James

In the run up to the weekend, I had been completely devoid of inspiration with regards to what to do with the offspring.

I’m currently trying to preserve funds for a couple of upcoming school and cubs trips, so didn’t want to have too heavy a weekend cash-wise. Unfortunately, inspiration struck via a Christmas present for The Youngest which was a pre-paid card for the Build a Bear workshop.

It’s fair to say that one of the sweetest things about The Youngest is her commitment to stuffed toys and desire to possess every single one of them she ever touches ever. With this in mind, back in December I had thought that a trip to a place where you could MAKE YOUR OWN would be something of a nirvana for her. I was right.

With the offspring a-grumbling at the early start, we headed off to The Trafford Centre first thing where it was nice and quiet on the roads and nice and quiet in the centre itself. The wee ones had never been, so it was very sweet to see their reaction and genuine gasps at the size and scale of the place - I really must get them out of Kendal more!

We headed down to the workshop, where The Youngest took her time picking her bear “skin” from a very impressive selection. She then took it to a nice lady who shoved a tube in it and asked The Youngest to stand on a pedal which would start the stuffing machine. There was then a brief but cute ritual involving the insertion of a heart into the bear before he was sewn up and ready for accessorising. Shortly thereafter “James” (see extra - no idea why she went for that name, but kind of like it that she did) was dressed and The Youngest was being presented with his birth certificate.

She spent the rest of the time at the Trafford Centre with James strapped to her back as she merrily skipped about. I won’t lie, the whole process was not cheap, but to see how happy the experience of building a bear entirely unique to her made The Youngest (and how grateful she was), I’m not going to complain as I think/hope she’ll remember it for some time to come.

The Eldest and m’boy immediately started tapping me up for bears for their next birthdays, which will hopefully at least give me time to save up and/or take out a second mortgage.