Top Travel Tips from the Trip - Ugghhmm Toy Experts!

Trip Time! Ape 2 Zebra's Top 15 Tips for Travel with Kids - Thursday, March 10, 2011

 

Boeings and Busses! 

With Spring Break/March Break on the horizon, we have come up with 15 of our top tips for travelling with tots.  

Let us know what you think, and feel free to add your own on facebook.  We'd love to hear them! 1. Distribute each person’s essentials among all your suitcases, rather than having each suitcase solely dedicated to one person.  This way, if one piece of luggage gets lost, you won’t have one family member without any supplies.
2. Bring along versatile toys that can be played with in many different ways.  You can find a list of some of the travel toys we offer here.
3. Consider bringing along your child’s favourite pillow case.  It’s small, and can make an unfamiliar sleeping environment seem more like home.
4. If you are flying, carry empty stainless steel water bottles in your carry on luggage. You can always fill them up at a water fountain once you have passed the security screening area.
5. In addition to music, bring along books and stories on CD.  They are great for long car trips, especially if your kids are used to watching DVDs in the car, and you rent a vehicle without a dvd player. We love Jim Weiss.
6. Pack a small first aid kit with medications that you know are safe for your child.  It can be hard to find the types that you are used to in a foreign country, and even if you are staying closer to home you don’t want to have to try and find a 24 hour drug store at 2:00am in an unfamiliar city.  Make sure you bring along an appropriate dosing devise too, and check to make sure that you have enough of any prescriptions you may need to last you through the duration of the trip. Trust us on this one, Darla once had to get her sister to send her a prescription by FedEx when she ran out it while in the Caribbean!
7. Request a hotel room with a fridge.  You can keep milk, formula, and fruit fresh that way, and if you buy a box of cereal at the grocery store, you will have the supplies you need for easy and inexpensive breakfasts or snacks.  You can also pick up breakfast at the grocery store if you are on the road.  Many have wonderful bakery sections, and you can buy muffins and fruit there for much less than going out to breakfast.
8. If you have toddlers, consider bringing basic child proofing supplies such as door locks with you, especially if you are staying in the home of someone that does not have young children.
9. If you are taking a road trip with older children, give them maps to follow along with so that they can see where you are.  It’s a great opportunity to develop geography skills, and it may help with the “are we there yets” too.  For preschoolers, consider creating a paper chain, and allowing your child to remove one link after every hour of the drive, every 100 kms travelled etc.
10.If you will be staying in an environment that is unfamiliar to your child, be sure to pack a nightlight or flashlight to make it easier for kids to find their way to the washroom in the night.  We have some cute, child friendly ones here.  A flashlight also allows family members sharing a room to read or play games while others sleep.
11.If you are visiting friends or family who your kids may not see often, show them pictures and tell them stories about the people you are going to visit before you go.
12.Buy each child a small whiteboard.  They are perfect whether you are flying or driving.  Kids can use them to draw, write messages, play games like tick tack toe (window crayons work fantastically on them, and are mess free), and they can attach magnetic play sets to them too.
13. If you are taking your preschool child on a flight for the first time he or she can remember, try role playing about the airport process before you go.  That way, your child will be prepared for things like taking off her shoes at security, allowing her teddy bear to go through the scanner etc.
14. Baby wipes are great to pack, regardless of how old your kids are.  You can clean anything from sticky hands to bathroom taps with them. If you do have babies and small children, make sure you have a change of clothes handy in your carry-on luggage or a place in the car that is easily accessible too.  Accidents happen!
15. If you are traveling to a place where a different language is spoken, learn a few simple words like “thank you” and “hello” in advance with your children.  It’s a great learning opportunity, and they’ll feel proud of their ability to converse a bit with people there too.  Similarly, if you are traveling to a place where the foods might be unfamiliar and your children are a bit older, research and test out a few of the recipes with them before you go.  They will have a better idea of what to expect when they get there, and you can have fun comparing how authentic your recipe is too.

For some amazing Travel Toys and Games please visit our fabulous toy store!

Have a wonderful time, whether you are away for a day or traveling a distance!

Beary Truly Yours,
Theodore Bear on behalf of all of Ape 2 Zebra

Travel Toys and Travel Games at Ape 2 Zebra!

The coolest toys reviewed by Darla Porcupine!

Paramount Pick:
  Travel Toys
Road trips can be so much fun...

Sale Offer Expires Friday, April 1, 2011!

