December 4, 1999

Retirements! - The 1999 Snowbabies Retirements are posted in grand SnowBabySP's Place style right here ... enjoy! And now ... I have to get back to working on the Advent Tree :)

November 26, 1999

Snowbaby Picture Contest - Our 1999 Snowbaby Picture Contest starts December 1, 1999 and we've again lined up some nice prizes for the winning participants. This year I've extended the submission deadline an extra 30 days for various reasons. Sometime between 12/1/99 and midnight (my time) on 1/31/00 make sure you either email or send your snow baby images in to be a timely contestant. Please remember this is an image contest … not a display contest and not a contest to see who has the biggest collection. That means its not necessarily the biggest or best display that wins - it's the most appealing pictures in the eyes of the judges that will be our winners. Even if you only have one little snow baby tucked away in a closet someplace, you've got a chance to win with a nice picture of it! Last Year's Winners

1999 Advent Tree - Yep … we're doing another of our extremely popular online Advent Tree. This year I've spent some extra time crafting the Advent Tree and including some nifty web effects to delight you. Like last year, a new web page will appear for each day of December. Visit often and please be sure to sign the special Guest Book I've set up to help us all usher in the spirit of Christmas this year in SnowBabySP's Place style!

Winter Celebration! - We are only a week away from this year's retirements and Winter Celebration events at your local retailers. I'll get the retirements posted here as soon as I can after their release. This year's "Frosty Frolic Friends" ornament is a momma walrus and her pups. You'll want to get it and the other goodies available next weekend at your local favorite D56 store's Winter Celebration Event.

Grand Old Flags - The 1996 D56 design "It's A Grand Old Flag" is in the news big time these days as a result of SnowBaby Genny's find of a small supply of the "missing" international flags. My advise is get the set if you can; they are already quite highly prized by serious collectors, and they make a great display as you'll see in my recent article complete with Genny's wonderful photos.

Disney Baby Update - If you are a Snowbabies Friendship Club member then you already know that we are fast approaching the December excitement over the second Annual Walt Disney Resorts Christmas Collectibles Convention snowbaby. Last year's piece was limited to 1200 pieces while this year's design is reported in different quarters to be between 2400-2600 pieces. The notice that appeared in the newsletter is reproduced here.

Mary Morrison Article - Pick up a copy of the Christmas issue of "Early American Homes" which contains a great article by world class snow babies expert, Mary Morrison. There are pictures of old snow babies that you won't find in her book, "Snow Babies, Santas & Elves". If you can't find it at your local news store, try getting it at Early American Homes.

Come Fly With You? - The 1999 piece Come Fly With Me is a disappointment, but not because of its design. I don't consider myself a D56 basher, and I've been way more tolerant of some of D56's marketing ploys then a lot of collectors. But I just can't really contain my ire with the company on this one. Oh yes ... its an absolutely gorgeous piece, and if you like the larger Snowbabies this one is as big as they've come so far. But its been marketed as a "Limited Edition" of 22,000 pieces at a whooping price tag of $165.00. That's pretty pricey for a piece that actually isn't all that limited. My guess is it will be quite sometime before there are 22,000 collectors willing and able to fork over that kind of dough on a new issue. Limited resources are much better deployed on truly rare pieces (like the Disney babies for example). Expect retailers to be choking on "Come Fly With Me" and discounting it below suggested retail issue price after the new year just to get it off the shelves and out of the stock rooms. And don't expect this one to rise on the secondary all that much for a long time. In fact, I'd bet you'll still be able to get it a year or two from now at issue price or less so I doubt there's any need to rush out and get it this year if you are stretched thin in the pocket book.

The Collectors' Shop - The Collectors' Shop is fairly up to date with our retireds listings. You can now order still current Snowbabies, Snowbunnies, all of the D56 villages and accessories, and just about anything else Christmas-ie that you might want through our new affiliation with The Christmas Depot Online Superstore; and yes ... its a HUGE online store.

The Bachmann's Baby - And another disappointment is lurking out there. There's been recent news that the Off To A Good Start piece made exclusively available at this year's Bachmann's Gathering, or by phone order directly from Bachmann's, may not be so exclusive after all. I really wish D56 would not make scillions of pieces that have been marketed as special when they aren't really all that special; ie. "limited to year of production", "exclusive", "event pieces" or any number of other marketing ploys. A scillion of anything is not special to anybody - and not that collectible either. When will they get it? Well I guess that's enough ragging on the company. It is a nice piece even though its long run value prospects are dismal. You can still get it by dialing Bachmann's at 1-800-4BLOOMS or 1-888-222-4624.

New Avon Snowbaby - "Ding Dong … Avon Calling!" That's right folks … don't forget to get one of the Avon babies called Reach For The Moon. This is an Avon exclusive available from virtually any Avon representative for a mere $19.99, and it's a really neat piece - mine just arrived a few days ago. A big thanks to SnowBaby Bette for the scan :)

Batter Up! - I absolutely love D56 Snowbabies that happen to be designed similar to antique and vintage snow baby designs. Batter Up is one of those pieces, and I have in my "oldbabies" collection a very similar piece I display together with the D56 version. Its pretty neat. On a side note, the computer difficulties that D56 experienced this year were really evident in how long after announcements it took for this piece to finally start showing up at retailers. Hopefully, the computer glitches at D56 are done. If you're looking to acquire "Batter Up", I've received reports of several stores that have them in just the last two weeks. Feel free to email if you've not been able to locate a store with stock in your locale.

