Jul 10, 2012

Three Spring 2012 Contests Easily Award Choose Friendship’s Bracelet Maker Traveler

One-size-fits-all sometimes applies to toys as one hand-made craft kit wowed three different industry competitions looking for very different criteria as the best in its field. Choose Friendship Company’s popular My Friendship Bracelet Maker Traveler was awarded three national titles this season — Sterling Fun, Fun Stuff and Best Vacation Children’s Product by prestigious (and picky) Tillywig Toy Awards, Parents’ Choice Foundation and Dr. Toy.

The judges’ reviews, listed below, all agreed that this was one fun and portable party pleaser — whether for a party of one or a whole carload of kids.

My Friendship Bracelet Maker Traveler • $16.99 • Ages 6+
Parents’ Choice Foundation Approved •
Spring 2012 Toys category
“With summer nearly here, many of us have already begun our frantic searches for travel activities, rainy day crafts and down-right boredom busters. Enter My Friendship Bracelet Maker Traveler to rescue us from hours of “Are we there yet?” “Stop touching me!” and “I’m bored!” The My Friendship Bracelet Maker Traveler features a clip to hold the strings, string holders at the bottom to prevent tangling during knotting and a pull out drawer to hold threads; it even comes with twenty brightly colored pre-cut threads so that it is ready-to-go right out of the box. Not only did the kit have me at “self- contained,” but it focuses on values such as friendship and artistic creativity. Beyond these social values, working on the craft can help hone hand-eye coordination, patience, sequencing and fine- motor skills.”

Tillywig Toy Awards • Sterling Fun Award Winner
“Make friendship bracelets with an international flair, using My Friendship Bracelet Maker Traveler. Perfect for backpacks and carry-ons, this compact kit contains everything you need to craft gorgeous bracelets. Choose from 20 precut Prism embroidery threads (in 10 different colors) stored in the internal thread organizing drawer. The kit’s beautiful surface, with the word ‘friend’ displayed in numerous languages, is your cleverly designed workshop. A built-in clip with a globe design anchors one end of your bracelet-in-progress while you work with up to 5 threads at a time. Numbered slots ingeniously hold the other end of the threads in place, keeping everything organized from start to finish. It’s all so easy. Step-by-step instructions have you looking and feeling like a pro in no time, making bracelets your friends will adore! 

Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Children’s Product for 2012
“My Friendship Bracelet Maker® goes global with the TravelerTM! Great for backpacks and carry- ons, this fun and friendly go-anywhere travel buddy puts an international twist on the message of friendship. Crafters will appreciate the globe clip that keeps bracelet in place during knotting. Clever numbered slots keep colored threads organized. The nifty slide-out storage drawer features 20 pre-cut Prism® embroidery threads in 10 different colors. For all products, the easy-to- understand instructions on how to thread the loom and tie basic knots are included. For more visual ideas, users can log on to the company website for how-to videos and lessons. Choose Friendship is not only the craft kit company’s name, but also its mission bringing innovation to simple crafting techniques. The joy of the product line is its ability to teach kids the importance of friends and self- expression. The company has created charitable causes that touch children in every community to let them know they’re not alone; not only are others living with the same fear and uncertainty, but also that these special children are loved and supported by a larger community. In addition to craft kits and charitable causes, the company launched an anti-bullying, pro-friendship song and music video titled “Inside Out” by Michigan tween performer Marisa Nahas, an up-and-coming star in the music industry.”

Parents’ Choice Foundation recommends toys with staying power, books with honesty and integrity of characters, illustration of elegance and imagination, music that families can sing together, storytelling that teaches us lessons from lands and cultures close and far away, magazines that do not mask editorial content in advertising, television that teaches with civility and not chaos, and software and videogames that encourage sharpening skills not leveling landscapes.

A Sterling Fun nod from Tillywig Toy Awards means this product features exceptional quality and bold originality. Each year, Tillywig delivers to consumers, retailers, and the media the best new toys, games, and other products available in the United States. In addition to the evaluation of products, the Tillywig program also awards a small number of retail stores each year for their ongoing contributions to promoting high quality, innovative new products. Product awards are given on the basis of group play tests, the primary purpose of which is evaluating the entertainment and/or educational value of the products submitted.

Dr. Toy, Stevanne Auerbach, PhD, is one of the world’s leading experts on play, toys, and children’s products. With 30 years of direct experience, Dr. Auerbach includes educationally oriented, developmental and skill building products from the best large and small companies in her four annual award programs: Best Classic Toys, Best Vacation Products, 100 Best Children’s Products, and Smart Play Products of Excellence. Over 80,000 people a day visit Dr. Toy’s online guide.

About Choose Friendship Company
Originally known as Crorey Creations, the Choose Friendship Company manufactures the innovative craft kit called My Friendship Bracelet Maker®, (MyFBM), and several other products in the Maker collection. Invented for his granddaughters by David Crorey, a retired auto industry executive with an engineering background, My Friendship Bracelet Maker offers an easy, organized and portable way to create friendship bracelets, a favorite craft tradition of girls and teens, and in-be-“tweens.”

Because friendship bracelets have long been an international symbol of friendship, the company has established quarterly Choose Friendship campaigns encouraging support networks between kids across the country. After great success with the “Red, White and Blue, Kids Serve Too!” campaign where kids sent in red, white and blue friendship bracelets to children of military families, the popular “Pink and White, Kids Join the Fight!” campaign was a way to support kids in families dealing with breast cancer. “Embracing You With a Circle of Blue” reaches out to young people living with Type 1 diabetes. In 2012, an anti-bullying song & video titled “Inside Out,” sung by teen Marisa Nahas, will be released promoting the blessings of friends and the importance of choosing friendship over bullying. Watch their website for details of the first ever celebratory Friendship Ball. For more information on products, causes and community, visit their new website www.ChooseFriendship.com and their consumer website at myfbm.com.