A family trip can be so much fun,
Whether you head to the mountains or seek out the sun.
There’s so much to learn when you go somewhere new
New foods to try, new things to do.

But the thing about travel that’s not always great?
Long flights and car-rides and airport waits.
It sure helps a lot to have something to play,
And the best travel games can be used many ways.

That’s why “Who am I” is perfect to pack,
You’ll love it on trips, and when you get back.
It’s small and creative and you’re sure to smile,
However you use it, the laughs last awhile!

Are you planning a March Break/Spring Break escape with your clan?
Whether you are jetting away for longer jaunt, or heading out for a daytrip to somewhere special, you are going to need some activities to keep the kids content while they are cooped up. Content kids make for content moms and dads, so my Top Pick for this week is a gift for you too!

There are lots of travel games out there, but in my opinion the best ones are small and self contained, without a lot of complicated instructions, or pieces to lose. They should also have more than one use. When space is at a premium and you can only take a few toys with you, those toys have to be versatile. Travel games get extra points in my book when they are educational, can be enjoyed by a variety of age ranges and different numbers of players, and promote family harmony and fun. After all, the whole purpose of a family vacation is to create happy memories with the people you care about most.

After carefully considering all these criteria, I commend to you my call for a colossally good travel game: Haba’s “Who am I?”

“Who am I” comes packaged in terrifically tote-able travel tin that measures approximately 14.5 cm long, by 10 cm wide, and is 3.5 cm thick.
Inside the box you will find game instructions (which are easy to understand, so you can leave them at home if you would like), a soft, adjustable fabric headband with a magnetic strip sewn in, a soft fabric coated magnet, 40 adorably illustrated full colour picture cards, and 10 small green wooden counters. The game is intended to be played by two or more players, but, as I’ll write about later, there are lots of other ways kids can use the cards too, even by themselves.

Like most Haba games, the instructions for “Who am I?” outline more than one way to play. To play the basic game, the cards are shuffled and placed face down. One player (the “cunning fox”) dons the headband, takes the 10 counters, and closes his eyes. The remaining players (the “arbitrators”) then select the top card from the pile and carefully attach it, with the picture facing outward, to the headband. The cunning fox must then ask a series of “yes or no” questions to the arbitrators to determine who he is (i.e. which card he has on his head). The arbitrators must agree on the answer. If the answer is “no” the cunning fox gives one counter to the arbitrators. If the answer is “yes”, he may continue asking questions. The cunning fox can also make a guess as to who he is. If the cunning fox runs out of counters without correctly guessing his identity, he does not get to keep his card and a new cunning fox is selected. After each player has had three chances to be the cunning fox, the player with the most cards wins. You can also end the game when a player collects a certain number of cards. To vary the game, Haba suggests two alternatives: (1) create new identity cards on slips of paper, or (2) change the scoring so that the cunning fox earns points based on the number of counters he has left after a correct guess.

This game is great for so many reasons. Its compact size and lack of a game board make it terrific for travel, but more importantly it is a fast way to have your flock in fits of laughter. Wearing the headband is silly, and things that are silly are often an automatic hit with little ones. It’s also great for developing critical thinking and logic skills, as players try to devise questions and put together clues to determine their identity. It is perfect for a variety of age groups, including non-readers. It’s also great for consensus building, and we have had some really interesting discussions about whether the answer to a certain question should be “yes” or “no”. I am pretty certain you will be surprised at the different ways each player thinks. If you are worried about losing the counters, you can keep a record of the number of guesses on a pad of paper, or just play the game without counting guesses, which is particularly appropriate for younger children. And, although the headband is hilarious, if you are in an environment where it’s difficult to don it (e.g in a car where all players can’t see each other, or in public where parents and preteens might be embarrassed), you can easily play by simply passing the identity card around to the arbitrators.

We have loved playing the game in each of the suggested ways, but it would not be a Darla review if I didn’t devise a whole a bunch of other things that you can do with the components of “Who am I?”

Guess Who I Am: Rather than having the “cunning fox” try and guess who she is, have one player select a card. She can then give glues to help the remaining players guess who she is, or the remaining players can play a version of “20 questions” to try to determine what the card shows.

Go Fish: The 40 cards contain a variety of different of background colours, and types of things (people, animals, foods, modes of transportation etc). You can play an easy game of “Go Fish” by creating pairs based on the background colour, or any of these other characteristics.

Sorting and Classifying: This is a great way to sneak in some early math skill building. Challenge kids to sort and classify the cards in a variety of different ways (the categories above are some options; other ideas could be healthy vs. non healthy treats etc.)

