Tell me these aren't the most cute babies in the cutest new baby shirts ever?
I keep getting coupons and sale codes in the mail and on-line.
One particular sale is entitled: "The Economy Sucks Sale."
It made me laugh and appreciate them more. (Maria has a couple of their great designs)
So, doing our part:
Use the code PACHANGA (all uppercase) to receive 20% off your Los Pollitos Dicen order.
Your country thanks you.
Maria walks into the room Sunday morning.
"What are you doing on your computer?''
"I am writing. You know, Maria, people pay Mami and Daddy to write stories, words and sentences for them. Isn't that cool?''
"Yeah, but you don't write baseball.''
Daddy, the sportswriter, is way cooler than Pollitos and PR.
So I have launched yet another business, a public relations consulting gig.
A client I love fell into my lap. For the last several years, since I quit reporting and launched Los Pollitos Dicen, I've helped small business owners write releases and pitch media, so why not get paid for some of it too, si? (Especially since the calls and e-mails from friends of friends of friends increase the more I help.)
So, in yet another act of shameless self-promoting, if you know someone who needs a media kit, a press release and some no-bull marketing and media advice from a no-bull former reporter with small business experience and national press contacts, send them my way.
If I can't help, I know people who can.
Last night, while I watched Lost in the Boonies, a few hundred Miamians, (Maiamenses?) partied at Cuba Nostalgia. I thought of them all and wished we were there, as we were the last two years.
Curious about the goings-on this weekend? Watch it via Babalu Blog. Que rico. I can hear the music from here.
If you're in Miami and you're looking for Los Pollitos, you can find them at Sentir Cubano.
edited Friday afternoon: Coming back to say that if you are Cuba Nostalgia and you see something that looks like a Pollito, but isn't a Pollito, well, it isn't a Pollito. Accept no imitations, my friends. No imitations.
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...
THE CRIB SHEET
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.
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?
Buenos dias, all.
A quick note to point you to the right-hand column and the Los Pollitos Dicen Amazon store.
We've included the books and music that have touched our lives, or have come highly recommended by friends and family on the bilingual journey.
There also are some books for inspiring creativity at home and parenting/mothering books that have meant a lot to me during my journey as Maria's madre, a walk that is both joyful and exhausting. (Aye, esa nina...)
I'll be adding more titles soon.
If you buy a book via our store, 25% of the proceeds will go to the non-profit and non-partisan National Latino Children's Institute...and if you have any books or music to recommend, let me know.
Oh, and one more thing, I'll be sending out the Pollitos newsletter in the next few days and introducing a new item, so if you haven't signed up, go do so. Apura!
The latest baby picture e-mailed to
A baby chick cookie cutter from CopperGifts.com.
Beautiful little hair pins by siiri.
Mother Hen and baby chicks picnic and tea set.
The latest chicks from Los Pollitos Dicen have hatched.
Introducing "Despertador'' or "Alarm Clock'' and "Ni Un Pio!'' or "Not a Peep,'' our version of "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" and otherwise known as the thing my Abuela said most commonly to her grandchildren: "No quiero oir ni un pio!'' The perfect toddler tee!
These funny Spanish T-shirts and onesies are our holiday 2007 offerings. They will be sold solo -- no box -- and each will include a card with the lyrics to Los Pollitos Dicen, the traditional lullaby we take our name from.
Despertador is available in 0 to 6 months and 6 to 12 months; Ni Un Pio is available in 2T and 4T. Both are 100% cotton and made in the U.S.A. $18.
Buy them here.
And finally, we've added "Fo!" in white with a chocolate brown image to our regular line-up. I personally, adore this funny, stinky, little chick.
We hope you like them, we hope they make you laugh, and of course, we hope you'll buy them for the bebes and children in your lives.
Today is the last day for the Hispanic Heritage Promo at Target.com. But, we're there until they sell out.
Need a baby gift?
They're carrying our sweet Gordito and Gordita bibs and white Pio Pio Pio onesies, which are not available through our own on-line shop.
And muchas gracias to all the cyber friends who wrote about our onesies being featured on Target this week. We are indebted. Seriously.
So, Oscar -- the good-looking, creative genius who designs Los Pollitos -- has five sisters. Five.Cuban.Sisters. When his family heard the Pio Pio Pio onesies sold out in a day, The Sisters called and said they suspected one particularly supportive sister bought up the whole lot.
She didn't.
But, we have laughed like hell at the thought.
Our families love us and support our venture. Our friends are equally amazing and encouraging. But, even we don't have enough cousins to cause the 24-hour sell out.
The Gordito and Gordita bibs, by the way, have sold out too.
What a ride.
We're restocking The Red Hot Shop, so check back soon. And send links to the amigos, por favor.
We lived most of this past summer as people allergic to light, confined to the artificial cool of our highly insulated house. Outside was not fit for any kind of folk in this year of mind-melting heat and drought.
Today, however was our reward for surviving.
Here in the Boonies, we spent the day outside. It was 85 and clear. We watched the birds at the feeders and tried to teach Maria the difference between a chickadee and a titmouse. A sandbox cake was made and the four fish who just moved into our pond provided a calm only previously experienced with drugs prescribed by a very nice oral surgeon.
As the light went low and golden, we went to a nearby park and walked along the riverbank. Then, the kid jumped up and down on playground equipment.
At bedtime, she passed out. Cold.
Me, I am wondering how I will sleep. This happens tomorrow.
Another good day awaits.
So, I am over here measuring and weighing packaging boxes, measuring the depth of a bib (yes, they want to know these things) and filling out more paperwork than required for a multi-million dollar real estate transaction. But, whatever. I'll tattoo their logo on my bottom if they ask, as I am insanely happy that the e-mail I got several weeks ago from Gigantic National Retailer was neither fake, nor false start.
If all continues to move as expected Los Pollitos Dicen, our very own cha cha children's t-shirts en espanol, will be on a national retail website before the end of the month.
Holy pio pio.
So, stay tuned for the announcement and gigantic link.
In other news, when I am not packaging and pureeing, I am listening to Maria sing new songs in Spanish, songs learned at her new school. A favorite seems to be Itsy Bitsy Spider.
I've added a poll on the right-hand side of the Boonie Blog.
I know some of you have found me here, a little dot on the map in Whereinthehellisthat, TN, by Googling "tickle feet'' and "spanish onesies'' and of course, my personal favorite "spank Latinas.'' I also know some of your madres and primas told you about me and a few others stumbled here via a generous link posted anywhere between Little Havana and Sicilia.
When I worked for Gigantic Media Corporation they used to give us all sorts of data on who our readers were. (I use huge font because I still think my readers are 65-year-old newspaper reading Grannies. It's ingrained.) And given that my telephone number and e-mail were printed below just about every story I wrote in the last decade, my phone would ring and I'd get feedback. Everything from: "You are a talented, gorgeous genius. The next chick lit star'' to "You know what I'm doing with your story today? Training my dog on it, you talentless hack.''
Good or bad, I love feedback.
So, I think the polling will become a regular feature here. Some may be silly and some will be serious, as I need the information to become a Gigantic Baby Tee Shirt Corporation. And mostly because, I like you and want to get to know you better.
So, talk to me and go hit that little button to the right.
Even you spankers.
Los Pollitos Dicen (The Little Chicks Say) now has a page on Facebook. Become a Fan!
