Play Silks

[Bearhut]

I am in the market for some play silks. My 2 year old DD loves to use blankets and towels as all sorts of things (capes, hoods, dresses) so for Valentine's day I thought I'd get a few different sizes. Where is the best place to look?

I just went to bumbershootbaby.com, but am confused by the colors. My thought is to get one in each size in coordinating colors, but there is no way to see what the colors look like.

Anyway, does anyone have play silks that they love/hate?

Thanks so much!

[pritchettzoo]

Bumbershoot Baby all the way! We have a rainbow, and I've ordered 3 more sets for gifts. Just email Juliet and she can help you with your color choices. :)

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03) and Eli (July '05)

[pritchettzoo]

Oops!

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03) and Eli (July '05)

[DebbieJ]

Another vote for Juliet's work! We got a rainbow of assorted sizes and it is awesome. The colors are so vibrant.

Just email Juliet and I'm sure she'll put something together that works for you!

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[annasmom]

Among BBB mommies, Bumbershootbaby.com is definitely the most popular place to buy. If you do a search, there are lots of pictures of Juliet's silks in past posts, they are really beautiful. Everyone really raves about them.

I ended up buying a rainbow of playsilks for my dc from fairycove.com for Christmas because Juliet was out of stock of what I wanted. The playsilks I got are really beautiful, much better quality than the silks I have seen in stores made by Sarah's Silks (many online retaliers also carry Sarah's Silks).

Another good place to look is atoygarden.com. They definitely have the best prices for silks, and if you do a search you will find some good reviews as well. HTH!

[annasmom]

Double Post!

[bluestar2]

Not knowing how much DC would play with silks, I bought one by Sarah's Silk from a local store because I didn't want to pay the extra shipping to buy online. They love it! When I buy more, I think I will try Juliet's silks because of all the rave reviews, and from the pictures I've seen they seem nicer, maybe a thicker silk with more vibrant colors.

[christymc33]

Hi,
I haven't tried bumbershoot baby, but I just ordered a set from atoygarden.com for a friend's daughter. The owner Sonya delivered them to my home for free, I just happen to live near her, they seemed really nice for the price, although I do not know what to compare them to.

Has anyone tried both, how do they compare??

[annasmom]

If you do a search there is definitely at least one post in which someone compares the playsilks from atoygarden and bumbershootbaby. I forget who it was (forgive me)! I remember the poster saying that the quality was really very similar, but the colors were different. Bumbershootbaby has really vibrant colors and the color of atoygarden's playsilks are more subdued.

Can you tell that I recently read just about every post about playsilks??

I eventually chose fairycove.com because it was as close to bumbershootbaby's colors as I could find and I really wanted the vibrant colors. I was really torn though, atoygarden has such a good deal!

[Judegirl]

I have a set from Bumbershootbaby and one that came with an order from A Toy Garden. Here's my opinion, FWIW:

Bumbershootbaby's are *gorgeous.* They're a little thinner and softer than ATG's. There's a very vague microsuede feel to ATGs, for some reason.

I like Juliet's (bumbershootbaby) better for the colors and the feel - dress-up and peekaboo and dancing...but for rough & tumble stuff, I'd use ATG's because they're cheaper, and somehow spongier, to me. (Sorry, J!!) :)

Jude

ETA: At least they were cheaper when I was on the site last - may have been a special, so don't hold me to it!

[american_mama]

I feel like an unimaginative dunce of a parent here, but what does your child do with playsilks? Do you the parent need to kind of show them some ideas? I could see my daughter just ignoring them. Are the sizes as big as a bath towel, a kitchen towel, a queen size sheet?

My daughter loved the gigantic parachute that was used in her gymnastics class with a group of children, and we just by accident recreated that game while folding up a bedsheet. So maybe I see a glimmer of the appeal of playsilks. But mostly, I am just bewildered. What are these things?

[lilycat88]

We just got ours for Christmas and uses thus far are (we have the variety color/size set from Julie):

- peekaboo
- piling things on the floor and covering said items
- speading playsilk on floor and piling said items on top
- blanket for baby dolls
- the random "drape it over her head so I look like a big orange ghost and run tearing through the house until she runs into something
- draping over learning tower and hiding

I'm one of the most unimaginitive people alive so I hope others chime in with some great answers.

[lizamann]

DD's favorite uses are to turn them into pretty dresses:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/31834.jpg

Or use them as baby carriers:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/31835.jpg

Other things not already mentioned: once I tied one to her waist, and then another one to that one to make a long tail, and then she pulled her animals around on it "like a sled" behind her.

The one thing I don't really like about them is that they require a lot of attention from me since she can't do these things herself, so sometimes I burn out on silks. But she does use them herself too, usually to wrap her animals up in them.

ETA that these are Bumbershoot Baby silks and I think they are beautiful, especially that multicolored one.

[DebbieJ]

>- the random "drape it over her head so I look like a big
>orange ghost and run tearing through the house until she runs
>into something

This is my ds's favorite thing to do with them!

Or, he wraps himself in them like a toga and walks around. He also uses them like a blanket when he's sitting in his Toddlerock watching his daily dose of Dora.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[kboyle]

Beth, she is too cute. I love the playsilk dress!!

[Elena]

Beth, your daughter is adorable!

Do you know the size of the playsilks on the photographs?

Thanks!

[lizamann]

The solid blue and solid purple are 36 x 36, the multicolored one is slightly bigger - something like 48x48. We also have a green one in 36x36. If I were to get another one, I would want a long rectangle, but I'm not sure if Bumbershoot Baby is offering those.

[crl]

Well, DS (2 1/2) uses them as "ties." He's imitating his dad. He also hides underneath them. We've also used them to wipe up pretend spills. And I keep trying to get him to pretend the green one is "grass" for his barnyard animals to eat. I gave some to my DN (then 7) for her birthday. She and DN (then 4) used them to build tents.

HTH,