One of These Things is Not Like the Other: This is another great way to sneak in some learning by developing critical thinking skills, and to also gain some interesting insight into the way other family members think. Lay four cards, face up, on the table or floor. Choose three cards that seem to fit intoa certain category, and one that does not. Challenge your child to select the card that is different, but be sure to ask why she thinks so. Even if she does not select the card you had in mind, she might still be “right”, and have just come up with a different way to classify. Alternately, set out a number of random cards, and see if you can come up with characteristics that unify them.

Story prompts: The variety of people and things shown on the cards make them spectacular for story prompts. Shuffle the cards, lay out a certain number, and create a story that includes each of the things.

Card houses: If you are stuck in an airport waiting area, or hoping for something to do in a hotel room, use the cards to try and create card houses.

Fun with magnets: Take advantage of the magnet in the headband to discover what is, and is not magnetic in the objects around you.
Come up with your own ways to play! You could even build a house of cards. I am certain your small ones will come up with all sorts of things I haven’t thought of.

The recommended age range for “Who am I?” is five and older, but it can easily be played with younger children, especially if you modify things like the number of guesses, and of course, many of the alternate ways to play that I’ve outlined can be enjoyed by younger kids as well. Just make sure that you keep the wooden counters away from anyone under three, as they could be a choking hazard.

At a regular price of $22.50, Haba’s “Who am I?” is a steal, at Ape 2 Zebra your everyday low price is only $19.50.
But at this week’s special “Top Pick” price of $17.95 it is simply spectacular!
Terrific for trip, and fantastic for family fun at any time, Haba’s “Who am I?” is a hit!

Be sure to check out Ape 2 Zebra's Travel Toys and Travel Games section for more spectacular finds!

About Haba:
Toy safety is a priority for Haba. Haba toys meet European Toy Safety Guideline 88/378 EWG for the materials used in, and the manufacturing of children’s toys. Twiddle Turtle, as with most Haba toys, is designed and made in Germany.



Have a wonderful break, whenever it is and wherever your travels take you!

Precociously (and prosperously) yours
Darla Porcupine

Oobleck and Green Eggs and Ham, Oh Boy!

Oobleck and Green Eggs and Ham, Oh Boy! - Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Buzzing bees!  

March 2 is Dr. Suess' (Theodor Geisel) birthday, and we could not let that occassion pass without a celebration.  Inspired by Dr. Suess' stories, we had fun today making Oobleck and Green Eggs and Ham, and we hope you enjoy them too. Stop by our facebook page and let us know what your favourite Dr. Suess story is, or post a picture of your Dr. Suess celebrations.  We hope you enjoy these activities as much as we did! Oobleck: Bartholemew and the Oobleck is one of Dr. Suess' lessor known stories, and unlike many of the Dr. Suess books we are familiar with, it is written in standard prose rather than in poetic form (anapestic tetrameter, to be precise).  Bartholemew and the Oobleck tells the story of a king who becomes bored with all the regular weather like sun, rain, snow, and fog, and orders his magicians to come up with something new.  The new weather the magicians devise is "oobleck", a sticky green substance that falls from the sky and coats the kingdom, making everyone, including the king, miserable.  The king soon regrets wishing for the new weather, and orders that the magicians get rid of the oobleck.  Unfortunately for the king, the magicians' cave is also coated in oobleck, and they are stuck inside it and unable to help.  Bartholemew, the king's page, suggests that maybe the king should apologise for his wish.  The king initially refuses, but relents when Bartholemew points out that the king is not much of a king while coated in oobleck.  When the king does say he is sorry, the oobleck disappears and the sun returns.
After reading the story, we made and played with our own version of oobleck.  Oobleck is beary fun to play with, but it is also beary special.  It is what is known as a "non-Newtownian fluid".  It defies Newton's Third Law of Physics (for more on Newton's laws of physics, read Darla's review of this week's Top Pick, the Plan Toys Build and Spin set), and acts as a liquid when it is pored, but a solid when a force is acting on it.  You can mold it into a ball in your hand, but as soon as you loosen your grip, it will ooze out like a liquid.  If you try and tip the container it is in, it will pour (albeit slowly), like a conventional liquid, but if you try and scoop it up with a spoon, it will feel more like you are chiselling into a solid substance.  It's a great sensory experience and physics experiment, and will keep your kiddos busy for quite some time.  It's easy to make too:

