Posted on Monday, April 20th, 2015 by Will Hagle
Budsies turns your child’s artwork into a customized plush toy.
Budsies makes customized stuffed animals and toys. Unlike Build-A-Bear and other comparable companies, however, children don’t select from different pre-made features to make their plush toy. Instead, the toy is created entirely from their own imagination. Parents can submit any piece of their child’s artwork to Budsies via upload, email or text message. The Budsies team then analyzes the artwork to ensure that turning the design into a toy will be possible. A completely custom creation is then made by the Budsies team, who selects the fabric, stitches it together, stuffs it with polyester fiber, packs it in a gift box and sends it back to you.
Because Budsies makes just one customized toy for each child that submits a drawing, the process of actually receiving the product can be quite lengthy. It takes about 12 weeks from the time you send in your art until it’s returned to you in its new form. It’s also a little bit expensive, at $69 per toy. Still, the fact that the toy is created completely from your child’s imagination makes it worthwhile. Budsies also offers a couple other similar services. Selfies turns any photo of a human into a plush doll, and Petsies does the same for pictures of pets. It’s pretty amazing how Budsies can turn any drawing — no matter how well-done — into something your child can enjoy. It’s a cool idea that’s seen an increase in popularity thanks to an appearance on the TV show Shark Tank, but hopefully its success can keep growing.
