Games, Playthings and Plush

The Best for Babies (From page 177) more. “Especially for gifts, grandmothers don’t really care that we’re a little bit more expensive,” she added. “They know you get what you pay for.”

Smith launched a website so her customers could shop online during the pandemic, but as Covid fears have ebbed, she’s pleased to see more of her customers shopping in the store. The prime grandmother demographic was never a fan of online retail, she added, “and everybody missed coming in to see and touch things in person.”

At Little Story’s Boutique in Leavenworth, Kansas, Owner Katee Afeldt said shoppers have been snapping up novelty rattles attached to plush or crocheted

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figurines. She also sells a lot of handmade plush baby dolls “that are similar to a stuffed animal, and a lot easier than a plastic doll for the littler babies,” Afeldt observed. “People give them around six months, when babies can sit up and hold on to them and then grow up with that little doll.”

But washable books might just be the top baby toys at Afeldt’s 1,200-square-foot boutique. “I cannot keep them on in stock! Pretty much the minute they hit the shelf, they move right out the door,” she said. The combination of book and bath toy has proven irresistible for gift shoppers torn between them. “Washable books are great because they’re just a little bit more versatile,” Afeldt observed. ❖