My nine-year-old niece is an amazing artist, and she casually tossed off this amazing drawing of my superhero-loving, four-year-old daughter in the car a few months ago. I did not forget how great it was, so when Budsies gave me the chance to try out their service, which makes high quality plush dolls of children’s drawings, pets, people, and original characters, I knew I wanted to use her sketch.
And, I am so, so excited with the final product! It is the coolest service, and the process of creating the dolls is thorough and thoughtful. You have the option to change little details from the image to the doll–my niece gave my daughter green eyes, but hers are actually blue. An easy fix for a Budsies doll!
To create a doll you upload your image, complete a questionnaire with as much detail as possible explaining what the image is, which details are most important, and any little fixes you might want to change. Then they send it through their multi-step process, which includes a lot of quality control, and they keep you informed the whole way. I got several emails letting me know where my doll was in the process, which is pretty great if your child is in on the creation and asks you when it’s going to arrive.
It costs $89 to make a character or a “selfie” doll, and $149 to make a plush version of your pet. The whole process took three weeks to the day from when I placed my order to when the doll shipped. Ours is here in time to put under the tree for my daughter as a great surprise from her cousin (her idol, her big-girl hero), but unfortunately they’re no longer shipping in time for the holidays.
BUT, you can still give Budsies gift cards up until the very last possible minute, which gives the recipient a chance to design their own doll. Which, in some ways, is way more fun than trying to pick a drawing and surprise someone. It was definitely worth it as far as I’m concerned, and I’m so excited to show my kiddo her new selfie superhero doll. And, my niece is super proud that her drawing was so good it’s been elevated to Real Live Doll status. A win for everyone!
GeekMom received a complimentary sample for review purposes.
