Florence went to the ‘Build A Bear Workshop‘ for a birthday party not so long ago and came home having had loads of fun. Even though I was there at the time I was really only on the periphery and didn’t really get to join in much myself. At the end of it, although she’d enjoyed herself, I wasn’t really sure what had happened at the party. Too busy gassing as always!

I was really thrilled then when we were invited to come down again, just us, to review the workshop and let our readers know exactly what we think of ‘Build A Bear’! We arrived at the Stratford Westfield shop last Friday morning later than we had said we would be there so I’m sure the staff had no idea we were the ones arriving for the review. They greeted us with a very sunny ‘Hello, how are you, welcome to Build a Bear’ and then when I said who I was and why I was there they didn’t change anything in their demeanor whatsoever, sometimes when I go to review something it’s startling how staff attitudes change for the better once they realise what I am doing. The Build a Bear team didn’t really need to change anything as they were wonderfully welcoming from the off.

There were three members of staff working and they all, over our time in the workshop, introduced themselves to us and helped us for different stages of the experience. Firstly the shop manager Maria showed us all the different things which would happen during the experience, the different un-stuffed bears, choices of accessories (which were all clearly priced), where the bear would be stuffed, sewn up, groomed and then the outfit shop was introduced to Florence who was just a little bit mesmerised! I quickly noted that the outfits and accessories started at around £2.50; we were there on a complimentary trip but if we go again for a treat sometime I think it would be very easy to steer Florence in the direction of the lesser priced accessories should we be on a budget. Everything is appealing to the children from the sunglasses (£3.50) and shoes (around £5) to the higher priced outfits so I’m sure no matter what is chosen it will be enjoyed.

The journey had begun and choosing the bear was the first step… It took a while! With loads to choose from it became apparent we were not going to be leaving the workshop as quickly as I had envisaged. I’d kind of thought it would be a straight in and straight out again experience but actually it’s a morning or an afternoon out which is really great and good value for money!

Choosing a bear!

All the bear choices are on the shelves above the boxes of un-stuffed ones so that the child can see exactly what they are choosing. Florence made a number of decisions only to change her mind and after a traditional bear, a curly dog, a rabbit and a rainbow bear she finally decided on a new edition Easter Chick – not anywhere near the most expensive ones which was nice because it means the higher priced ones are definitely not always the most appealing. For Jimmy, who is too little to choose for himself, I opted for the ‘Classic Style’ Paddington Bear – again not the most expensive. The bears start at £9, ours were both £13.50 for the basic bear. I asked which bear’s are most popular and apparently poor Paddington isn’t one of the ones who is but he is so sweet I couldn’t resist him for Jimmy!

Now we had our bears the next stop was to choose a heart. It’s really sweet, once the heart has been chosen, which can be a standard satin or gingham one included in the price of the bear like Florence chose or you can opt for a purple one at £1 with the money going to charity or a special beating heart (£2.50) which will buzz when the bear is hugged, the children get to make a wish for their bear. I chose a beating one for Jimmy’s bear as it means there will be a little sensory play there for him. Florence was then asked to hold her bear’s heart and make her wish while she promised to look after him and Jimmy played with the buzzing heart which was to be Paddington’s.

Choosing which heart and making a wish!

Hearts chosen and wishes made, it was time to choose a sound effect. This is an optional extra and could easily be bypassed should you not wish to spend the extra on a sound for your bear which start at £2.50. Florence was again spoilt for choice but in the end opted for a classical lullaby sound while Jinny’s new Paddington got the theme tune from the popular (from my youth anyway) show!

There’s a station with buttons to press so that you can hear all the different sound effects. There’s even a ‘One Direction’ song as one of the choices. I tried to persuade Florence to choose the song ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ but she knew exactly what she wanted and that’s half the fun of it, being able to let the little ones do their own choosing!

The next stop for us was to decide if we wanted our bear to have a scent or not. For £2.50 you can choose a ‘Scentiment’ which will make the bear smell of strawberries, chocolate chips, vanilla or one of the other scents on offer! By this point we had the delightful Simon helping us and I have to say, he’s everything you’d want in a friend at the Build a Bear Workshop. He was so kind, helpful and entertaining and the children really appreciated his help. He let Florence smell all of the different scents before making her final decision and didn’t seem at all annoyed that she spent ages making up and changing her mind – I guess he’s used to working with little ones and he really made the whole thing very special for us.

