Tips for Children’s Retail Stores

The market for kid’s products has skyrocketed in the last 20 years. The baby boomer generation, with a higher average income, and their wealthier children will pay higher prices for their children. When you consider the grandparents and other relatives on top of that, you will see that a very healthy group of consumers waits to compensate the serious retail entrepreneur. Conditions are better than ever in selling merchandise for babies and children, so naturally a plethora of specialty stores have come to existence that are either devoted to juvenile merchandise or have a section of their store for such products.
Unfortunately, many retailers do not profit accordingly because they fail to merchandise correctly. The major retail chains have a strong hold on this market, so it is important to know how to compete. The concentration of these major stores is focused on lower-end products, so sellers with a smaller store will need to offer something different. You cannot compete with the big names in low-end merchandise because they can always undercut your price. The safest inventories to carry are medium to high-end products. Keeping the inventory small but high in quality is the best-case scenario. You will be surprised at how customers are willing to pay more for superior, carefully selected products.
There must be a few attention-grabbing products to draw the customers to your store or department. It is good to pay a high price for a piece that will add the right flare to your store. Atmosphere will always draw consumer traffic through your doors, and it does not matter if no one ever buys that expensive piece. Now that they are in the door, they will be interested in your other reasonably priced products.
Expensive displays also serve another purpose. A buyer’s sense of price is easily appealed when a high price is the first one they see. Finding products at better prices the longer they stay is a sure way to close a sale. This is quite opposite to the tactics of major corporations, but you will find that it works much better for smaller retail stores.
You must keep track of the trends in children’s products. Fashion for clothes, style for furniture, and new developments in childcare are the subjects in which a juvenile retailer must be submerged. Color is also a subject to investigate. The current most popular baby color is pink, so perhaps a pink section of the store is appropriate.
These few helpful tips scratch the surface of ways to create or reinvent your children’s retail store or department. Thinking further along these lines will give you great insight so as to truly compete with those bigger powers in the kid’s product market.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of decorative childrens clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlykidshangers.com.

Baby Clothes Home Display

To add a touch of heritage to a child’s room, why not display some of their own baby clothing. These little memories of made of cloth look great on a display hanging rack made for a tabletop or dresser. As the child grows older they will love to use their own clothes for their dolls to play dress up. To make your own display rack, these are the things you will need:
• 2 porch spindles
• scrap wood
• hanging rod (for a closet; a wooden dowel will also serve)
• screws
• drill with screw bit
• scrap fabric
• spray adhesive
• 2 rosettes (used for closet bars)
• wood glue
• 2 decorative knobs
• paint (color is your choice; you can also use a wood stain if the wood is nude)
Take the porch spindles that you might have purchased at Home Depot or somewhere similar and paint them whatever color you wish, keeping in mind the colors of your child’s room or furniture. Then, cut two pieces of wood for the base of the rack and the top. The size depends on the size of rack you wish to build. To hold three or for garments, the base should probably be about 18x8 inches. Set aside the top piece for now. Fasten the spindles to the base using screws through the bottom of the base. To make sure that the base will not scratch your furniture, attach a piece of fabric to the bottom with adhesive. Sit the rack upright and screw on the rosettes. Now place the bar on the rosettes as you wood in a normal closet. Take the top piece of wood and fasten it to the spindles with screws. Lastly, you can glue the knobs on top of the rack as decoration. Of course you can be creative and pick any decorative items you wish.
Now you have made a fun new display rack for your children’s clothes. Place your kid’s clothes on the rod using baby clothes hangers, and the project is complete (wooden hangers may be the most decorative). Perhaps you will keep it in their room or perhaps you want it for your own. It quite possibly will become a family relic that will go on for generations.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of decorative childrens clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlykidshangers.com.

