The Toggery excitedly and officially celebrated the Grand Opening of our new store in Pleasant Ridge Town Center March 4-6. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the fun! We had tons of giveaways, including goody bags for customers who spent more than $100. 

Saturday was our big day - Kids Activity Day! We had a balloon artist, crafts, face painting and more! The store was bustling with balloon-clad children with brightly colored cheeks! We loved it! We hope you all had as much fun as we did, and by the looks of our pictures, you did!

To view these photos and more as a slideshow, click here: Grand Opening Slideshow.mov (4.56 mb)

Our balloon man was a big hit! From mermaids to crocodiles, flowers to hats, dogs to swords... we heard all kinds of requests! 

These beaming beauties are sporting BFF headbands from The Toggery, and the sweet sisters below wore their matching party dresses from our store!

We even had some triplets scoping out the party scene while Big Sister had her face painted!

Our face painters did a great job! Check out the cheeks on these cuties!

Oh, how we love seeing a crowd of happy kiddos in front of our store! If you look closely, you can see a little girl peeking in the front door windows!

Thank you again to everyone who joined us!

Grand Opening Slideshow.mov (4.56 mb)

 Have you joined The Toggery Book Club? At The Toggery, we pride ourselves on offering an expansive collection of books - from modern tales like Fancy Nancy to classics like Where the Wild Things Are. Not only do books deepen your child's imagination and vocabulary, but they provide a special moment of stillness and fun between reader and listener.

 That's why we love The Toggery Book Club. Each time you purchase a bundle of pages in one of our stores, we'll mark your club card. After five marks, you'll get the sixth book at half price! It's a great way to expand your library - or a friend's. (Books make great gifts!)

The feel of the pages, the gentle words, the colorful images and the sweet voice of the reader... they all make books a treasure for children. (And many of our books are entertaining for the adult reader too!)

Check out some of these Book Club favorites:

I Love It When You Smile

On the Night You Were Born (so sweet!)

Llama Llama Red Pajama

Goldilicious (along with the oh-so-cute Pinkalicious and Purplicious!)

Wheels on the Go! (one of my tiny nephew's favorites!)

Humpty Who?

Pop Warhol's Top (one of several artist-based stories)

Never Too Little to Love (so true.) 

These are just a few of the beloved books that can be found on our shelves. We are certain you'll love having them in yours. You can find more here and even more in our stores.

The Toggery Book Club is free and open to all of our shoppers. Just tell an employee you're interested - you'll soon be on your way to a half-price book for a full-scale imagination! 

 Our new store is open! Your children and grandchildren will love throwing pennies in our fountain and picking through pages in our comfy reading nook, and you will love our wide selection of adorable clothes, shoes, toys, books, school uniforms, accessories and more. We've also added special accents throughout the store, like our fun and personalized dressing rooms (with kiddie chandeliers!) Shoppers will also appreciate the stroller-friendly aisles, the spacious cashier's counter and the creatively-organized shelving.

There may be a lot of changes, but it's the same family store you've always found in The Toggery. Come in and see it for yourself!

And it's a great time to swing by! Starting Friday, Jan. 15,

all fall and holiday clothes are 50% off! Select shoes are 30 to 50% off!

The sale is under way in both stores. We're clearing out our fall and winter, as new spring styles are arriving daily!

Here's a sneak peek at our new location (and the goodies on the shelves and racks!)

(If you're new to the blog, you can find more information about the new store by scrolling down through our most recent blog posts!)

 As always, thanks for reading, and happy shopping!

The Toggery at Pleasant Ridge Town Center is officially OPEN! We kindly ask you to bear with us as we get the final kinks out, and we happily invite you to come check out our fresh and fun store, located on the same side of the center as Panera Bread. While our GRAND OPENING is scheduled for later, today's opening marks the closing of our store on Rodney Parham (not our Heights store!)

To our valued west Little Rock customers and beyond, we appreciate your business, and we hope you and your children will visit us at our new location. To customers of our Heights store, we will continue to provide you with the best service and quality products that you expect from our home location of 50+ years on University and "R" Street.

Why did we decide to relocate our Rodney Parham store to Pleasant Ridge Town Center? To better serve you! Our west Little Rock customers have shown preference for this center, both because of convenient location and the surrounding shops. The Toggery will neighbor fantastic boutiques like Tuck & Cover, The Sassy Stork, Solemates, Kitchen co. and more. Shoppers can enjoy a variety of dining like Panera Bread, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Capi's, or dinner to-go at Fresh Market, and little shoppers can even get their hair trimmed at Pigtails & Crewcuts. (For a complete store listing, click here.)

