The Whimsical Stork – a review and giveaway

Every once in awhile, you stumble across something that you are so impressed with, you are at a loss for words. That happened a few weeks ago when I received a package in the mail from Julia Hall at The Whimsical Stork.

From the website:

Welcome to The Whimsical Stork, LLC! The Whimsical Stork, LLC is a mom-owned business dedicated to providing quality, handmade baby gifts and celebratory yard decoration rentals. All of our stork rental and birthday rental decorations are handpainted (you’ll notice that no two are exactly alike) with much love. Our minky dot bunnies and minky lined blankets have been tested by our own children and designed to be practical as well as beautiful. None of our baby gifts are drop-shipped from a manufacturer, all of our gifts are handmade by women in small quantities with great attention to detail and lots of love. We also love to do custom orders, so please contact us for more information if you have a particular color scheme or theme in mind.

Julia sent me one of their gift sets to review and from the second I opened the package I knew it was something special.

Here’s the moment I knew:

The gift sets from The Whimsical Stork contain a Minky Dot Bunny, a Whimsical Minky Lined Blanket, and 2 matching Burp Cloths, all of which come with personalized embroidery.

Here is a slideshow showing the Minky Dot Bunny we received with Jake’s name embroidered on the ear:

Here is a slideshow showing the Whimsical Minky Lined Blanket and Burp Cloth we received with Abby’s name embroidered on them:

As you can see right from the packaging, gifts from The Whimsical Stork are no ordinary baby gifts. The beauty and care taken in the wrapping extends completely into the gifts inside the tulle netting and the ribbon. The fabrics are beautiful and soft, the craftsmanship is superb and the embroidery is done with great care. I have no doubt that everything will stand the test of time and even survive Abby, who has taken to tackling the bunny and rubbing her head across the blanket while pushing it along the floor.

Here’s a slideshow of Abby playing with the blanket and the bunny:

As you can see by Abby’s reaction, there really is nothing like the minky fabric used on the blanket and the bunny. I even find Jake sitting under the blanket when he watches TV because it is just so “buttery” soft. The other day he stated to me that “I would be happy if I had a bunny AND a blanket.” I’m tempted to ask him if he’d rather have a blanket like Abby’s or a video game because I have a feeling he’d choose the blanket! In fact, the blanket is sitting here on the floor next to me where Abby left it and I can’t stop touching it!

So far I have washed the blanket and burp cloth a couple of times and they have held up perfectly, even washed on the regular cycle with Abby’s normal laundry. The minky fabric is just as soft as when we first opened the package and all the seams and embroidery remained intact. I couldn’t be happier with the quality.

In addition to the gift set, Julia also sent me a sample from her soon to be launched Vintage Clothing Line. The clothes are made from vintage pillowcases and other old embroidered linens and judging from the sample I received, will be very successful.

Here is a slideshow showing the sample outfit we received:

The outfit is what Julia calls a “beta version” of a vintage embroidery dress and it is meant to be worn as a dress at first and then as a tunic with the matching capris as they grow.

Below is a picture of Abby wearing it as a dress. She is only 8 months old and pretty thin so it will probably fit her perfectly in the spring.




Below is a picture of my friend’s daughter wearing it as a tunic with the capris. How cute is she???




I simply adore the white part of the dress with the embroidery. It reminds me of the pillowcases at my grandmother’s house. I even have a couple of them put away as memories. As you can see from the pictures, that fabric selection and the buttons used for the rest of the outfit are just adorable. It is very well made and because of the way it was designed, Abby will be able to wear it for years to come!

If you are looking for a unique gift for a new baby, I urge you to visit The Whimsical Stork and see what they have to offer. Most of their items are available as personalized and you can customize the color and fabric selections. The new baby you buy one of their gift sets for will receive nothing else like it! They also offer some additional items such as tutu’s, quilt pattern blankets, personal contact cards for mom, and they have stork rentals to the Dallas/Forth Worth, Texas area to announce the new arrival.

Julia from The Whimsical Stork has generously offered to give one of our readers one her personalized gift sets. She normally sells these for $80, but one lucky winner will get to win one. And the best part is that she is allowing the winner to select any pattern and color combination and have it personalized, and even select a quilt if you prefer instead of a blanket. And also, if you don’t see something you like from her current inventory, she will be happy to create something custom, specifically for you!

How to enter:
PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLETE ALL THE STEPS REQUIRED YOUR ENTRY WILL NOT COUNT.

• Visit The Whimsical Stork and pick your favorite color/pattern combination is from the current stock of blankets (you can change your mind later if you are the winner)
• Leave a comment telling us what blanket you liked.
• Also in your comment we want to know who would get the Gift Set if you win.

REMEMBER, YOU MUST TELL US WHICH BLANKET YOU LIKE AND WHO YOU MIGHT GIVE THE GIFT SET TO IF YOU WON FOR YOUR ENTRY TO QUALIFY

For an extra entry, subscribe or be subscribed by EMAIL to our updates (make sure you verify your subscription otherwise it won’t count). Leave a separate comment indicating that you have or are subscribed.

The giveaway is open to the USA and will end at noon on August 26th. Entries will be chosen at random using Random.org from all the qualified entries.