Support Mumpreneurs & Kidpreneurs! Shop at Mama’s Bazaar at Liang Court

Last weekend, my 8-year-old son, Ayden, had his first taste of financial independence. He became a little towkay (‘boss’ in Hokkien)!

Ayden ran his own stall selling preloved toys, clothes and our self-designed Stellar Pets doggie clothes, at the Kidpreneurs Corner of the Mama’s Bazaar & Family Fun event held at Liang Court.

He made a profit of… $93.50! Woohoo! More on that (plus pics, including of my lovely Optimus the chowchow and Rey the bulldog) later.

This Mumpreneurs and Kidpreneurs event is organised by Mums@Work, a social enterprise founded by my friend Sher-li Torrey.

That’s Sher-li in the middle (in red) with her team of Mumpreneurs. She is one amazing woman who toils tirelessly to help mums who have chosen to give up full-time work so as to take care of their kids. Over the years, she has engaged many companies, convincing them to offer jobs with flexi hours, contract work where mums can work from home etc. When I quit my full-time job back in 2010 to care for Ayden, I signed up with Mums@Work too! According to this Today newspaper article, they have 26,500 mums on their database.

Sher-li also creates events like the Mama’s Bazaar to give Mumpreneurs a platform to promote their businesses. This year, it is at Liang Court atrium.

Here’s an article by Lian He Zao Bao, who came down to cover Mama’s Bazaar event. 妈妈企业家 and 儿童企业家 ??

While the Kidpreneur Corner was only held on the weekend of 5 & 6 March (because mini towkays have to go to school, haha!) the Mumpreneurs stalls are open a whole week from 4 – 10 March. Which means you have 2 more days to check them out and pick up good buys that are specially curated by mums who know what you want. Here’re some choice picks:

Asia’s Beauty Secrets

What: An online beauty store that sells products imported from Japan, Asia’s Beauty Secrets is run by Sher-li, who previously worked in Japan and speaks fluent Japanese.

She sources for hard-to-find Japan-made products such as Sakura cream (we love it for its light texture that’s gentle on Ayden’s skin) and toners made by a centuries-old Sake distillery. It’s stuff you won’t get in regular shops, and they’re very reasonably priced too.

Website: www.asiasbeautysecrets.com

BlueTree Education

What: BlueTree is an education centre that focuses on primary academic programmes and gifted education programmes. Founder Faith, a former MOE teacher, and her team believe that success in school needs a firm foundation first, so they root students strongly in numeracy, literacy and critical thinking skills. Students can then think more, learn more and achieve more.

Also, a heads-up. Look out for some very exciting collaborations that I’m planning with BlueTree soon! (Hint: I’ll be training junior journalists.)

Website: www.bluetreeeducation.com

Little By Little

What: Little by Little was founded in 2011 by two psychologist-mothers with the sole intention of designing baby and toddler apparel that celebrate little children at every stage of their development. Michelle and Kit sell organic baby and toddlers clothes (which they design), and organic cotton comforters and cuddles. They also carry leather shoes for pre-walkers, tableware made of rice husk, and organic skin care products.

Drawing inspiration from daily interactions with the little ones, the tag lines on Little by Little apparel, coupled with unique graphics that play out the word puns, strive to give these little ones a “voice” to assert themselves. Such witty expressions allow parents to see their little ones’ behaviours from a fresh perspective and encourage them to embrace their children for who they are. This sets the ground for fostering strong and healthy parent-child relationships and helps parents nurture their children into self-assured and confident young adults.

Website: www.littlebylittle.com.sg

Bzmommy

What: If you love making lunch bentos for your kids and hubby, level up with some really cool tools! Mumpreneur Hazel has a delightful range of bento making tools such as food picks, cutters, food cups, lunch boxes etc. Unlike the cheap but nasty quality stuff you usually see, Hazel’s are imported goods that look as sturdy as they are pretty. The lunch bags are so cute, though my Superhero-loving son may not want to switch allegiance from his current Spider-Man lunch bag. ?

Website: www.bzmommy.com

Play Bake Eat Workshop Pte Ltd

What: Their Yummy Dough offers kids a simple hands-on activity at home, minus the hassle. Parents don’t have to buy many ingredients and clean up a floury, dirty kitchen. Just add a small amount of water to the flour mixture and bake them into cookies. Great for birthday party activities, plus they make instant party favours. Helps develop creativity for older kids and improve motor skills for your little growing ones.

Play Bake Eat also organises workshop and activities related to Yummy Dough. Birthday Packages and Gift Packs available too.