Located just off of I-430 on Hwy 10/Cantrell Road, Pleasant Ridge Town Center also provides a convenient and easily-found location for our school uniform-seeking customers and other out of town shoppers. (For directions, click here.)

At The Toggery, we hope you will find that the convenient location, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, various boutiques and vibrant atmosphere enhance your overall shopping experience. We know you will love our new store; it is fresh, clean, full of energy, fun and OPEN!

Amidst the excitement, our MOVING SALE is still underway! All fall and winter items in BOTH locations (Heights and Pleasant Ridge Town Center) are 30 to 50% off. So swing by, bring a penny for the fountain out front, catch some great deals and tell your friends!

Below you will find some photos of the new store (taken last week). Check out the spaciousness, the cool check-out counter, the vibrant colors, and more. More photos are coming soon of the finished store (but it's so much better to see it in person!)

Just look at these adorable Kansas boys! Their Aunt Judy purchased these Christmas pajamas for them, and their mom shared the playful photos. The Toggery loves to hear about our long distance fans like Wyatt, left, and Owen, right, who live in Olathe, KS. Thanks, Mom, for sharing!

And now that Christmas is over, holiday pajamas and apparel like these are 50% off in our stores. It's a great time stock up for next year!

The Toggery is excited to announce that our store on Rodney Parham is moving to Pleasant Ridge Town Center in late January! The new location will offer an expanded selection of toys, books and shoes, and it will continue to be our school uniform headquarters. Our Heights location remains the same, as it has for 50 years.

As part of the relocation, BOTH Toggery locations are having a MOVING SALE! Come into one of our stores for 30 to 50% off all fall and winter items!

You can view photos of our new store (in progress!) below. Be sure to check back later for updates on the big move!

As you know, our panel of Santa's elves met to select the winning name of our "Name Your Elf on the Shelf" contest. It was quite the decision. They made a list (and checked it twice), chugged pots of hot cocoa, and tapped their pointy shoes on the floor. Only one stubborn elf had to be reminded that he better not pout, better not cry... At the end of it all, they selected our winning name.....

... Elfie Sneakins!

Congratulations to Emily, Maisy and Brady - Elfie Sneakins' family! You have won a $50 Toggery books gift card!

To our other entrants, THANK YOU for participating. The contest was so much fun for everyone at The Toggery, and we loved hearing our customers' names for their elves. To express our gratitude, all contest entrants will receive an e-mail coupon for 25% off one item in our store!

(If you submitted a name but don't receive your coupon this week, we may not have your e-mail address. Please e-mail amber@toggerykids.com with your previously-submitted name and current e-mail address.)

We hope you have enjoyed following our contest. Merry Christmas!

There is something about Christmas pajamas that stirs the imagination. The colors, the images, the comfort... they are a bedtime reminder that Christmas Eve dreaming is on its way, and it's okay for "visions of sugarplums" to start a little early. For a child, the calendar count-down until the big day isn't fully understood. Weeks and days seem like months, but Christmas pajamas are timeless. When they put on their Christmas pajamas, they know that Santa is coming, and he's coming soon. Because every year before, when Mom pulled out the red and green pajamas, Santa's visit soon followed. And this year won't be any different.

For parents, Christmas pajamas can serve as a reminder of their childhood and the precious holiday memories of their youth. Your kids will only be kids once; the Christmases you create for them now are the magical memories they will reflect on as adults. The pajamas you bought for them last year don't fit this year... they are growing up so fast. Every year is a year to remember, every Christmas a season to treasure.

For The Toggery, a red and green polka-dotted nightgown or a snowman shirt and pant set aren't just about looking cute for Christmas morning photos. They are about tradition - remembering holidays past, and cherishing the one at present.

My 5-year-old daughter, above, is so excited about having a cousin to share Christmas morning with this year. (Notice "Emma," our female Elf on the Shelf sitting in the tree above the kids. Dear Daughter insisted that our elf was a girl and that we name her Emma.)

These sweet, sweet brothers look precious in their holiday pajamas. This is a special Christmas for Abe, age 4, and Murphy, almost 1 year, because it will be Murphy's first Christmas! (Thank you to their Mom for sharing the photo. Your boys are so beautiful, just look at those big eyes and long eyelashes!)

These precious siblings are the grandchildren of The Toggery's owners, Phil and Penny Olinghouse. Such a cute family!

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas full of tradition!

