Seedling in cultural Christchurch for Winter Gift Fair

We travelled down to Christchurch to exhibit at the trade only Winter Gift Fair last week. Our trip was marked by a number of surprises. The first was that we arrived in Christchurch on time, thanks to Jetstar (I think even the staff were surprised!). The second was the biting cold, we were definitely not prepared and I now see why Christchurch sells so much Merino.

Then there was the food, it was fantastic! We dined on fantastic Indian at the food court, amazing Japanese at a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere, quaint Mexican, sol square, the strip and an amazing collection of outdoor food stalls at the arts market.

Then there was the unrivalled support of the arts. The magnificent art gallery, the charming arts centre, great public works and the we were fortunate enough to be in town during the winter arts festival. Although we didn't have the time to see any shows, it was delightful to see ice skating in Cathedral Square, the array of street performers and the faces of excited children everywhere.

The trade show itself was an eclectic mix of designer home wares, toys, jewellery, gourmet foods, ceramics and more.

We were lucky enough to be across from the lovely boys of Cocoa, who's designer home wares are exceptional (look out for their cameo on Shorty street) and all though the hall was cold, laughter was often echoing around our hall.

I enjoyed catching up with many of the great stores that stock our range and also meeting many new faces who will soon have the seedling range in store. We showed our new card range to inspire kids based on vintage illustrations.

All in all a great trip that has inspired me to return to Christchurch with the kiddies and more time to explore!

School Holidays at Sylvia Park

As the school holidays come to a close, so too does our time at Sylvia Park. We opened up our temporary store at one of Auckland’s biggest shopping centres on the first Saturday of the July school holidays and it’s certainly been an interesting two weeks.

One of the great things about Sylvia Park is that people come from all over the city to shop there so we’ve met a lot of people from all over the place! We’ve met a lot of people who hadn’t heard of Seedling before and were fascinated by the amazing kits. Many people have commented on what great gifts they’d make or how they’d love so many for themselves. There were also many people who had seen our kits before but had no idea the range was so big. A lot of them were very excited to see us.

Just as with the Seedling at Edukidz stores in Ponsonby and Botany, we offered activities as well. In week one we were doing ‘Paint your own t-shirt’. Kids loved having the freedom to use as many colours and brushes as they wanted and had an amazing variety of designs on show. There’s nothing quite like the artwork you’ll see when you let a child’s imagination run wild. We also had a few adults painting t-shirts – for themselves, for their kids, for their partners.

Week two came with the introduction of Tote Bags & Superhero Capes as well as T-shirts and they’ve been extremely popular. We’ve had a LOT of people doing the three activities this week as the awful Auckland weather pushed people indoors. Many little girls making personalized handbags, several different superheros, two little boys made tote bags for Grandma and a heap more t-shirts.



As we’re now at the end of the holidays, we’ll be leaving Sylvia Park on Sunday evening. We’ve enjoyed our time there and it was great to be out there meeting the people who the Seedling kits are made for.

Remember that Botany and Ponsonby are out there two for those of you in Auckland. They have the full range of Seedling products and offer a menu of activities 7 days a week.

Wherever you are, enjoy the weekend and the last couple of days of the school holidays!

Remuera's Hidden Gem - Poppies Bookstore

This week’s blog brings another tip on a fantastic store where you can find Seedling products.



Poppies Bookshop is one of Remuera’s hidden gems. Located in the “Village Green” just off the main shopping street, this gorgeous bookstore is housed in the old horse stables from the 1800s and has been for over 30 years.

The store attracts customers with its homely environment of handpicked books and old-fashioned customer service, it’s so easy to go into another world when exploring the vast range of books that resides on bookshelves.


Poppies Remuera can be found at Shop 4, Village Green, 415 Remuera Road, Remuera, Akld.
Opening hours are:
Weekdays 9am – 5:30pm
Saturday 9am – 4pm

For more information you can phone 09 524 4001 or visit their website http://www.poppiesbooks.co.nz/

Paint Your Own T-Shirt these school holidays

The school holidays are coming up in just a couple of weeks and with the weather so cold at the moment it’s the perfect time to be doing indoor activities. To start with, Seedling’s concept store at Edukidz in Ponsonby will be adding “Paint your own T-shirt” to its menu of activities in time for the July holidays as well as other activities such as “Paint a Mini Canvas” and “Create your own Stick Puppet”.

Ponsonby Store

Seedling is also coming to Botany Town Centre. Just like the Ponsonby store, Edukidz at Botany will offer the full Seedling range along with a menu of activities in a cafe-style setting. The Botany store will also be introducing “Paint your own T-shirt” in time for the upcoming holidays.