Website: www.play-bake-eat.com

There are other stalls to browse too.

Highlights of the Kidpreneur Corner

A big ‘THANK YOU’ to my friends and relatives who came to support Ayden the Towkay Leo & his Towkay Neo (aka his girlfriend, Clarissa) at their stalls last Sat!

This pair of cute brothers were Ayden’s first customer. They bought his old armor, shield, sword and helmet set for just $12.

The toys, especially the mini figurines (2 for $5!) were a hit. I think almost every kid who ran a stall there came to buy a toy hahaha. Sorry parents, I have passed my clutter to you.

Our next-door neighbour, a very polite boy who baked and sold his own cookies, even barter-traded a box of his yummy brownies with us in return for 2 minifigurines.

Ayden also sold our hand-made Doggy scarves and skirts. His fur siblings modelled them for him. #freelabour

My friend Jelaine and her family came to support and bought $26 of preloved clothes (shopping for mummy) and toys (shopping for kids)! Thank you! #bigspender

We made our own portable display post by pasting photos of our doggies on Ayden’s old light saber. So we forgot to sell that. It’s still available for $5 if anyone wants it. (It’s the basic model with no light.)

Ayden’s godsister, Olivia, came to support, buying superhero minifigurines from Ayden and cookies from Clarissa. Ayden donned his elephant sock ears to mark the occasion. ?? Those brand new Angry Bird socks were later sold at $2 a pair to my sister, Susan, who got them for my nieces.

Ayden’s buddy and namesake, Aidan, came to show some love, and to shop! #bromance Thank you, sweetie!

While Towkay Leo was goofing around, his Towkay neo, Clarissa, was doing a very good job peddling her Japanese soaps and cookies from The Muffinry. “You can use the Sakura cream on your body or on your face…” Look how serious she is!

Meanwhile, her co-boss Ian was getting sad because everyone was buying from Clarissa but didn’t notice him. (I’m guilty!) Aww… Poor dear! Next time, I’ll buy from you!

Clarissa doing her #girlboss thing.

The other 8 Kidpreneurs (there were 10 kids’ stalls per day) were equally innovative and hardworking. They sold stuff from DIY candles, baked goods, waterproof cameras and even set up a nail bar and a games stall.

Clarissa, bless her kind heart, has decided to donate her profits to charity. THIS is why my Ayden adores her, and why I have shamelessly called dibs on her as my future daughter-in-law.

Ayden’s profit of $93.50 is going to his college fund. That’s what we tell him to prevent any new toy purchases with his windfall. Eh! I did not clear out your toy room just to have you clutter it up again!

If you’d like to contribute to Ayden’s college fund, you can continue to purchase our Doggy scarves and skirts. We also have pretty necklaces. They are made with baby-grade elastic and soft felt or fur material cut-outs so as not to iritate our furkids’ skin.

Here’s my friend Mark’s labradoodle wearing our Purple Heart & Black Ribbon necklace ($8).

This is Rey’s very first dress! I sewed it for her for Chinese New Year. And then I went mad and bought other materials to make more hahaha. (Hence our accidental Doggy clothes business.)

They’re all lace-trimmed and available in (top) Pink Spring, (bottom left) English Rose, (centre) Yellow Daffodils and (right) Green Little Nonya. $10 each. Fits small to medium dogs.

I usually make them with a longer elastic band so you can tie a bow to shorten it if your dog is still a pup, and then slowly loosen it as it grows. You can use Rey as a gauge, she is about 6kg now.

Rey is in a super cute Fuschia & Polka Dots lace trim ($10) skirt. All skirts are made from cotton and can also be worn as an ‘apron’ if you put it around the neck. Like a sexy french maid haha.

Rey sashaying up to Jake, a neighbour’s 13-month-old bulldog.

He’s getting the blue and purple checkered fringed scarf ($9) which Optimus is wearing here.

Also available as little hipster skirts for girl dogs. $9 each.

Because we believe that Big Girls deserve to look pretty too, we made these triangular skirts that can be worn 2 ways: as a neck scarf (secured with elastic band for convenience) or a skirt, as Optimus reluctantly models here. (“I’m a BOY, mum!”) $12 each. Fits medium to large dogs like Chowchows, Golden retrievers, Bull mastiffs etc.

Or if you have 1 large and 1 small pet, you can dress them in matchy matchy outfits!
We have limited quantities for each design (usually just 1 or 2). If you’re interested, whatsap me at 98460214 to reserve yours.