Blog Page 2 - Great Pretenders

Meet the Maker with Joyce Keelan!

August 31, 2020

We are slowly coming to the end of our Meet the Maker series. But we cannot finish them off without introducing you to Joyce Keelan! Joyce is the founder of Great Pretenders and the hardest working woman I have ever met! In this interview, Joyce shares many wonderful memories that has made Great Pretenders what it is today.

Meet the Maker Monday with Lucy

August 17, 2020

Happy Monday!! We want to introduce you to a VERY special guest this week... Miss Lucy!! Lucy, her sister Matilda and her mom Kate were here for their summer visit, so we thought we would sneak in an interview with our favourite model. Lucy LOVES coming to visit grandma at work because it means she gets to raid Lindsay's office for all the dress-up attire she could imagine!

Childhood Years & Brain Development

August 14, 2020

Happy Friday everyone! We partnered with our friends at Boon-Dah to bring you this blog post about why early childhood years are important for brain development! Visit their website at www.boon-dah.com for plenty of STEM and learning resources for kids!

Meet the Maker Monday with Maria

August 10, 2020

Happy Monday everyone! This week, we want to introduce you to our lead sewer, Maria. Maria has been with Great Pretenders for nearly 20 years! Before watching the interview, can you guess how many protective face masks our team has sewn in the last 4 months?

Meet the Maker Monday with Twyla

July 20, 2020

Happy Monday everyone! Through our Meet the Maker Monday, you have met a lot our team and we hope you are loving learning little pieces of the people behind our production as much as I am! This week, we want to introduce you to Twyla. As you will learn, Twyla is the Executive Assistant to the President, Joyce Keelan and she has been here for only 2 years. I say ‘only’ because this shocked me! Twyla truthfully helps helps run our operations so smoothly that I thought she has been part of the team for nearly 10 years!

Meet the Maker Monday with Katie

July 13, 2020

It’s Monday! Time for another Meet the Maker and this week we want to introduce you to Katie! Katie is the one behind all of our blog posts, social media and web content (and currently writing this blog post) So allow me to introduce myself! My name is Katie. I have been working at Great Pretenders for about 3 months now and am loving every minute of it! It is so fun to work in the toy industry and connect with all of you via social media.

Encouraging Productive Screen time with Kids

July 10, 2020

Too much screen time for children can have negative effects on a child’s development and overall well-being. It is important as parents remember to limit your child’s screen time or encourage productive screen time in your household. Here are our tips for doing so!

Meet the Maker Monday with Mitchell

July 06, 2020

Happy Monday friends! We hope you had a fantastic and safe long weekend! This Monday we would like to introduce you to Mitchell! Mitchell is our cutting technician, who prepares all of the materials for our sewers. We have recently automated some of the cutting process for efficiency and Mitchell will show you how today!

10 Things for Kids to do with a Cardboard Box

July 03, 2020

Some days I wonder why I spend money on toys for my kids when they have just as much fun with a cardboard box! Truthfully, I just think that is the magic of childhood. During a time where online shopping is reaching it peak in popularity, we thought we could give you some ideas on what to do with all these cardboard boxes! It really just takes a little permanent marker and a cardboard box (okay, and a little imagination) to have endless hours of fun!

Meet the Maker Monday with Kira Brown

June 29, 2020

We get a lot of questions (ok some questions – come on, reach out to us more people!)- about how we come up with our costume ideas. Well Kira and the peeps working in product development have a huge influence on these steps too. We meet, hash out some concepts, sketch and colour, then cut up shiny scraps of fabric and staple them to the sketch. Then the hard work begins as she translates these ideas into the costumes we all know and love.

10 Books That Encourage Pretend Play and Imagination

June 25, 2020

It’s a generally accepted “best practice” for parenting- but if your house is anything like our house, these past few months have left us longing for new book discoveries. If we have to read the Gruffalo one more time…

We have gathered a list of our top 10 books featuring pretend play, dressing up & creative problem solving that have inspired new finds at the library (and bookshop)! If you are shopping for new presents and books- we also encourage you to reach out to your local toyshop.

Meet the Maker Monday - Scotty Gray

June 21, 2020

Happy Meet the Maker Monday! This week we want to introduce you to the happiest soul in the office, Scotty Gray. Scotty always comes to work with the biggest smile on his face and his positivity is infectious! Scotty is our Package designer and his office is a pretend play heaven! There are dresses, hair clips and temporary tattoos everywhere. Watch a look at the video linked below to see a sneak peak.

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