Press Releases

The holiday season is fast approaching, and we are celebrating with a special collaboration with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. Throughout the month of November, for each “Like” we receive on our Facebook page we will donate $1 to Toys for Tots!

We have supported our local Toys for Tots for years, but this program is the first that we are incorporating Facebook to help the cause.

“We agree that it’s important for all kids to feel included during the holidays. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation has been making kids feel special at Christmastime for over 60 years. We’re proud to be a part of that tradition,” says Managing Partner Kim Emigh.

For more about this special promotion, please read today’s press release. If you don’t “Like” us already on Facebook, you can right here:

If you would like to help us share this with others (thank you!) you can use this simple link: http://bit.ly/gtt-toys-for-tots

Thank you for your support of Toys for Tots, and Growing Tree Toys!

We’re very pleased to announce the second annual Win Your Wish List Contest at Growing Tree Toys! If you use our site’s wish list feature anytime during October, you will be entered to win the entire contents of your wish list, up to $1,000! The contest ends on October 31, 2010 and the winner will be randomly selected and notified in early November.

Our wish list feature is free and AWESOME. Use it to store toy information by child and track purchases made from your list by friends and family. You can also email your wish list and search for wish lists made by friends and family. But the coolest part is that using your wish this month gives you a chance to win it all for the holidays!

Mine includes the Make Your Own Cardboard Dollhouse Kit, Magic Garden Science Kit and the Meowsic Toy Piano! I love that thing. You can search for “Ellen Yates” and send gifts to the office if you want. ; )

To enter the contest, simply create your own wish list or add some toys to an existing one. Go crazy–you could win up to $1,000 in specialty learning toys!

As the month of April draws to a close, we hope you have enjoyed our Earth Day posts and other eco-friendly related information. We are happy to finally supply our customers with an Eco-Friendly Toys department that serves to help them find toys that are recycled, natural or made in the United States, among other attributes.

We also love searching out new companies that offer eco-friendly products – from those that are fiercely dedicated to this mission like Green Toys or Sprig Toys, to others that hope to make a difference by introducing a green lifestyle and the concepts of alternative energy to children, like Thames & Kosmos. While our mission is to provide the most exciting, engaging toys for children, we understand that offering a selection of eco-friendly toys is important – so, we will continue to search out great playthings for children that meet our “green criteria.”

In addition to offering toys that are eco-friendly, we try to do our part in the daily operations of our business to be more Earth-friendly. We understand that shipping to our customers that are unable to “shop local” is stressful to the environment. But, every package we ship arrives in a box that has the highest percentage of recycled content possible, which also makes them completely recyclable. We stuff the inside of each box with paper, which is actually the unused end rolls from our local newspaper, which is also recyclable. And the pretty gift wrapping? Our Birthday, Christmas and Hanukkah gift wrap paper is not only printed in the USA, but is printed on recycled paper and features water-based inks. And you should see how full our cardboard recycling bin can get – we make sure all of the boxes we get from shipments end up being recycled; if not reused, then recycled.

We know that these are just small things and that we can always do more. And although we have had a busy April promoting Eco-Friendly Toys and Earth Day, we are committed to supporting the cause year-round and doing everything we can to make our business more Earth–Friendly. While our focus is to provide high-quality toys to keep the fun and play in childhood, we also know that we want to preserve the world for the children playing with our toys now, and generations from now. So, we hope you have enjoyed our celebration of Earth Day, and we look forward to continuing to provide the best in educational toys AND eco-friendly toys!

After a month of celebrating – it’s here! Happy Earth Day! Today we acknowledge 40 years of this occasion, while recognizing new and improved ways that we can help the planet. It’s inspiring to think of the role of today’s children and how they can be inspired to think “green” through play!

So, it’s the perfect day to announce our new Eco-Friendly Toys department! Here you can search for green toys along with our other helpful search options, like by other departments, age group and gender. From managing partner, Kim Emigh:

“Growing Tree Toys has long been a resource for unique, hand-picked educational toys, many of which already had eco-friendly qualities. We spent much time developing the different criteria for our Eco-Friendly Toys department with our eco consultant Jennifer Bean, evaluating our products on a number of levels. In the end, we wanted to make sure we had products that were truly ‘green,’ and developing our specific eco-friendly qualifications was the best way to ensure a meaningful and useful department of our customers.”

Our new categories and icons identify seven different and important “green” aspects – perhaps some you hadn’t thought about before! Learn more here or check out the following highlights:

Toys Made from Recycled Materials
Products made from recycled paper, plastic and more teach real applications of recycling!

Toys Made from Natural Resources
Along with the “natural resource” of kids’ imaginations, many toys are made from wood, organic cotton and other natural materials.

Toys Made From Renewable Resources
Neat toys like E-Racer Bamboo Cars prove what can be made from renewable resources – watch for this category to grow!

Toys that are Regionally Sourced
We appreciate the dedication of companies like Green Toys that thrive on local resources.

Toys made with Eco-Friendly Manufacturing or Design
From soy-based inks to special packaging, brands find many ways to reduce their “footprint.” Every little bit helps!

Toys from an Eco-Conscious Manufacturer
Of course, some of our toys do not fit into any of these categories, but many manufacturers still make “green” efforts – we acknowledge them here.

Eco-Learning Toys and Environmental Appreciation Toys
What better way for kids to learn about the “big picture” than with kits and toys that make going green fun!

We truly hope that our Eco-Friendly Department is helpful and allows you to make decisions that are best for your family as well as the planet. We’re so excited to watch this area grow! Do not hesitate to drop us a note or comment if you have any ideas or feedback.

Today we highlight a newer interactive role for consumers on our website, GrowingTreeToys.com! Our recently revamped product review functionality provides some unique opportunities to share your opinions on our great educational toys.

Probably our favorite feature is that you can specify who you bought this toy for – your child, grandchild, or for your school, just to name a few – so that fellow shoppers can really understand your perspective! We think that will help other parents, grandparents and so on find the right toy for their gift-giving needs.

While we highlight the ability to browse by age group (a popular element of our site), you can also specify the age of the child for which you bought this toy. Maybe a toy that says ages 3-6 on the box is actually a lot of fun for older kids too! We’d like to know! Your input will help us and other shoppers make their decisions.

Finally, you can really show how you feel by adding pictures or even a YouTube video to your review.

Have you placed an order with us in the past and would like to offer your experience or opinions on our blog? We’d appreciate it! You can simply sign up for an account using the same address as when you placed the order, and your items purchased will be available to review. From there, you can make your own profile page as detailed as you like.

As always, thank you for visiting GrowingTreeToys.com and we are excited about this additional way you can interact with us and our visitors!