Mas Spanish t-shirts and gifts at Los Pollitos

Los Pollitos Dicen this week added to the flock: hats, bibs, tank tops and embroidered onesies.

The tank tops, in Candela (spitfire) and Pachanga (par-TAY!) go up to size 6, our first in a size bigger than 4T.

The embroidered design is for infants up to 15 pounds. The Spanish design says "Los Pollitos Dicen Pio Pio Pio."

Tell me these aren't the most cute babies in the cutest new baby shirts ever?

Remember us next time you're headed to a baby shower or birthday fiesta.

Use the code PACHANGA to receive 20% off on our site.

Free tips: How to send a celebrity a gift basket

When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt introduced their youngest daughter to the world wearing a Kingsley t-shirt, the garment went into immediate back order.

Celebrities are mighty powerful, we all know that. Their wearing, or using, an item can mean instant sales and forever cool.

A few months ago when celebrity news was full of stories about gorgeously pregnant Latina stars, Los Pollitos Dicen and three other fabulous Latina-owned businesses put together gift baskets for Salma Hayek, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez.

We participated because of their star power, of course, but also because the mom in us recognized the mom in them. All Latinas, all on adventures – business and mothering. I had resisted sending gifts to celebrities because it felt kinda funny, you know? But, with these three it just felt right. (I particularly have empathized with Hayek and Lopez who, like me, came to mothering a little later in life.)

Anyway, the point of this post is not really to tell you about our gift baskets, (which really were very cool), but to tell you, small business owner with little dinero, how to send them yourself.

If you’ve ever looked into giving “swag,’’ as they call it, through a gifting company or at a celebrity event like the Grammy’s, you know it isn’t cheap. Participation can run from $50 to hundreds or thousands of dollars. It could pay off. Or it may not.

So, while you grow your business and ponder whether to pay mucho to send gifts via a swag company, I’m going to tell you how we did it. It will cost you more than $50, but not much more than that and some time. So...

HOW TO SEND A CELEBRITY A GIFT BASKET:
THE CRIB SHEET

• Head over to Who Represents and search the Celebrity of Choice.
  I like to start with the publicist. (You can register for the service if you need to).
  
• If no publicist is listed, look for manager or management company.
  
• Then, Google the name of the publicist and the star to see if that spokesman or spokeswoman has been speaking for the Celebrity of Choice lately. (Databases can be out of date.)
  
• If you can’t find free information, Google your Celebrity of Choice and words like “publicist’’ and “spokesman’’ and “spokeswoman.’’ Make sure any results are current. You also can hang out over at Perez Hilton or any celebrity site of choice – People, TMZ, etc. and keep track of whose talking for whom. And sometimes, celebrities have contact information on their personal web pages.
  
• So, once you’ve pretty much got it that this particular publicist still indeed does speak for Celebrity of Choice, Google the publicist to find his, or her, address and company name.
  
• Call the company and ask for the publicist’s office. Don’t bother asking to speak to the publicist herself. Tell the receptionist – which we all know, knows everything – you would like to send a gift basket to the Celebrity and need the best address. Speak kindly and confidently. (You can puke from nerves later.)
  
• Now, the PR person’s office might refer you to the agent’s office or the star’s personal office. Call, don’t e-mail.
• Say "Thank You Very Much'' and head to the post office.
  

We sent baskets to three celebrities. I got addresses very quickly for two. For the third, the receptionist gave me a publicist’s e-mail address. Of course, she never answered. So, I called back and got the management office name and address. After a quick call and an address, off the basket went in all its colorful glory.

The baskets arrived at their destinations and they were not sent back, which always is a possibility. Then, we posted this press release on PRWeb. (See the release to read about my partners.)

Cost to upload release: $80, split by four. Because I wrote it, there was no additional release-writing cost, but if you need someone to write it, you'll be looking at $100 to $300.

What did our businesses get out of it? I can’t speak for the other vendors, but the Pollitos got exposure and sales. The Web pages and message boards that featured us will hang around for a long time, so we’ll continue to get some exposure.

And I know you want to know: Did we get a Gracias?
No. Not yet. I am not sure one was expected.

However, can’t say we’re not all hoping for a photo in People or US Weekly or on Perez, our favorite bad boy cubanito.

Personally, I am keeping fingers crossed Jennifer’s twins show up on her upcoming TLC reality show dressed in their “Gordito’’ and “Gordita’’ onesies.

Any questions?

A new widget and a quickie Los Pollitos Dicen sale

Let me just say I love Paypal. They've introduced a storefront widget that can be published to blogs, Facebook and any site that allows html code. It even has an option that lets other folks post the storefront on their sites. Talk about the networking potential!

I just made a quickie storefront, and in honor of Paypal and my budding techie skills, here's a little sale to test it out.

Below, you'll discover Los Pollitos Dicen onesies in newborn sizes at a discounted price -- 10 bucks off to be exact. Shipping is included in the price. You can look at the actual tees on our website.

Need a baby gift? Want one? Click and help me test this widget. If it works, that means I will from time to time add secret sales for Bilingual in the Boonies readers...and watch this space for a few more uploads and sales in the next few days.

Pass the word!

Squid Who?

I moved to Nashville in 1991 to work as a general assignment reporter on the Metro desk. My reporter friends in Jersey, where I had been working and dying, teased me that I was going South to cover the rhinestone beat and Elvis sightings. None of that, but I did once write about a naked woman walking down Music Row.

The truth is, I thought I would be here just a couple of years. This place was another planet and I was the alien. But, we're going on 17 years of residency.

I like it here.

As testament, I have made a Lens on Squidoo offering up some insider tips to visiting Nashville. It's a love letter and a field guide. Visiting this place without the right map could indeed leave an impression different from the one I have. So, I Squidoo-ed for love. (Plus, as per my dad, lots of Cubanitos from Miami want to move to Tennessee. Well, here's a guide to the coolest city in the state.)

And because I can't get enough of a good thing, I also made a Lens about Los Pollitos Dicen.
I included links to traditional Latino children's songs, YouTube videos, and the bilingual books and CDs we most love. This one is kind of a draft, so I will be adding more when there is time and brain power.

Please visit me and drop me a note over there.

Suggestions always are welcome. Everyone needs an editor.

By the way, please notice that Seth Godin left me a little note on the Nashville lens. Let's just say, the holiday was made after that one. Maybe he writes notes to all the girls, but I'll share.