Keep the Kiddy Platter!

September 27, 2011

I want to introduce you to a special couple that I have worked with in the past.  Chris and Lindy Bartell invented a product that we used to offer on Mom 4 Life.  I personally have loved seeing my kids use and enjoy their product for crafts, mealtime and homework.  I have enjoyed the ease of cleanup and the variety of ways in which it can be used.  I invite you to read their story to see how they are trying to get their product back on the shelves at Mom 4 Life and many other retailers across the nation. . .  ~Heather

It all started with the birth of our boys Josiah and Michael.  We had a number of creative ideas for products that would make life a bit more simpler, easier, manageable.  We decided to run with the concept of the Piggy Platter just a couple months after our second son was born.

We must have been crazy – new parents who nothing about creating a plastic product… we took a second mortgage on our house, hired an industrial designer and held focus groups.  A year or so later, we launched Smarty Parents and the Piggy Platter was born.

It received rave reviews from the parents and kids, the media and retailers. We sold thousands of them and even had a deal finalized to sell it under the Crayola brand. Unfortunately, the economic downturn in 2008 hit us hard and we were not able to launch a BPA-free version and we completely sold out of Platter in October 2010. We would have given up on our dream to make mealtime matter if it wasn’t for the constant and welcomed inquiries from customers and those wanting to be customers from the US, Canada, UK, Australia and more.


In March of this year we heard about Kickstarter.com, which helps launch creative projects by having people pre-order products to reach a minimum financial goal. Kickstarter was exactly the platform we needed to help us launch the BPA-free Platter, unfortunately our project got denied. We don’t exactly know why Kickstarter didn’t accept our proposal, perhaps it was too practical an item for their
community.

After getting over the initial surprise of this news, we decided to create our own crowd funding opportunity and let people pre-order and be a part of the story – leaving the fate of the new, BPA-free
“Kiddy” Platter into the hands of its fans!  Who better to than passionate moms and parents who value well-made, long-lasting, practical products?

So, if Smarty Parents is able to garner 1000 Kiddy Platter pre-orders in the next 45 days, we’ll move forward with production.  Customer credit cards will not be charged until we receive enough pre-orders to begin production.  We have 892 to go with 40 days left!  We need everyone’s help to spread the word though social media, email and word-of-mouth.  We’ll keep customers updated in email as well as on our Facebook page.  We invite you to watch our Kiddy Platter YouTube video to see us talk about our story in person!

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