Smelling all of the ‘sentiments’ before finally deciding on vanilla for her chick and chocolate chip for Paddington!

And with all the big decisions over it was time to stuff the bears! Simon asked Florence how cuddly she would like her bear, really squishy or hard or somewhere in between and then he held the bears over the handle while Florence pushed the pedal to make the stuffing come out and we watched as both the bears took shape!

The lovely Simon helps Florence stuff her bear and shows Jimmy Paddington with his new fuller shape!

After he’d sewn them up suddenly Simon realised he’d forgotten (or rather had me chewing his ear off and made him forget) to put Paddington’s heart in, so off Paddington was sent to the ‘bear hospital’ to have a bit of ‘work’ done and be re sewn. When Maria, who had played Doctor, came back with him she advised Florence and Jimmy that he would be fine after his hospital experience but would probably need a little extra love for a while until he was fully recovered – nice touch!

And then it was on to the grooming. They have a little station with air that blows on to the bears when the foot pedal is pressed and little brushes for the children to fluff up their new toys!

A little bit of grooming!

Florence particularly enjoyed the brushing and grooming but the best bit for her was still to come for now it was time to choose the outfits! For Paddington we decided to go down the classic route and opted for Paddington’s coat and hat set and then Jimmy’s bear was done but Florence took a long time deliberating. Jimmy has a duffel coat quite similar to Paddington’s and I noticed a rain coat similar to one of Florence’s so suggested that but she wasn’t done with the browsing, not by a long shot and who could blame her, it’s a little shopper’s delight!

For a long time she was deliberating between sparkly shoes and princess dresses for her chick while Jimmy happily played with the coat hanger from Paddington’s outfit as he waited.

Then would you believe it, she went back to the initial suggestion from me and opted wet weather gear with the rain coat, hat and wellies!

I thought that was it and the experience was over which would have been fine, we’d had a lovely time already and really enjoyed ourselves but I didn’t realise there was more to come for the bears had to be registered on-line. This is in order for them to get a birth certificate and for the children to play on-line in ‘Bearville‘, an interactive games area on ‘Build a Bear’s’ website! This is obviously something for the older children to do on their own and sounds like a fab idea. Florence hasn’t forgotten though so I said we will do it together when we have quiet moments. There are lots of games to play and it looks like it’d be loads of fun for the little ones and a way of keeping the experience going even when home. Once you register your bear in the shop for his birth certificate it also means that if you ever lose the bear and someone takes it into a ‘Build a Bear Workshop’ then they can contact you to say your bear’s been found! Like micro chipping a pet, what a good idea!

Florence’s new wet weather chick gets given the name ‘Bearie’ ready for the birth certificate to be printed.

And then it was time to leave but not before picking up Bearie and Paddington’s birth certificates and boxes. The next member of staff we met, Katia, made sure the fun was still happening right until the last-minute and as she popped up each bear’s box she asked Florence to blow in order to help pop it up which we thought was great fun!

Florence blows to help pop her bear’s box up!

And then Katia stopped the whole shop to ask everyone to put their hands on their hearts and make a vow to look after the new bears! It was brilliant and what an experience for the little ones!

My Mum and Florence make the vow with Katia!

It was such a lovely experience and we came away with two new, but to be well-loved, bears! We even came away with some glittery Easter craft sets which they are giving away free with purchases over £20 at the moment! It was a really special and fun thing to do and it absolutely doesn’t have to be a mega expensive one! You can of course spend as much as you like but it can also be done on a budget and I don’t think it would be hard to skim over some of the extras without the children even noticing. The staff are quite discreet and also very helpful with their advice as to what is best for which age group. Thank you Build A Bear, Maria, Katia and especially Simon for our fun morning! Not that the fun is finished of course… Florence had a firm hold of both bears until we got home then got her one out for her and helped Jimmy get his Paddington out too. They’ve been playing with them ever since!

They come in these great house boxes!

Florence loves to dress and un dress her toys so I’ve told her we’ll go back for treats to buy Bearie other outfits. It’s great that you can do that and buy accessories like a pass port when you go on holiday! Jimmy really likes his Paddington too (who is almost the same size as him), here he is wearing Paddington’s hat!

I was not paid to write this article but I was invited to experience the ‘Build a Bear’ experience as part of this review. All opinions are entirely my own.