A Neater Kid Closet

The dreaded closet is often the greatest disaster of a kid’s bedroom. Toys, clothes, shoes, toys, hats, costumes, toys, games, and more toys strewn haphazardly in piles only contained by that tightly shut closet door. Of course, this calamity cannot all be faulted to the child. In fact children are often just as afflicted by a messy environment and would much rather their space be clean, but they do not know how to effectively organize. It is up to the parent to design a kid friendly closet. Not until this happens can the child be blamed for their monster closet.
Before you tackle this job, clear out the closet entirely with you child so that you can sort what needs to be thrown away, and what should go somewhere other than the closet. Organizing clothes so that they are sorted and each piece of clothing has a special place is important. Making dividers for the hanging rod will help terrifically. Punch holes in pieces of craft foam and thread a pipe cleaner through each hole. Twist the pipe cleaner back on itself. Use a colorful marker to put the category on each piece of craft foam and twist the end of each pipe cleaner around the closet rod. You might use a color-coding system for younger kids. It is also important to use the appropriate children’s hangers so that kids can easily fit their clothes on the hangers. Their smaller hands and garments need to work with something more manageable. Adding another rod to reduce cramped clothes is another great idea. This is not an expensive addition and will make it simpler for your child. With more rod space, they do not have to smash their clothes between other clothes to get them hung.
Shoes are the next to defeat. Instead of having a shoe pocket organizer or even a shelf for shoes, use a basket. Most kids are more likely to toss things that stuff them, and it takes to much coordination and effort to put shoes in individual pockets. Find a large enough basket for there shoes and teach them to toss all they want. Yes, the shoes will be a little muddled, but at least they will be in one space.
A hanging storage bag is also vital for a kid’s closet space. As I said before, kids toss, and that is exactly the theory behind hanging bags. It can almost be a game to put the right objects or clothes in the bags. Bags are great for toy storage as many toys roll or will not stay easily on a shelf. Provide a step stool for your child to reach the upper shelves. Kids love to climb, and a stepstool will utilize this fascination as productive tool. Of course you should go over any safety issues involving a step stool before leaving it in your child’s room. These upper shelves are better to put items that are not used everyday. They will have a special place on these shelves so that they are very deliberately put away.
Lastly, install plenty of closet hooks for those many hang-up items such as jackets, backpacks, or purses. Make sure the hooks are not sharp and are well labeled, and you are ready to go. The closet does not have to be a hidden nightmare, rather, let it be the perfect place for your child’s processions.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of decorative childrens clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlykidshangers.com.

How to Keep Kids Safe in Your Own Home

Household products account for over 32,000 serious injuries to the eye every year, and more than half of those occurrences happen to those under the age of 25. Children that have no supervision in the home are the most likely victims to these kinds of injuries, but it is not possible to always have and eye on your child, especially if there are more than one around the house at the same time. Statistics show that more accidents occur near the home than any other place, so it is time to make your house a safe place for the ones you love the most.
Different areas of the house pose possible threats to your family’s safety. In the bathroom and kitchen you should tell your children not to run with sharp objects, such as scissors, forks, or knives. Be sure to but any detergents or cleaning supplies behind a locked door or a child proof cabinet, and set a good example by wearing proper eye protection when cleaning the oven or using any of the cleaning supplies that use ammonia.
In the bedroom make certain that all clothes hangers remain in the closet when not in use. Clothes hangers are a common product that punctures the eye to cause injury. Hangers with a folded end to the hook or plastic and wooden hangers are a good idea. Using actual children’s hangers for their clothes will help tremendously as well, as these products are produced with safety in mind. Keep small or pointed toys out of your children’s bed. If they go unnoticed at bedtime, the child can easily roll over onto the object. If you have especially young children, you should also keep them away from hairspray, brushes, and combs.
In the playroom or living room, it is so important to teach children to put toys away. A cluttered environment is far more likely to produce an injury. Keep big kid toys away from the younger ones, and remind kids never to throw the toys at each other. Do not keep broken toys around the house. You should either repair them or through them away.
More safety issues reside outside the house, in the yard, workshop, or backyard. In these places, keep kids away from lawn equipment. Search the area for rocks, sticks and other debris, and wear safety eyewear as an example when handling lawn equipment or products. Keep any workshop tools out of the reach of children and keep children away from power tools at all times. When it is time to play in the backyard, encourage the use of eyewear for the kids. Baseball, basketball, and other kinds of contact sports often result in eye injury. It is a good idea to make a list of safety rules that your children can follow. They will be far more willing to comply if they are part of the rule making process. Your kids need to know that safety rules are not just for them and that they too can think of ways to be safe at home. This kind of healthy communication can be the best way to keep your kids safe from injury.
About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of decorative childrens clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlykidshangers.com.

