At Kathy and Kim Originals we started out 2011 with the exciting launch of a whole new system for our personalized graphics on our bags and clothing. This fresh new look took the bags and accessories branch of our business to a whole new level and allowed us to grow the business as we entered our second full year in business. We introduced these bags to the public at Beaver Valley Ski Club at the fun filled Ladies Day event.
In March our hearts went out to a Mom we first “met” via Twitter. Heather Hamilton lost her beautiful, young son Zack on March 10th, 2011. Though far too short, Zack Hamilton’s life was an inspiration to so many and we were blown away by the courage his Mom showed in the days after losing him. Heather quickly turned her deep and personal loss into a crusade to build Zack’s Dream Room, a room dedicated to Zack at York Central Hospital decorated with his favourite character – Elmo. http://ychf.akaraisin.com/Donation/Event/Home.aspx?seid=4064 . We wanted to get involved and help in some small way so we designed our “Zack’s Room” water bottles with $4 from each bottle sold going directly to Zack’s Room. We were thrilled to make several, large online donations. To date Heather has raised $43, 580.55, surpassing her original goal of $35, 000.
With spring came another big launch for KKO with our new line of character graphics! http://kathyandkimoriginals.com/kko-characters-c-24.html?zenid=3219de926155d066f14a2f0bc1c97e89 Our KKO Characters allow you to customize hair, eye and skin colours to create your likeness as a hockey player, ballerina and so much more! These were met with great success as were the loot bag combos we quickly launched that spring. http://kathyandkimoriginals.com/poly-mugs-p-108.html
Spring 2011 also saw the Women in Biz Network conference at the Novotel Toronto Centre. http://womeninbiznetwork.com/conferences/ Leigh and Shelagh hosted an impressive event which brought amazing speakers, bloggers, experts and business women together for an informative and inspirational day and we were excited to participate both by attending the conference and by gifting each of the speakers with our initial circle stainless steel water bottles! We connected with so many amazing women that day and look forward to the next conference!
With the warmer weater in June came some highs and lows in business for Kathy and Kim Originals. With the addition of sports bags and sling bags we further expanded our bag product line and we were thrilled when the June issue Todays Parent sent readers to an online list of best teacher gifts that included our Kathy and Kim Originals “sophisticated best teacher” insulated lunch bag! http://kathyandkimoriginals.com/the-sophisticated-best-teacher-bag-or-bottle-p-101.html . Thanks Haley-O! Sales for teachers gifts poured in but then so did the stress when Canada Post went on strike just as the bulk of our teacher gift orders had been shipped out! More then a few sleepless nights ensued worrying about the lunch bags trapped in strike limbo and we scrambled to deliver and courrier what had not yet been shipped. In the end the strike came to an end in the NICK of time and our teacher gift orders arrived to customers just in time. PHEW!
At the end of June we had the pleasure of attending the book release party for “The Mother of All Book Releases” celebrating the 2nd editon of the “Mother of all Pregnancy” books by the lovely Ann Douglas. For this event we custom designed a water bottle which was included in the swag bags for all who attended. It was a fantastic event and meeting Ann was a highlight. The first edition of the “Mother of All Pregnancy” books was my “go to” book with my first pregancy so it was fun to be involved in a small way in the release of the second edition! Later our “Mother of All Book Release” water bottles were given away with contests from Oh Baby! Magazine, the Yummy Mummy Club and from Parent Central.
In July we were thrilled to be mentioned on TodaysParent.com’s list of fave businesses run by Canadian Mom’s along with amazing others such as Clippo ( http://www.clippo.ca/ ), Admiral Road ( http://admiralroad.com/ ) Colours to Go ( http://www.colourstogo.ca/ ) Name your Tune ( http://www.nameyourtune.com/ ) Mabel’s Labels (http://www.mabel.ca/?gclid=CLf3mp-Ira0CFUHRKgodI025mQ ) and more! http://lifestyle.ca.msn.com/family-parenting/family-life/17-canadian-mom-created-kids%E2%80%99-products-you-should-know?page=15
On July 20th the lovely Maureen from Wee Welcome ( http://www.weewelcome.ca/ ) was featured on the Marilyn Dennis Show on a segment about strollers which featured a cameo from one of our stainless steel initial circle water bottles. Thanks Maureen!
August saw us celebrate the 2nd anniversary for Kathy and Kim Originals! We were thrilled to reach this milestone anniversary and we marvelled at how we’d grown the business in such a short time. We celebrated further by months end when Today’s Parent Magazine’s BACK TO SCHOOL issue hit the stands and our WOW! It’s ME! water bottles were featured in the lunch section on page 62 of the magazine!!! Around this time we were busy launching our new KKO Characters for Halloween. Available on mugs, tees and trick or treat bags these cute characters allowed customers to create their kids likeness in the form of a witch, drac boy, franken boy or kitty and were super-duper cute if we do say so ourselves! 
http://kathyandkimoriginals.com/halloween-new-c-27.html
Our back to school excitement hit a new level when on August 24th, 2011 the wonderful Sandra Martin from Today’s Parent took our products on CityLine. The segment featured tons of great back to school products and great mention of our insulated lunch bags. Thanks Sandra!!! http://www.citytv.com/cityline/show/micro/episode/149221–august-24-2011 That same day Lianne from Sprout Right ( http://www.sproutright.com/index.php ) was on CHCH Morning Live with Lori DeAngelis and kindly included our insulated lunch bags and water bottles in her final segment of the morning. Thanks Lianne!
Rounding out our back to school features…award winning writer, public speaker, and television personality and Funny Mummy Kathy Buckworth ( http://kathybuckworth.com/ ) took our products on her CityLine segment which aired on Sept 7th, 2011. http://www.citytv.com/cityline/show/micro/episode/151841–september-7-2011 Thanks Kathy!!!
Following the popularity of our Halloween characters we followed up with Christmas ( http://kathyandkimoriginals.com/christmas-c-29.html ) and Hanukkah (http://kathyandkimoriginals.com/hanukkah-c-30.html ) inspired kko characters to celebrate the holiday season. These were a super big hit this season, especially on our 11 oz poly mugs!
As the year comes to a close we are so grateful for those we have connected with this past year. We have created so many wonderful business and personal relationships that we hope will last well beyond 2012. Thanks to all of you who have supported us in business and friendship this year. We wish you all peace, love and happiness always.
K&K
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