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Do you have photos of your children in Toggery Christmas pajamas? If so, we would love to see them! Please e-mail them to caroline@toggerykids.com.

Oh, the deliberation! We received so many fantastic names for our "Name Your Elf on the Shelf" contest! Our panel of Santa's elves is really having a hard time choosing a winner for the $50 book gift card! They are having so much fun reading your elf's names that they wanted me to share a few of them...

Some of the names are silly, some sweet, some Christmas themed, some unexplainable... We have such creative and cute kid shoppers! Every elf has a story, and these are a few of yours.

(Thank you to our entrants who shared their story! The quotes below were submitted via e-mail or facebook; they have only been edited for spelling, punctuation, and length.)

* * * * *

•  "My son's name is Frank Wilson ______ [last name omitted], and he goes by Wilson. When trying to come up with the best name for our new elf, I asked him what the best name was, and he of course answered, 'Wilson.' But I thought that might be a little confusing so he said, "What about 'Little Frankie'?" And Little Frankie it is."

•  A mom writes about her daughter naming their elf 'Eeny' (ee-nee): "When we asked her why she wanted to name him Eeny, she said, "Mommy, because he is teeny eeny!" She thinks that he is just magical... It is amazing to us the power that Eeny has. All we have to do is mention that Eeny is watching her, and she changes her behavior. We love this tradition, and it is truly one of the highlights of our Holiday."

 •  "My son Jacob is 2.5 years old, and I thought this would be the perfect year to start the Elf on the Shelf. I was not sure how much he would understand, but thought it would be fun! We read the book, and the next morning, looked for him and found him hiding. Jacob immediately reached out to touch him, and I reminded him we can't touch the elf. Jacob is used to me telling him not to touch things like old gum, trash cans, etc. while we are running errands. He immediately replied, "Dirty elf Mommy, no touch." I went on to explain that the elf was not dirty, but that he would disappear if we touched him. I changed the subject by telling Jacob we really needed to name our elf; he did not appear to be interested and ran off to play.... When my husband got home from work that evening, he asked Jacob what he had named his elf, and he replied, "Dirty!" Ever since then, Jacob calls the little red elf his 'Dirty Elf'."

•  "My daughter wanted to name her elf 'Nativity' but couldn't quite say it right so it's 'TIVITY'!"

•  About naming their elf 'L' or 'Elle' :  "My Papaw whom raised me just passed away Halloween, and this was the first year we started the Elf on the Shelf tradition. My three little ones under 5 said since Papaw's middle name stood for 'Lightning' (Papaw... always told people that is what it stood for; however, his middle name truly was just the initial L.) that we ought to name our elf that since our elf must be as fast as lightning to report back to Santa. I thought that was just precious. They are excited about Elle's supervision starting this year, and Mommy is very excited about Elle keeping the kiddos in line."

* * * * * 

Other Moms wrote to us about their elves' habits:

"(Willie) is spending his third Christmas here with us. He has gotten a little mischievious over the years. He loves to get into the candy bowl and find Smarties; they are his favorite candy."

"Our elf's name is Elfie Sneakins, because he is an elf that sneaks in our house every year!"

* * * * *

And yet there are some moms who cannot explain their elf's name:

"My 6-year-old daughter named our new elf 'Calessa'! ... I have no idea where the idea for the name came from, but we all thought it was fitting for an elf."

* * * * *

There are those that are a play on 'elf,' like Elfert, Elfvis, Elfwin, and Elfred.

Other children turned to movies for inspiration, naming their elves Luke Skywalker or Charlie Jack (after Charlie Brown's Christmas and Jack Frost.)

Some kids stuck to a Holiday theme for their elves: Jingles, Nick, and Christmas.

Some names are quirky, like Chickmunk, Wink, Cookie, Kick, Zippy, and Dancing Fairy, and constrasting that are the more traditional names - Larry, Lloyd, Buddy, Melvin, and Edward.

* * * * *

The list of creative names goes on and on... Our panel has a difficult decision to make! They will have their final meeting tomorrow morning, and we will be announcing the winner shortly after here on the blog and on our facebook page. Will it be Zip? Seymour? Pinky? One of the names above? A name yet-to-be shared? Check back tomorrow to learn the winning name!

If you still don't have an Elf On The Shelf, you can get one here.

In case you haven't heard about this Christmas special, here is our ad from the December Kid's Directory:

As always, we gift wrap for FREE! And for our online customers, this month we are also offering FREE GROUND SHIPPING for orders over $30! (CODE: FREESHIP)