News Articles

Making car trips fun for toddlers

Has your toddler ever tossed a toy from his or her car seat only to cry to have it back? And what did you do when that happened? Stop the car to fetch the toy - or reach around while keeping one hand on the wheel? It's a dilemma most parents of toddlers face at one time or another, but when it happened to Port Chester mom Patricia Friend Douglass, she invented a solution: A toy that buckles right into the car seat.

I talked to Patricia about her new company, Casey and His Friends , for a story in today's Business section . She told me about the day her daughter, Parker, kept dropping her favorite blanket (which had a pony on it) - on purpose. After Patricia retrieved the blanket, she realized how dangerous it can be and how many moms and dads do it all the time. "You can't tell me that you haven't driven down the road and had one hand in the back seat of the car," she said.

The Casey and His Friends car seat toys are stuffed animals in the shape of horses, a dog and a dragon - all were inspired by animals and people in Patricia's life. Patricia spent a year developing the toys and getting them "tested for everything known to man," as her manufacturer put it. Safety expert Stephanie Tombrello from SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. gives the toys a thumbs up because Patricia got them crash-tested at a university lab.

I haven't tried one with Pumpkin because they only work with forward-facing car seats (and as I've mentioned in this blog, I'm keeping her rear-facing until she reaches 33 pounds), but they seem cute and fun.

What about you other moms and dads? What are your strategies for keeping the wee ones happy in the car?

Port Chester mom's toys keep toddlers busy in the backseat

Toddlers, being toddlers, take joy in dropping a toy on the floor and then crying for a parent to pick it up.

When the stunt is performed at home in the high chair, it's cute, if a bit annoying.

When a child is strapped in a car seat, it can be dangerous, especially when mom or dad takes a hand off the steering wheel to fetch the toy.

That's what happened to Patricia Friend Douglass when her daughter, Parker, was 1 1/2 .

Douglass, a horse trainer, was leaving her job as manager of Partridge Hollow Farm in Greenwich, Conn., when the baby dropped her blanket.

"I left the farm, and no sooner was I out of the gate but she was screaming, just bloodcurdling. I had no idea what was wrong. And then I realized she dropped her toy," Douglass recalled.

What happened next is familiar to any mom or dad.

"After I retrieved it, I was looking in the rearview mirror. She was looking right at me and she dropped it again, and then she started screaming," Douglass said.

By the time she drove home, the Port Chester mom came up with an idea for a stuffed toy that attaches to the car seat. An equestrian for 15 years, Douglass imagined a toy horse.

She took one of her daughter's stuffed animals, cut off its rear legs and asked a friend who could sew to help create a prototype.

Not all fun and games

Patricia Friend Douglass created a line of stuffed animals that buckle into car seats and strollers so children cannot drop them.

Toy auditions, seeking exposure
Two years ago, Patricia Friend Douglass came up with an idea for a line of stuffed animals that buckle into car seats and strollers so children cannot drop them. Last March, the Rye founder of Casey and his Friends was one of 20 designers from across the nation who won a “toy audition” with the chief executive officer of FAO Schwarz.

In just two years, she has designed a half-dozen stuffed animals; put them through a battery of product safety tests; applied for patent protection; fired a manufacturer; bartered a product placement on the “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” television show; and produced an initial production run of 10,000 units, financed by family.

Carsey Car Seat Companion – Casey by CASEY AND HIS FRIENDS, LLC
(link taken from: http://www.playzak.com/article.asp?id=1054)

The Carsey is designed to buckle safely into any forward-facing car seat or stroller to help children enjoy every adventure. Casey brings added safety to children, the driver and the automobile, as it will never fall under the seat or on the ground, and has passed the crash test for use in forward-facing car seats. A Carsey attachment is available for booster seats and air travel, and other Carsey friends include Denis the Dragon, Three Step, Merlin, and Jill. “There is no product like this in the world,” President Patricia Friend Douglass of Casey and His Friends told TDmonthly. 11/10/2006 (Price: $34.95; Age: 1 and Up)

Casey goes to FAO Schwartz Toy Auditions

FAO’s toy auditions

NEW YORK—The judges were not as harsh as American Idol’s Simon Cowell at the 2nd Annual FAO Schwarz Toy Auditions this morning, but the desire to succeed seemed much the same. More than 20 fledgling manufacturers came from New York, across the U.S., and even Mexico City to showcase what they believe should be the next toy sensation.

The Toy Auditions, held at FAO's Manhattan flagship store, was a chance for artists, inventors, manufacturers to present their products to a team of judges FAO’s team, which included CEO Ed Schmults, president and chief marketing officer David Niggli and vice president and senior buyer Claudia Sandoval, or the “judges.”

All products were judged by design, quality, originality, fun, safety, health and environmental impact. Winners will be carried in FAO Schwarz’s New York and Las Vegas stores as well as FAO catalogs and on the Web site.

Most presentations lasted longer than the five minutes allotted, but were worth the extra few minutes.

Horse trainer Patricia Friend Douglass was ready for her presentation. When she found herself driving her car with one hand and using her other hand to pick up her baby daughter’s doll in the backseat about a year and a half ago, she knew “there must be a better way.” Her company, Casey and His Friends, Rye, N.Y., will launch five plush dolls that strap on to child car seats and strollers and are crash tested and government approved. The dolls allow kids to play and never drop their toy while in car or out for a stroll.

