Shopping for Children: Mahar Drygoods

On Mahar Drygoods’ site, there’s a quote from the Phantom Tollbooth which might sum shopping for children that’s inexpensive but charming:

“So many things are possible,

just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible.”

– Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

Toys at Mahar include a Spooky House Decorating Kit that comes with over 70 felt decorations that stick to a gingerbread-style spooky house. Operating on the same principles as vintage flannelgraphs the wool felt decorations of glowing windows, grinning jack-o-lanterns, a murder of crows, creeping vines and rickety tilting tombstones and tied with a smart baker’s box tied with red and white baker’s twine. For an infant, there’s a set of Jurassic Teething Blocks and for the older more theatrical child, a doorway puppet theater.

The site has a downloadable knitting pattern for a Mummy Bunny. (I haven’t knitted a bunny but I have knitted an original sweater pattern for my oldest granddaughter’s stuffed bear.)

“We’re so pleased to offer the downloadable knitting patterns of HandMadeAwards, a family design venture featuring the amazing toy designs of Monica Rodriguez Fuertes. All of the patterns have been perfected by Monica’s mother and expert knitter Loly, and translated into easy to understand PDF documents by her sister Cristina. From their home base in Spain, this family affair has created some of the most brilliantly detailed and thoughtfully designed knit toys we’ve ever seen.”

There’s also another downloadable pattern that includes instructions to create Brother Bunny, his scarf and balloons, Baby Bunny, his bib, rattle, blanket and pram/carriage. (After paying for the item(s), a downloadable pdf will be sent to your email.

And, if you know how to crochet (and I’ve crocheted an Irish rose pattern I’ve used as a choker) there’s a lavender forest crocheted tea set, much less than the standard (and breakable) tea sets cost.

But this is not a site that requires you to make all these gifts; it’s a vintage and artisan crafted site that offers such items as a friendly forest growth chart, again unique but of little cost. Mahar employs a collaboration of more than three-dozen artists, designers and craftspeople to create imaginative and unexpected goods.

For a child’s room, crib, stroller, car seat and the couch there are Color Burst Full Size Blankets that “combine modern cotton prints with the softest, snow-white microfiber.” Or pick from 36 patterns of a splat mat or 12 appealing Black Apple bookplates.