Oobleck:
Ingredients
1 cup (250 mL) cornstarch
appoximately 1 cup (250 mL) water, plus more if needed
green food colouring, if desired
Method
1. Place cornstarch into bowl.  Slowly add water, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the water is incorporated.  The oobleck should be hard to stir, but appear liquid on top.  You will have a pretty good sense of when you have reached the right consistency.  Add food colouring if desired, and play!
Notes: You may wish to line your table or floor with newspaper before you start playing, as spilled oobleck can be tricky to clean up.  You should also dispose of your oobleck when you are finished with it by throwing it in the garbage rather than pouring it down the drain.  Pouring oobleck down your drain may clog it!
Green Eggs and Ham: After playing with our oobleck, we all had a craving for a treat we could eat.  The obvious choice on a day of celebration for Dr. Suess was our own version of Green Eggs and Ham.  Here's what we did.

Green Eggs and Ham
Ingredients
1/2 300 gram package frozen chopped spinach, prepared according to package directions
3 eggs (note this made very dark green eggs.  You may wish to use more eggs for a less spinachy version)
1 tablespoon (15 mL) milk of choice
Salt and pepper
Parsley, basil, or other green herbs of your choice (optional)
Bread of choice
Method
1. Puree eggs, spinach, milk and herbs, if using, in a blender until mixture is smooth and there are no obvious pieces of spinach. Season mixture with salt and pepper, if desired.
2. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat, and spray with cooking spray.  Pour spinach mixture into frying pan, and prepare scrambled eggs as you normally would.
3. Meanwhile, toast and butter your bread of choice.  Use cookie cutters to cut out the letters "H-A-M".
4. Serve green eggs with your "H-A-M", and for fun, encourage your kids to rearrange their letters to make new words ("a", "am", "ha", etc.).  Finish up by reading Green Eggs and Ham.
Enjoy your Dr. Suess festivities!
Yours Beary Truly,
Theodore Bear and the Ape 2 Zebra Animal Associates

Share the Love with UnBeetable Red Velvet Cupcakes

Bushels of berries!

Baking is a beary special way to share the love with the ones you care about, and when that baking is heaped with healthy ingredients like beans, cocoa, and beets, then it's unbeatable!

These UnBeetable Red Velvet Cupcakes taste terrific, and they are gluten, nut, and dairy free, which makes them super for sending to school.

The cubs here couldn't tell that they were any different than the kind that come from a box. Bake up a batch of these beauties, and share them with the special someones in your sphere. Be sure to come to our facebook page to tell us about it if you do too, or if you share the love in any other ways on these days leading up to Valentine's Day. Bon Appetit!

UnBeetable Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup (250 mL) pureed roasted beets (see note 1)
1 398 mL can white beans, preferably no salt added, drained and well rinsed (see note 2)
1/4 cup (50 mL) soy milk, or other milk of your choice
2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla extract
1 tbsp (15 mL) canola or safflower oil
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp (65 mL) agave nectar (see note 3)
1/4 cup (50 mL) cocoa
1/4 cup (50 mL) sorghum flour (see note 4)
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) salt

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line muffin tin with paper cups.
2. In a food processor or blender, puree beans and soy milk until well blended.
3. Add vanilla extract through agave nectar to food processor, and process until well incorporated.  Add pureed roasted beets, and process until batter is smooth, and no pieces of bean or beet are visable.
4. In a small bowl, stir together cocoa, sorghum flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Add flour mixture to food processor, and process again until batter is smooth.
6. Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin tins, filling each cup approximately 2/3 full.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool on a baking rack, and then enjoy plain, or top with a dusting of confectioner's sugar, or the icing of your choice.
9. Enjoy!

Yield: Approximately 16-18 cupcakes

Note 1: To roast our beets, we preheated the oven to 400 degrees.  We then washed and trimmed the leafy ends off of 3 medium sized beets, and wrapped them in aluminum foil.  We then roasted them in the oven for about 1 hour, until they were fork tender.  When they were cool enough to handle, we used our fingers to slip the skins off (this is really easy, and the beet colour washes off your fingers easily, as long as you don't come into contact with any lemon juice or other acids before you wash your hands).  Once the beets had cooled to room temperature, we cut them into large chunks, and pureed them in the food processor.  It's okay if there are still beet pieces at this point, because the beets will be further processed when you make the cupcakes.  Our three beets yielded almost exactly 1 cup of puree.

