Hooray for mothers!

In honor of mothers everywhere, we decided to give away a wardrobe of Sakura Bloom Baby Slings, one each from our Luxe, Artisan, Essential silk or linen, and Hana or Pure collections. And…just now, we’ve drawn the winning name from all the entries! The winner is………

Jessica Rodriguez who bought a sling at Baby Celebration LA!

Congratulations, Jessica!

But….wait…..that’s not all!

Due to the overwhelming response we got to the contest and to the beautiful spring weather, we made the spontaneous decision to have three runners-up! So, three lucky winners will each receive their choice of a silk or linen Sakura Bloom Essentials sling.

The three runners-up are:

Kristy DeCastro, an entrant from Tree City Diapers in Ann Arbor, Michigan;

Anna Fukushima, entered from Day One Center in San Francisco, California; and,

Ana Marenco, who entered from Papaya Patch in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Congratulations to Kristy, Anna, and Ana–our three runners-up!

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Sakura Bloom Baby Slings is joining with one of New York’s hottest baby boutiques, the Upper East Side’s Metro Minis to present their extraordinary slings.

Sakura Bloom designer and founder, Lynne Banach, will be at Metro Minis showing slings from each collection: the extraordinary Belgian linens baby slings ($88-160), stunning dupioni silk baby slings ($198-340), and the new sustainable silks of the Luxe Collection baby slings ($540-1120).

All who purchase a sling at the show will be entered in a drawing for a suite of Sakura Bloom slings–FOUR SLINGS OF YOUR CHOICE! One Pure or Hana sling, one linen Simple or Essential sling, one silk Essential or Artisan sling, and one tussah silk Luxe sling. This is an $874-1160 value depending on which slings you choose! Read here about our last winner, here about the current contest, and best of luck to everyone!

Come to Metro Minis on Saturday, May 3 from 11-2 to see, feel, and try on these gorgeous baby slings! Not sure how to use a baby sling? The Sakura Bloom team will also do free hands-on demonstrations during the show.

Metro Minis is located at 821 Park Avenue (at the corner of 75 Street); 212-313-9600.

We’re doing it again!

In honor of Mother’s Day, one lucky Sakura Bloom customer will win an entire suite of Sakura Bloom slings!

That’s right, an entire suite of slings!

One Pure or Hana sling,

one linen Simple or Essential sling,

one silk Essential or Artisan sling, and

one tussah silk Luxe sling.

This is an $874-1160 value depending on which slings you choose!

Simply purchase a sling from any Sakura Bloom vendor between today, April 1 and May 11 and you will be entered in the contest. Read here about our last winner, here about the current contest, and best of luck to everyone!

Calling all Southern California Moms, Dads and babies!

Sakura Bloom is coming to Baby Celebration LA, Saturday, April 12-13 at the Los Angeles Convention Center and we want you to be our guest. We’ve got 25 “Admit 2 free” passes (a $20 savings) and 50 “2 for 1″ passes (a $10 savings) available. So, please join us at the show!

If you’d like to attend Baby Celebration LA as a guest of Sakura Bloom, click here to contact us with your name and mailing address and we will mail your tickets promptly. Tickets are first come first serve, with the “Admit 2 free” tickets being mailed out first.

Haven’t heard of Baby Celebration LA? Check it out, a fun fresh day for hip, new moms and trendy tots: “where the ordinary becomes extraordinary…and all things baby & tot become magical.”

Come see Sakura Bloom in the fashion show, try on our slings and purchase one to take home with you! We will have our full collection at the show, including our eco-friendly Luxe Collection. Meet Carole, Lynne, and Eric of Sakura Bloom and see for yourself why Sakura Bloom slings are so desired and beloved!

See you there!

Saturday March 8, 2008 – Sakura Bloom hits Hollywood! This past Saturday, Entertainment Tonight’s Thea Andrews showcased the hottest baby gear among celebrity parents. Our “famous Sakura Bloom sling” was highlighted as the latest way for celebrities—and other stylish parents–to carry their babies around Hollywood. Pia Lindstrom, owner of the popular Nomi Boutique in L.A., modeled our best-selling Licorice~Slate baby sling from our silk Essential Collection. Check it out on the video below!

Carrying your child in your arms is fine….for a while. Then you start getting tired arms, a tired back, and a tired body. Enter the baby carrier!

