Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Looking for a place to take the kids to see Santa Claus (sit on his lap, get picture taken) in the Santa Ynez Valley or Santa Barbara County? You’ve probably discovered that Santa is absent from those areas this year. For those who have driven all over Santa Barbara looking for the missing Kris Kringle, (he used to be at La Cumbra Mall), look no further!

Have no fear — Santa Claus is here! In the Santa Maria Town Center Mall that is. Brand new remodeling has upgraded this mall to a higher quality standard (under the new ownership). They have a great place to visit SANTA, right across from the new TOM’S TOYS downstairs next to Fred Meyers Jewelers.

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Tutus for the Holidays

Christmas Tutus from Castles N Crowns Boutique will be back in stock December 1.  They have been out of red tulle, but the new shipment is expected just in time for the holidays!

Toms Toys Santa Maria is Open!

Toms Toys, the newest independent specialty toystore on the Central Coast, is sparkling clean and filled with toys, just in time for the holidays! It’s a ‘real’ toystore, a ‘good, old-fashioned toystore’.

Click on any photo below to see a larger image. (All photos (c) Copyright Tricia, StarToyCo Blog, and Castles N Crowns.com. Please Link back to this blog and give photo credit if you use our pictures):

We have a good selection of PLAYMOBIL and Giant PLUSH Stuffed Animals.

Manager Mike manages both the San Luis Obispo store and the Santa Maria toystore.

Toys for all ages: We’ll be getting in many more baby and toddler toys as our holiday shipments start arriving.

Stuffed Plush Animals are always popular, and come in every size.

German Schleich animals, elves, and other collectibles are all hand painted and favored by kids from 3 to 93.

On your way to a birthday party? Purchase your birthday gifts here and Tricia or one of our other associates will be glad to wrap your gifts for you — and it’s free!

Personalized Name Mugs are a big hit! If we don’t have the name you need, you can special order ANY name.

Bruder Trucks (from Germany) look ‘just like the real thing’ — We also have Monster Trucks, Hot Wheels, and Die-Cast cars.

Girls love our Calico Critters from Cloverleaf Corners, as well as our Barbie dolls and Corolle Dolls (with their signature french vanilla scent).

LEGO fans will be excited to see our Lego selection — from Star Wars to Racers, to City building and more. We also have Action Figures such as Power Rangers, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, Spiderman.

We have a whole wall full of board games for adults and kids…

Not Shown — Our Arts & Crafts, Learning Activity Workbooks, Melissa and Doug Wooden Puzzles, Infant Toys, Outdoor Toys, Classic Toys (SLINKY!) and so much more…

So please stop by and visit Tom’s Toys in Santa Maria at the newly remodeled Town Center Shopping Mall. Don’t forget the OFFICIAL GRAND OPENING is this Saturday. Check the local papers for our weekly or monthly sales ads and save even more!

Tom’s Toys new location is open

The San Luis Obispo Tom’s Toys had a lot of extra toys in stock, so we took a truck load over to the new Santa Maria location.

The new toystore space started off as an empty rectangle, but the Mall owners cleaned it up, painted it designer colors (love it!) and filled it with large shelves deep enough to hold our biggest toys!

The toystore was under construction for only a few weeks…

And very quickly it was ready to fill…

The entire process from owner discussions to filling the store only took one month!

Five locations full of fun toys: The newest is Santa Maria, then San Luis Obispo, and down south in L.A. Area is Montrose and Beverly Hills. There is also a Redlands World Discoveries location.

GRAND OPENING THIS WEEKEND: SATURDAY/SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20-21, 2009. Costumed Characters, Toys Sales, Free Pizza!

Grand Opening Tom’s Toys Santa Maria CA

(c) photo copyright StarToyCo.wordpress.com

Tom’s Toys in San Luis Obispo is a favorite specialty/independent toystore on California’s Central Coast. Toy shoppers will love having a new Tom’s Toys located just 40 min. south in Santa Maria’s Town Center Mall. The mall is undergoing a major renovation and Tom’s Toys is a main draw!

Under construction for the last month, the store is now open 7 days a week (M-Sa 10-6, Sun 11-5), but the Grand Opening will be held on SATURDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2009.

Lots of great sales, costumed characters, and free pizza will make this family event even more fun.

Sale Example: Power Rangers Action Figures that were priced at $8.99-$14 are now only $3.99!

Tom’s Toys Opens a New Store in Santa Maria

(c) (photo property of this Star Toy Co Blog – shows Tom’s Toys San Luis Obispo stuffed snake toys hanging on wall spelling out name)

The Santa Maria Town Center Mall is undergoing a fabulous transformation under it’s new ownership. The goal seems to be turning it into not just a shopping experience, but a family event. We took our grandkids there the other day and they had a lot of fun.

Many new businesses are coming to the Town Center Mall (east) including TOM’S TOYS. Tom’s Toys is an independently owned old-fashioned kind of toystore with a mix of specialty toys and mainstream toys.

What makes a specialty toystore different from a big box store? Well for one, the customer service extras: On your way to a birthday party? Purchase your gift at Tom’s Toys and ask if they can wrap it for you FREE! It’s what they do!

Tom’s Toys is no longer owned by ‘Tom’, who used to call it Uncle Tom’s Toys.  Ted Frankel has been the owner for the last 30 years or so. Ted likes offering great deals and frequent sales to his customers.