Note 2: We have made these with white kidney beans, and navy beans.  The cupcakes made with white kidney beans seemed to have a slightly better texture, but both were very good.

Note 3: If you don't have agave nectar, you could likely substitute honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or other liquid sweetener of your choice.  We haven't tried it though.

Note 4: You could likely substitute a different sort of gluten free flour, or if gluten is not a concern, you could try using regular all purpose flour in place of the sorghum flour.  We just haven't tried it ourselves, since some of the animal associates have to avoid gluten.

In case you are curious, I took beary special care to test these for you.  Here is a view of the inside of one:



Beary Truly Yours,
Theodore Bear and the Ape 2 Zebra Kitchen

"Somebunny Loves You" Valentines!

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Bunnies are lovely,

And so are you!

Bouncing bunnies!
We were busy in the craft room yesterday, creating our own Valentine's Day cards that celebrate love, and recognize the Year of the Rabbit too.  

We can't wait to "share the love" by giving these cards out to all of our friends and family, and of course that includes you!
We appreciate each one of you so much, and "hop" your Valentine's Day is filled with the love of friends and family. 
If you'd like, create a couple of these cards with your kids and pass the love on.
If you do, be sure to post about it on our facebook wall. You'll earn a special 8% Ape 2 Zebra discount card just for posting, and also be entered into a draw to win a $50 Ape 2 Zebra. 

Did we mention that we'll be making a donation to charity for each posting too?  Share the love with "somebunny" special today!

Somebunny Loves You Bunny Face Card

What You Need:
One half sheet of construction paper or card stock, folded in half to make a card measuring approximately 15 cm x 11.5 cm
One large pink heart (for the bunny's face)
One small red heart (for the bunny's nose)
Two small white hearts (approximately the size of the nose, to be used for the bunny's eyes)
Two black hearts, slightly smaller than the white hearts (for the bunny's eyes)
One large, narrow red heart (for the bunny's ears)
One large, narrow white heart, slightly smaller than the narrow red heart (for the bunny's ears)
Narrow strips of black paper (for the bunny's whiskers)
One small red semi circle (for the bunny's mouth)
Glue of your choice
Fine tipped pen

What You Need to Do:
1. Cut large, narrow red heart vertically in half to form two ears.  Repeat with large narrow white heart.  Glue the white pieces of the ears to the red pieces.  Glue ears in place towards the top of the card.
2. Glue large pink heart to the card, placing it so that the point of the heart is positioned towards the top of the card, and the heart just covers the ends of the bunny's ears.
3. Glue small black hearts onto small white hearts.  Glue onto the top part of the pink heart to form the bunny's eyes.
4. Glue small red heart to the middle of the large pink heart to form the bunny's nose, placing it with the point of the heart positioned upward.
5. Glue the red semi circle just underneath pink heart to form the bunny's mouth.
6. Glue the black strips onto the pink heart to form the bunny's whiskers.
7. Underneath the bunny, write the Valentine's Day sentiment of your choice.  Some ideas include: "Somebunny Loves You", "Somebunny is wishing you a Happy Valentines Day", or "Somebunny's Special to Me, Can You Guess Who?"

 

Thumbunny Cards

What You Need:
White Cardstock, cut and folded to form cards measuring approximately 15 cm x 11 cm
Coloured Cardstock, cut to measure approximately 14 cm x 10 cm
White card stock, cut to measure approximately 12.5 cm x 9 cm
Washable markers (or a stampad, or liquid paint)
A fine tipped pen
Glue, or adhesive of your choice

What You Need to Do:
1. Colour your child's thumb and pinky finger with a washable marker (this makes clean up really easy, but a ink pad, or paint, would work too).  Press thumb onto small piece of white cardstock to form the bunny's body.  Press pinky just overlapping the thumbprint to form the bunny's head. 

For the "Thumbunny Hopes Your Valentine's Day is Sweet" card, we coloured our fingers three different colours and made three bunnies. 

For the "I 'Hop" Your Valentines Day is Happy" card we made one bunny in the righthand corner of the card, but feel free to be creative!

Making the thumbprints is a great way to get even the tiniest tots involved in sharing the love!

2. Once your bunny prints have been completed, use a fine tipped marker to add details such as ears, eyes, and paws to the bunnies.  Depending on the age you are doing this with, it may be an "adult" job.

3.  Add sentiments of your choice. 
Some ideas include:

"Thumbunny wishes you a Happy Valentine's Day" ,

"Thumbunny loves you, Can you guess who",

and "I "hop" your Valentines Day is Happy", but feel free to use your creativity!

