Products for parents of babies and children
The Essential Bag Company
Founded and run by Alexis Goldfinch, mum of two and an ex-city lawyer who gave up her job when she got pregnant with her second child, the business was launched in February 2015. The Essential Bag company specialises in creating gifts to celebrate the arrival of a new baby. The company only sells luxury gifts from brands you know and trust e.g. Petit Bateau, Rachel Riley, Aspinal of London, Charbonnel et Walker, Crabtree & Evelyn and instead of putting the gifts in a wicker basket or gift box, the gifts are presented in a stylish changing bag (from brands such as PacaPod, Storksak and Babymel). You also have the option of creating your own bag by choosing the contents or you can select one of their ready made bags.
The collection includes Mother to Be Bags, New Mother Bags and New Baby Bags which are often bought as gifts for colleagues, family and friends.
The company also offer pre-packed hospital bags (bought usually by the mother or their partner), New Father Bags (male changing bags with gifts for New Fathers) and Big Brother/Sister Bags, a great gift for the older sibling when the new baby arrives.
More details can be found on her website: http://www.essentialbagcompany.co.uk/
Bouncy Jam
‘Mumpreneur’ Sarah Kerr launched her company Bouncy Jam Ltd in 2014. At the time her children (a boy and a girl) were three and two and she wanted to build a business that would allow her to be a full time Mum to her little ones. Armed with a number of ideas for products she wished she could buy (but either weren’t available in the UK or simply didn’t exist) she launched www.cheekyelephant.co.uk and www.eatwell-uk.co.uk (selling the Yumbox lunchbox and the Tidy Table Tray).
The Reward Box is the first of her own products to be developed. Put simply The Reward Box takes the concept of a reward chart and makes it more fun. Children can choose between a gorgeous wooden fairy house or a cool pirates treasure chest. Over time they can collect wooden, star shaped, tokens as they meet agreed behavioural goals / complete chores etc. After a period (usually weekly), if they have collected enough tokens, they can request their magical friends to come in the night and swap these tokens for a small treat or reward (for more information please visit www.therewardbox.co.uk).
The Reward Box is a concept Sarah has used with her own children since they were very little (using a simple wooden box) and one that has proven to be successful time after time in managing everyday behaviour through to helping with potty training and bedtime. Seeing this idea develop into The Reward Box has been a tremendously exciting journey and one she is keen to repeat with another of her ideas in 2016.
Milestone Press UK
Mumpreneur Annabel Cornfoot is an Australian living in London. This is what she had to say about her truly lovely record books and diaries. “I started my business with my sister in law almost 10 years ago when we noticed a gap in the market for baby record books. At the time I was working as a sales rep for a Chinese Printing Factory and a Paper Merchant based in Australia. We thought that with my experience and Fiona’s skills we could create the best baby book ever……which we believe we did. I have 3 daughters, (11, 9 and 7). Our first shipment of Baby Books arrived in Australia when I was 36 weeks pregnant with my middle daughter. We chose the name “Milestone Press” because we thought our products would be recording the “Milestones” and “Press” because they are paper products. A Book About Me was our first product. It is a gender neutral, flexible baby book. It can suit all families as you can add and remove pages. Over time we have refreshed the design a couple of times and have added personalised spines as well as more downadable pages. Over the past 10 years as our children got older we noticed that there were more products that we could add to our collection. My School Days in a school record book which is for the children themselves to fill out. We also created a family diary called The Master Plan. Who says a diary has to be boring! It is a beautiful diary that has an interesting layout that can suit a family of up to 6 people. People are very passionate about our diaries which is exciting! We love getting feedback which allows us to constantly improve our products. Around 4 years ago I became the sole director of Milestone Press. Almost 2.5 years ago my husband was given the opportunity to relocate to London from Brisbane in Australia. We thought that this would be a wonderful experience for our family and have thoroughly enjoyed our decision. I was excited about bringing my brand Milestone Press to the UK. I am currently trying to increase by brand awareness but it is exciting that we have around 15 stores in the UK that stock our products”.
For more information visit her website: http://milestonepress.com.au/