But wait, there’s more! For the July School Holidays ONLY Seedling will be coming to Sylvia Park shopping centre. From Saturday the 4th until Sunday the 19th of July, a Seedling store will be open outside Ezibuy where we’ll be offering the full 2009 range of Seedling products as well as the chance to sit down and create a masterpiece to take home. In the first week kids can come in and paint their own t-shirt. In week two we’ll be offering a choice between “Design your own Tote Bag” and “Design your own Superhero Cape”.

Come in to any of our stores to sit down and create a masterpiece or find a kit to do at home. We look forward to seeing you in the July holidays!

Our Store Puppy in Ponsonby - Too cute!!

Get an 'Educational Experience' in Mt Eden & Pukekohe

Mainly Toys
Mt Eden, Auckland

The complete Seedling range is stocked in this wonderful store and we have a whole display wall set up which looks fantastic! We thought you might like to see what it’s like...

Mainly Toys started out as a small toy store in Mt Eden over 20 years ago and has grown and grown over the years and now has three whole floors of toys, books, games, crafts and more, as well as a games loft where kids can try out some of the designer games and puzzles in a comfortable environment.

Mainly Toys is located on the small shopping strip that runs through Mt Eden Village, one of the few genuine villages left in Auckland. As well as many restaurants and specialty food stores, there’s a strong focus on arts and crafts in this unique part of our city and Mainly Toys fits right in.

For three years in a row Mainly Toys has also been voted Metro’s Best Toy Store. They pride themselves on being a specialist store dedicated to “quality toys that enrich play and exploration” with knowledgeable staff who are passionate about the product ranges that are in store.

Mainly Toys is situated at 539 Mt Eden Road, Auckland. Make sure you pop in to have a look at our Seedling display or check out the store online at www.educationalexperience.co.nz/mainlytoys/


Love to Learn
Pukekohe, Auckland

Love to Learn is another fabulous store that falls under the “Educational Experience” umbrella with Mainly Toys.

Love to Learn is located in the heart of Pukekohe, just 45 minutes from central Auckland, it is the largest town in the Franklin District. The area is a very popular shopping destination with its diverse range of shops to choose from. It is also home to the Franklin Country Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

Love to Learn has been open for almost eight years now. They also specialise in quality toys that encourage children to grow and learn. The staff are knowledgeable and passionate about the products in store, including the full range of Seedling products! They have an extensive range of toys and books for newborns through to teenagers.

You can visit Love to Learn at 36 Edinburgh Street, Pukekohe or online at http://www.educationalexperience.co.nz/shop%20pages/lovetolearn.html

A Trip Down Memory Lane

This week most of us had the first half of the week off (for various reasons), sending Phoebe on a trip down memory lane to the old days when she was the one woman band making the products and doing everything herself. It’s quite amazing to look at the company now. All of us up here doing our office-y things and the girls downstairs doing production and dispatch. For me there’s just so much to learn!

We’re getting ready for the Winter Gift Fair which is on in the South Island at the end of July. Here we’ll be previewing our Christmas Range which will be going on sale in Spring 2009. The fair is on at the Westpac Arena in Addington, Christchurch from Sunday 26 – Tuesday 28 July. The perfect opportunity to show our products to South Islanders.

We’re still going with the social networking sites. I think twitter is my favourite. It’s easy to get hooked and just read through what everyone else is tweeting about and before you know it, so much time has gone by! We have more and more followers every day.

Seedling's First Blog!

This week we’ve delved into online social networking sites, starting a Twitter Feed, a Facebook Profile and this blog. Look at us go! Tweeting is an entirely new concept that I’m still getting used to but it’s great fun coming into work in the morning and seeing who’s tweeted overnight and who has something interesting to say, not to mention the excitement of new followers every day. Our Facebook page took a little longer to set up with all the pictures to upload and getting used to the difference between a business page and a regular profile page but now it’s there and looking pretty good if I do say so myself.

We are launching our new baby seedling range now. This new range currently consists of five kits. ‘Create your own Designer Baby Tees’ for your own designer baby, ‘Knit your own Designer Baby Blanket’ a boy version and a girl version , ‘Create your own Baby Mobile’ and ‘Create a Monogram Painting for Baby’s Room’ (perfect for decorating baby’s room!). These kits are perfect for nesting mums and we’re excited about them.

This weekend Seedling is appearing at Magnolia Square in Melbourne (www.magnoliasquare.com.au). If you’re in Melbourne, it’s definitely worth a look. Magnolia Square is aptly described in their blog as retail heaven, and Tiny and Small is a “boutique market for little people”. Make sure you head along and check out the new additions!
That’s all for this week’s blog I guess. Make sure you check out our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Auckland-New-Zealand/Seedling-NZ/) and follow our twitter feed (http://twitter.com/SeedlingNZ).

Have a great weekend!