4. Attach thumbprinted white cardstock to coloured cardstock with glue or other adhesive.  Glue coloured cardstock to white folded card.

We sure "hop" you have fun with these Bunny Valentines!

Beary Truly Yours,

Theodore Bear

Blow a Kiss This Valentine's Day

Bear oh Bear!

As everyone here knows, I love my sweets (especially honey), but sometimes too much sugar hurts even my tummy!

I've also been told it's not beary good for my teeth, and so sometimes it's nice to have a sugar free way to celebrate.
If you are looking for a fabulous, food and fuss free way
to wish friends or family a Happy Valentine's Day,
why not blow them a kiss?

We made these customized "Blow a Kiss" bottles of bubble solution in the toy shop this morning, and they were so fast and fun, and frugal too.

Here's What You Need:

Small bottles of bubble solution

Scrapbook, or other paper with a pretty pattern, to make the label

Solid coloured paper to make the large hearts

White (or contrasting solid coloured) paper to make the small hearts

A fine tipped marker or pen

Double sided tape, or alternate glue or adhesive of your choice


Here's What You Need To Do:

1. Measure the width of the label on your bottle of bubble solution, and cut patterned paper into strips of an equal width.

2. Measure the circumference of your bottle of bubble solution and trim your strips of patterned paper to fit around your bottle, with a bit of extra to overlap at the seam.

3. Wrap your strip of patterned paper tightly around the bottle, and secure with double sided tape at the seam (glue would work too, or you could even just tape a strip of regular clear tape over the seam.

4. Cut larger hearts out of solid paper, and smaller hearts out of white paper.

5. Write or print "Blow a Kiss" onto white hearts with a fine tipped pen.

6. Attach one white hearts to each solid coloured heart with double sided tape or glue.

7. Use double sided tape or glue to secure one completed heart to eacah bottle of bubble solution, centering the heart in the middle of your new scrapbook paper label.

8. Share the love and "Blow a Kiss" to your friends and family!

Remember to stop by our facebook page and write a post on our wall telling us how you and your family are "Sharing the Love" this Valentine's Season.

You'll earn a special 8% Ape 2 Zebra Discount, and be entered into a draw to win a $50 Ape to Zebra Gift Card.

We will also be donating $1 to charity for each post we receive.

You have to be beary quick though, because the contest closes on Monday, February 14, 2011.

Blowing you kisses!

Theodore Bear and the Ape 2 Zebra Animal Associates

Share the Love for a Chance to Win a $50 Ape 2 Zebra Gift Card !

Bon bons and baking, do I love Valentines Day!

The treats are terrific, but what I really love is having the chance to tell everyone in my life how much I appreciate them. Where would I be without Cornel's kindness, Orson's safety advice, or the Penguin Pack's help with all of the parcels?


Of course, you, our customers, are beary special to all of us here at Ape 2 Zebra too, and we want you know how much we appreciate each of you. So, in the spirit of the day, we are giving you the opportunity to earn a special 8% Ape 2 Zebra Toys discount code, and the chance to win a $50 Ape to Zebra gift card!

Entering is easy. All you have to do is to go out (starting today) and share some love, then head on over to our facebook page and let us know what you have done by posting on our wall. The way that choose to "Share Love" could really be anything, from making a valentines card for a senior at a care centre, leaving a children's book in the waiting room of a clinic, or bringing hot chocolate to the crossing guard. We don't want to limit anyone and would also love to hear from our younger friends if they did something to "share the love".

Everyone that makes a "Sharing the Love" post to our wall will get a 8% discount coupon that will be valid for orders placed at Ape 2 Zebra's online store (but remember, you have to be a Facebook Friend of Ape 2 Zebra to qualify for the discount code). All entries will be entered into a draw to win a $50 Ape 2 Zebra Gift Card, and yes you can post more than one entry as long as it is not the same post. Please make sure you have actually done what you have said you have done too - that is the whole idea of sharing the love!

We at Ape 2 Zebra are sharing the love with others too!
For every "Share the Love" entry we get, we will also make a $1 donation to charity.
We haven't finalized a charity yet, but we are leaning towards one that provide support for abused children and mothers. If you have a charity you want to suggest then please let us know about that too! "Sharing the Love" starts now and we will do the draw on February 15, 2011.

Let's start "sharing the love" today!

Beary Truly Yours,
Theodore Bear (on behalf of myself, and all of my Ape 2 Zebra friends)