And There's More - When you're done checking out the news I've posted here, don't forget to go to the Did You Know ... page where there's even more neat stuff you'll find fun to read :)

A Busy SnowBaby - Well folks … as you can see I've not been able to update the content here as often as I'd like due to my commitments to two online businesses, as webmaster for the CyberD56ers Club, and as a Community Leader in the AOL D56 Forum (all of this on top of my offline life!). Anyway, I don't expect the load to lighten until at least September, 2000 so please understand. In the meantime, I'll stop and blurt out as much stuff here as I can periodically to keep you interested, and as always .. Enjoy!

March 21, 1999

Here I Am! - So ... I see you've been wondering where I've been and what I'm up to! Well, I've been busy with a couple of neat projects. First, check out the brand new Snowbaby Database I've built for your pleasure. And when you are done there ... check out this D56 internet club site I've been working on for "fun" (hee hee): CyberD56ers Club. If you like what you see at the club site then go ahead and send in your application. You'll meet lots of D56 enthusiasts there :)

Snowbunnies Retirement Date - Oh sheesh ... how could I forget! Make sure you mark your calendars for Friday, March 26, 1999 to see which of the items in the Snowbunnies line retire this year. I'll try to get the list posted that date as earlier as I can get my grubby little snow baby typing hands on it :)

February 1, 1999

Our Contest Winners! - Well ... here they are folks ... the 1998 SnowbabySP's Place Snow Baby Picture Contest Winners can be found on the Spotlight Page or, if you want to save a click, you could go here. Congratulations to our winners, and thanks again to all that participated in our first annual contest :)

Behind On Things - Please be patient with us if you are awaiting a shipment, an order confirmation or an offer to purchase some of your pieces. We have a family member that has been very ill, and I am behind on everything in my life. I'll catch up soon, and I thank you for your patience while my family and I go through this trying time :(

January 16, 1999

Site Update - Well we've completed our first full calendar year on the internet. Thanks to all ... your continuing visits, participation, word-of-mouth, and patronage in the Collector's Shop are what have made this year such a great success in launching our site dedicated exclusively to the interests of snow baby collectors. You can see from the counter on the Home page that we've had quite a nice number of hits, and although I do not have any means of knowing how many unique visitors come here frequently, its clearly a fairly substantial number of collectors have found us. I know we get visits from literally around the world as I've heard from collectors this year from all over the USA and Canada, and as far away (from me) as England, Germany, Malta, and Ecuador. Thanks much to you, and please look forward to much more from us as the site continues to grow. To make room for the New Year, I've juggled things around a bit. If you are looking for last year's What's New page you can find it here: 1998 What's New Page. The 1998 Snowbaby Advent Tree has moved to the Links page or can be accessed here: 1998 Snowbaby Advent Tree. Thanks for all the compliments on the Advent Tree; it was alot of work and I'm glad you enjoyed visiting it frequently. I'll soon be updating the Collector's Shop ... the Christmas rush for snowbaby pieces as gifts was something we seriously underestimated, but I've been very busy restocking many, many retired pieces since we are now getting heavy traffic from collectors interested in purchasing pieces they didn't receive as gifts for Christmas! The Collectors Shop is a very difficult area of the site to keep current, but you can always email for the latest listings and prices or to inquire about particular pieces you are seeking. We are always buying collections, big and small, so email if you have something to sell, and if you are a dealer looking to move some inventory your inquiries are welcome too!

Snowbaby Picture Contest - The Snowbaby Picture Contest entry deadline has expired, and I've put the best of the contestants' entries on the Spotlight page or you can go there now by clicking here. As you'll see when you get a chance to review the entires, there are alot of great images that were submitted, and the winners will be posted on February 1, 1999. In the meantime enjoy the pics - they are really outstanding - and patronize the sponsors!

Snowbaby Ginger's Site - There is a new antique snow baby web site out there created by a collector in Florida that visits here. Be sure to check out SnowBaby Ginger's Web Site, and let her know what a great job she's done :)

Williamsburg Gathering - The Williamsburg D56 Gathering is next month, and I will be attending. I won't have a snowbaby suit on but I will have an AOL name tag and a CyberD56er Club pin on from time to time so say hello if you happen to notice me hanging around. You can get all the information you need about the event here: Williamsburg Gathering, but hurry ... time is getting quite near and accommodations are getting hard to come by. Michael Winters (aka D56Pride@aol.com) continues to do a great job of announcing upcoming events at his web site VillagePride!. To access that information you can click the link on the Home page, and be sure to check out Michael's great D56 web site while you are there.

New Releases - The really big, big, BIG, news about new releases is the introduction of a Limited Edition of only 1200 pieces through the collaborative efforts of D56 and Disney. I've created a special page where you can get all the news on this exciting development: In addition, some really interesting pieces are on their way for 1999. Among the finest are a Snowbabies Castle that will really compliment you SB mini's and antiques displays which, through the good graces of Snowbaby Glenn, can be viewed here: Snowbabies Castle. Be sure to also check out the introduction of a new mini ornaments line that will soon be arriving: Mini Ornament (again, thanks to SnowBaby Glenn).

Retirements The 1998 Snowbabies Retirements are posted. Be sure to get all of the Winter Celebrations pieces that you desire before they disappear from the retailer's shelves. If you are having difficulty locating particular pieces, send me an email and I'll be glad to see if I can find them for you here in NJ.