and accessories so that she can play dress up and look elegant at all times.

Each book targets a specific adventure or scenario in which Nancy discovers herself in. These are penned with fantastic nuances and superb expressions that it makes it very easy for you to picture just what little Nancy would likely be like in real life.

As soon as you get started on one of the story books, you may be interested to find out more about the rest of the range. There are some books that are specifically developed to be able to assist children to improve their reading abilities.

Fancy Nancy books are a great way to help introduce your daughter towards the delights of reading. In addition they make a good gift idea for a birthday or Christmas time.

Find out more about Fancy Nancy books and the adventures that Fancy Nancy enjoys.

About the Author

Linda Bennett has varied interests including reading, singing and amateur dramatics.

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