Parents have been carrying their children for centuries. Anthropological evidence shows that throughout human history, we have carried children in seated or recline positions. Some of the first carriers were made from bark or other natural fibers. The advent of weaving gave us simple cloth carriers. Many of today’s baby carriers are direct descendants of these early, homemade carriers.

Sakura Bloom Baby Slings proudly carry on the baby carrier tradition, providing a carrier that is ergonomically correct for both parent and child.

Ergonomically correct for parent: the weight of the child is supported across the entirety of your back, rather than just on the shoulders or the hips. Each Sakura Bloom sling spreads wide and comfortably across the back.

Ergonomically correct for children: ring slings (1) position children in either a seated or recline position, and also (2) conform to your growing infant’s spine.

Sakura Bloom Baby Slings: simple, comfortable, natural, and luxurious for you and your baby!

Once again, a parent somewhere came up with the next greatest idea in the world: the combo coffeehouse and playspace.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Almost 4 year old R., baby L., and I went to our local here in Boulder—Play Grounds—for the first time today and were immediately smitten. A great menu. Healthy choices, but still enough chocolate to keep Mom (aka me) happy. Nooks and crannies to explore. Things to play with, jump on, climb up. Arts and crafts projects to make.

And, kids everywhere (babies, too) all supervised (more or less) by their parents (well, mostly mothers, though there was at least one father, a handful of grandmothers, and some nannies in attendance too). Best of all: IT WORKED. Again, kids everywhere, and it felt more like safe and organized fun than random chaos.

We’re already plotting our return and calling friends to tell them about it.

Wishing there was something similar where you are? There might be already. Here are some other parent/kid coffeehouses we’ve heard about (and if you want to add one near you to the list, just send us an email!):

Calgary: Coffee and Scream and Jump ‘n’ Java

Chandler, AZ: Way 2 Play Cafe

Detroit area: Jungle Java

LA area: Swork

Marietta, GA: The Coffee Park

Montreal: Maman, Bebe, et Cafe and Cafe Kavaloo

New York City: AppleSeeds

Oakland, CA: Play Cafe and Tumble and Tea (shown in above photo)

Portland, OR: Cafe Au Play (coming soon)

San Diego: Java Mama

Toronto (Mississauga): Gingerbread Lane

Woodinville, WA: Tot Spot Cafe

Just in time for spring!

The Pure Collection is all about comfort and simplicity: our finest Belgian linens in a single layer of sling perfection.

Easy to use, easy to care for, and with unsurpassed Sakura Bloom quality and attention to detail, including our signature bamboo box…..all at $88!

In a gorgeous array of colors: Pebble. Seagrass. Bluejay. Sunrise. Marine (shown here). Twilight. And Raven.

Perfect for mothers. Perfect for fathers. Perfect for you!

Starting tomorrow, Lynne and Eric from Sakura Bloom Baby Carriers will be at the Mom2B trade show in Las Vegas showing the entire SB collection!

The new Pure Collection. The cross-over Hana Collection. Our unbelievably soft Belgian linens in both solids, the Simple Collection, and two-color reversibles, the Essential Collection.

And our silks, oh, our silks. The original dupioni Silk Essential slings. Our signature Artisan slings. And, the exclusive wild silks of our Luxe Collection.

Going to the show? Be sure to stop by the Sakura Bloom booth to say hello and try on one of our slings. The world’s finest baby slings—-there’s nothing else out there like them!

We had a wonderful time at last January’s Mom2B show in L.A. (that’s us at the L.A. show above) and look forward to seeing you in Vegas!

Getting two small children to bed is no small task. To ease things in this department, I recently decided to start a new bedtime ritual: a nightly massage for both my infant and my preschooler.

Off I went to my local natural grocery store in search of a calming massage oil for children. To my surprise (as it seems there are massage oils for everything these days), there was none.

Not to worry though as one of the herbalists had the perfect solution: Aura Cacia apricot kernel oil, unscented, to which she added ten drops of German Chamomile essential oil.

It turns out that German Chamomile is just the thing to get little ones (and moms, too!) ready for bed. Believe me, it smells absolutely dreamy.

So, get yourself to your local natural pharmacy (ours is Pharmaca), search out the German Chamomile (not the Roman, which has different properties), and get massaging! Need help in the actual massage department? Check out our earlier post on infant massage.