Besides the new Santa Maria CA store opening soon, Tom’s Toys is also located in San Luis Obispo on Higuera Street (see photo above), and in Montrose and Beverly Hills. Each store has it’s own unique personality and variety of toys to choose from.

Cotton Costume Sale 50% to 90% Off

Pre AFTER HALLOWEEN COSTUME SALE at Castles N Crowns .com

All of Harrisons Halloween Costumes are ON SALE HERE, at greatly reduced prices for their entire DESIGNER LINE OF COTTON BABY COSTUMES. Prices start at $1.00!

Styles include (size not age 0-6 months):

Frankenbaby (cutest design)

Dracula Vampire (most clever design)

Spider (most popular gender-neutral design for both boys and girls)

Vampira (girl spider dress design)

Witchie (most popular girl design)

Baby Capes (0-12 months: $1)

Baby Witch Hats (0-4 months: $1 and 0-9 months: $1)

Update on Contest Winner #3 – Leslie of Madera CA won! Thanks to all who entered the contest hosted by the Green Halloween organization and Celebrate Green organization.

Don’t call them Onesies

This is not a onesie!

Onesies(TM) are actually a trademarked name of the Gerber company’s bodysuit for infants. We always thought a onesie was like a t-shirt, simply a common name for a piece of clothing, like pants or socks or jeans. (Or maybe like some people say kleenex, when they mean tissue).

Several children’s clothing companies have been notified by Gerber to remove/change any reference to Onesie or onesie on their websites if those items are not Gerber brand Onesies (TM). We will gladly do the same.

Our Harrisons Halloween 100% Cotton Adorable Spooky Baby Halloween Costumes will no longer be described as including a onesie — instead they include a ONE PIECE BODYSHIRT.

Sorry Gerber! We never meant to use a word that does not belong to us! We think we have corrected every usage of that term on our website and our blogs. If we’ve missed any, it was unintentional and in error — we’ve looked and reviewed, and honestly think we corrected all references… If not, we hope our readers will point them out to us, with our thanks.

We love Gerber products and the famous ONESIE! We just happen to sell our own brand which will no longer use that term, and apologize for our misunderstanding of that terminology.

FREE BABY VAMPIRE Boy or Girl 100% Cotton Costumes

If you have a new baby ages 0-6 months (or size 0-6 months) and are in need of a free halloween costume, you might want to look at this:

Harrisons Halloween Costumes (sold online at Castles N Crowns) is offering a free 100% Cotton “Adorable Spooky Baby Costume”, one per family. Just write to them at harrisonshalloweencostumes at yahoo dot com and tell them why you’d like a free vampire or vampira cotton costume.

There is no charge for the brand new designer costume (reg. price $24.95), but you will have to pay $6.95 shipping via credit or debit card through a paypal invoice (you do Not need a paypal account).

THE FREE COSTUMES ARE EITHER BOY VAMPIRE OR GIRL VAMPIRA only. Deadline: Monday October 12, 2009.

If you would like to purchase other cotton baby costumes from Harrisons Halloween and Castles N Crowns, they also offer Witchie girl, FrankenBaby and Spider, SOLD HERE.

FREE LOCAL COSTUME GIVEAWAY

Harrisons Halloween would like to donate some of their 100% COTTON Harrisons Halloween Costumes (“Adorable Spooky Baby Costumes for Baby’s First Halloween”) to non-profit organizations who might be interested in giving them away or using for fundraisers. Sizes: Newborn to 6 months only. Deadline: Monday October 12, 2009.

According to the organization Green Halloween dot org, these are the only Non-Petroleum Based Infant Cotton Costumes on the market today.

You will need to email us your contact name and information, including your organization’s website. Also let us know how these infant costumes can help your organization or your fundraiser. You will also need to email (or bring in person) a Tax Donation Letter on your official letterhead.

Retail Value of each costume is $24.99 each. These are Designer Costumes, designed by Santa Barbara mom and imported for affordability.

They do giveaways every year and in the past have been taken advantage of by people who give out false information — this year they will require your tax ID number and will need to verify everything before they make the donation. Donation quantities up to 40 per organization. Let us know how many you need. Please only take as many as you can use.

They would also be glad to donate to needy individuals (only one or two per person), but please only if you really have a baby in the 0-6 months age range. Tell us a little about yourself and why you would like one of these costumes for your baby.

If you would like to read about the costumes and see more photos, please go to the Harrisons Halloween blog at:
http://harrisonshalloweencostumes.wordpress.com/

5 Styles to choose from:
Frankenstein
Count Dracula Vampire
Scary Spider
Witchie (Girl dress up to 9 months)
Vampira (girl dress up to 9 months)

Harrisons Halloween – Costumes For Your Little Monster! Baby’s First Halloween Costume in 100% Cotton. Adorably Spooky Baby Costumes. FREE TO NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.

NOTE: Must pick up in person locally in Buellton CA.

Posted on Santa Barbara Craigslist here.

If you are interested in purchasing these costumes at retail price, please BUY HERE.

If you would like to purchase in BULK (low min. of 10 or more) at a LESS THAN WHOLESALE discount, please email us at harrisonshalloweencostumes at yahoo dot com. No resale number required.