What To Do with All Those Beanie Babies

Is your child wild about Beanie Babies? Do you find them all over the house and don’t know what to do with all of them? Well, here is a great activity that your kids will love, and that can solve the Beanie Baby piles in the house.
Organizing and displaying these little guys can be a real pain, but a Beanie Baby Holder can make all the difference. Here is what you will need to get started:
• 18x36 inch piece of felt (or however long you want the holder to be)
• One Plastic clothes hanger
• Craft glue or a glue gun
• Fabric scraps in various colors
• Heavy books or other flat weights
• Glitter, buttons, lace, etc. for decoration
This is so simple that you will want to get your kids involved. Most kids love to make houses, clothes, and holders for their toys, so this holder for their Beanie Babies will be great fun. To begin, spread the 18x36 inch piece of felt on a flat surface such as your kitchen table, and then set the plastic hanger at one end of the felt. The hook of the hanger should hang off one of the 18” sides so that the rest of the hanger is resting on the felt. Next, you or your child can spread glue on both of the felt corners that lay on either side of the hanger’s hook (it is not advisable to allow our children to use a hot glue gun until they are of an age that is conscious of the heat produced by the gun). Make sure to spread the glue all along the sides of these corners until you reach where the hanger rests on the felt. Now take the corners and fold them over the shoulders of the hanger so that they touch back to the felt. Press hard on the felt to adhere the glue and place heavy books over the felt to allow the glue to dry. Before you continue, make sure the glue is completely dry.
The next part of making your holder is to cut out however pieces of fabric for the number of pockets you want the holder to have. Each should be at least 5-6 inches squared in order to fit a Beanie Baby inside. Turn the felt over so the glued corners are now on the bottom and you only see the hook of the hanger coming out the top of the felt. Arrange each piece of fabric on the felt in a pattern that suites you or your child. Spread glue along the sides and bottom of the back of each piece of fabric and press them to the desired place on the felt. Again, take heavy books or some other weight and place them on top of the pockets to allow for drying.
When everything is dry, it is time to decorate. This is the point in the project when the kid should really take over to make the project his or her own. Let them use glitter, beads, buttons, string, paint, or whatever you wish to create a decorative masterpiece. When they are all done, each Beanie Baby will have a pocket to live in, and the hanger can hang in the closet or anywhere in the room for display. What a creative way to show off their collection!
About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of decorative childrens clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlykidshangers.com.

Keep the Kid’s Bedrooms Clean (with a little help from them)

One of the most common reasons for children not cleaning their room is that their bedroom is not equipped to easily put things away. With a few simple bedroom improvements your kids will not only find it easier to clean, but they will also take ownership and responsibility of their part of the house.
Children’s clothes cause most of the strife in keeping the bedroom tidy, so making their closet and drawer space easy to use is important. First, the hanging rods in the closet are often two high for children to use. Lowering them is not complicated and will cost you very little money to do. Both brackets and rods are not expensive, and you only need a screwdriver to install them. Secondly, the hangers your kids use need to be a size and shape that make it easy for them to put their clothes away. The hangers might even be colored or decorated to make clean up time fun.
Make sure that everything in your child’s room has a place. For example, toys go in the trunk and coats hang on the hooks by the door. Labeling shelves, hooks, and drawers with cartoon pictures, colors, or words will help them remember where everything goes and can also become a fun came of memory. The largest storage place in the room needs to be for dirty clothes. The bigger and lower the basket is, the more likely a child will use it, and the same is true of a wastebasket. If these baskets are two small, clothes and other objects will quickly begin to pile up on the floor. The same may be true in your own bedroom, so it is good to provide a good example for them and keep your own bedroom clean. If there is not enough space for all of your child’s things to have a place, consider purchasing organizing containers or add-on drawers to go under the bed.
These are just a few incredibly simple ways to get your kids involved in taking care of the house. By exercising these suggestions and continuing to think of new ways to make clean up simpler, you can eliminate many of the issues that keep families from having more quality time with each other. When considering how to keep your house neat and organized, remember to communicate clearly, lead by example, and provide a suitable environment for your children to be effective helpers.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of decorative childrens clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlykidshangers.com>.

Dress Up Clothes Hangers

Let’s play dress up! But this time set aside the dolls and Barbie and pick up your ordinary clothes hangers. Organizing the closet meets interior design with this easy craft project, and when you finish, you might have a few less Christmas gifts to buy.
In no time at all, you can make a collection of colorful padded hangers with a small cost in materials. This is all you need:
1. Plastic hangers
2. 12 or more plastic shopping bags per hanger
3. Tape (scotch is preferable)
4. 4 ½ yards of ribbon (1 ½ inches wide) per hanger
The most expensive item in this list will be the ribbon, so to save on cost you might get creative (like using strips of cotton cloth instead). Any material that has the color and design you like can be used as long as it is an inch and half wide or so. Ribbon is simply more convenient because it can be purchased at the width, length, color, and design that you want.
Once you gather up all of these items you are ready to start hanging your clothes in style. You should begin by wrapping plastic bags evenly around each hanger, using small pieces of tape to attach both ends of the bag to the hanger. Then, wrap the ribbon that you collected around the padding that you just created with the plastic bags. It is best to start at the base of the hanger’s hook and leave an extra 12 inches of ribbon to use for tying a bow at the top of the hanger later on. Make sure that the ribbon hides the plastic padding by overlapping the ribbon on itself. When the hanger is completely wrapped with ribbon and you arrive back at the hook of the hanger, cut the ribbon so that you have another 12 inch tail. To finish off the project, tie the two 12 inch pieces of ribbon into a tight bow. This will keep the ribbon from unwinding itself and also add the final decoration for your new padded hangers.
Dressing up hangers is a great activity for all ages. It is so fun for kids and easily altered for the more avid craft maker. Ornaments and rhinestones around the bow and different layers of ribbon for a multi-colored effect are just a couple of simple additions that truly personalize your hangers. So whether you are creating a themed playroom or spicing up your coat closet for a dinner party, dress up your hangers for a quick fun craft.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of decorative childrens clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlykidshangers.com.

A Tennis Racket Made from Clothes Hangers

This is a fun project that will keep the kids entertained long after the project itself is completed. You will need panty hose, a wire coat hanger, and duct tape.

Take the wire coat hanger and bend it into a diamond shape. Squeeze together the bottom three inches or so of the diamond (the hook of the coat hanger will be below the portion that you squeezed together).

Cut one leg off of the panty hose, and pull this down over the diamond shaped coat hanger. Tape the bottom with duct tape to secure it. Also tape the handle of the racket, which is the portion that you squeezed together.

Your racket is complete! Use it to lob badminton birdies back and forth.

For added fun, you can decorate one side of the racket (this would be the side you do not hit the badminton birdies with). You can use wiggly eyes, construction paper that is glued to the panty hose, yarn, buttons, or anything else that comes to mind. If using construction paper, of course have your child color or paint the construction paper with an original design. Also, you can use glitter, ribbons, bows, and the like.

You can either use an existing badminton net, or get creative. A laundry line will work, or even a stationary object to hit over such as a parked car. Of course, none of this is necessary at all – lots of fun can be had just hitting the badminton birdies back and forth to each other!

You can make up games and contests as well. For example, you can have juggling competitions where you see who can “juggle” the badminton birdie the most times by hitting them vertically over and over again, similar to juggling a soccer ball with your feet. You can play with multiple players, either in teams, or “passing the potato” in a predetermined order. The possibilities are endless, the only limitation is your imagination!

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of OnlyKidsHangers, a leading provider of decorative childrens clothes hangers. For more information, please visit http://www.onlykidshangers.com/.