The first wave of plush dolls includes Casey, the main character, which will be available to ship this April. The company has manufactured 10,000 of the dolls for the initial launch as well as several specialty retailers who have already expressed interest in the product already. The next doll, Denis the Dragon, will be launched mid-April with with the rest of the line—Merlin the Dog and horses Jill and Three-Step—ready in June.

According to Douglass, another dog, Kiki, would be added to the line by end of year, followed by hypo-allergenic sheep and educational DVDs by 2007. Douglass says that she will only sell to specialty stores. Some proceeds will benefit a Wild Horse Sanctuary in California.

"It’s a great product, so I want to maintain its integrity and not jump to the big markets by keeping it specialty," says Douglass.

International Toy Fair 2006

Exciting news!!!  Casey and his friends attended the International Toy Fair at the Jacob Javits Center this past February and what a show we had!  The booth looked fantastic and Casey and his friends received a tremendous amount of attention and very positive feedback.  

All of the characters in the line were well recieved.  Specialty store and internet company buyers stopped by and were all very impressed with the toy.  We are all looking forward to our next shows in September 2006, the ABC show in Las Vegas and the Baby Kind + Jugend show in Cologne Germany.

Testimonials

Just a note to let you know how happy I am with Merlin. I ordered it on Sunday and it arrived on Tuesday. Who ever heard of that? This was bought for my new Granddaughter, The Princess Alessanda Grace Figueroa,who is 4 mos old and very big. No doubt she will love this for her Chanukah gift, and be using it by next month if she keeps on growing.

Again , thank you,

Wilma Baksh

Gotta have it!!!
From NYC.com

This summer I was at a baby shower and the neatest gift was given. I had never before seen anything with the same concept, so the Carsey toy immediately sparked my interest.

The Carsey toy is a plush toy that goes over the buckle of a car seat! Genius is what immediately came to mind. After examining the toy, I found out the name of the company is Casey and his friends. There are currently 5 Carsey’s in line: Casey, Three- Step, Jill all horses; Merlin the dog; Denis the dragon. The Carsey toys can be used for airline travel, forward facing car seats, booster seats, anything that you can attach a toy to…there is also an attachment piece that comes with it so that it can attach on to any seat belt or stroller.

On the website (www.caseyandhisfriends.com) it says that the whole concept was born because Patricia (the inventor) kept having to try and retrieve her daughters blankie and after 2, 3, 4 times of having to do this in every car ride, she thought this is crazy…I am going to crash one of these times! So in order to reduce driver distraction she came up with the Carsey toy!

Most importantly, Casey and his friends has had all of the products safety tested in the US & Internationally to the same standards as car seats.

If you want to stop your child, grand child, niece, nephew, friend’s baby, whatever child is in your life, from throwing their toy around in the car, I strongly suggest you go out & get one of these Carsey toys! For $34.95 you can make every trip in the car safer for the child! Isn’t that worth it? I think so, I have a Casey for each of our car seats and a Merlin for the stroller!

The only thing that I can suggest to make this product line even better is add to it…the horses are great, but I would love to see something really girly!!! I am biased, I have a daughter!

Fabulous!

Reviewer: Anonymous, Stamford, CT  |  Date: September 06, 2006
Both of my toddler's love Casey and Merlin! And a great gift idea!

Perfect!

Reviewer: Polly, Richmond Virginia  |  Date: September 04, 2006
This is the PERFECT baby gift. I buy a few at a time so that I always have the perfect gift for baby showers. It makes ridding in the car much more fun when you have your best friend ridding with you! Your kids will love this!!

neigh!

Reviewer: Stacey Smith, Birmingham, MI | Date: June 30, 2006
2 of 2 people found this review helpful

My husband brought home this cute little stuffed horse. My son enjoys our car rides a little bit more. "What does a horse say", turns into every animal imaginable and before we know it, we've reached our destination! This is definitly a great product for the family who has everything!

Why didn't I think of that?

Reviewer: Anonymous, MI | Date: June 29, 2006
2 of 2 people found this review helpful

This is a really clever product. My son love's his horsey and has named it and plays with it often. A big surprise benefit is it holds the crotch buckle in place (it no longer gets stuck under him when I put him in the seat - a constant annoyance)

These review are found at our friends at Elite Car Seats. Visit them at: www.elitecarseats.com

Immediately after our daughter, Emily, was introduced to Casey, she met her favorite travel friend.  Casey keeps Emily entertained as she pulls the reins as if riding him and she is forever hugging and kissing him.  Also, Casey often makes for a comfortable foot rest for the long journeys.  As Emily's parents, we highly recommend Casey and we look forward to meeting his friends.  

Angie and Michael

Send us your testimonial
Note that field marked with a (*) are required.

Details of your testimonial

Amazing Animal Stories

This is a true story

If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle on Thursday, Dec 15,  2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line (rope) wrapped around her body-her tail  her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

 A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her-a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

 When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around-she thanked them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

 May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate in the New Year----to be untangled from the things that we think are binding us.

Happy 2006!!!

To whom it may concern,

I am looking for an old friend. A horse that I met In California 3 years ago at Flag is Up Farm.

His name is Three Steps Black. He is a black and white paint. His owners are from Australia. I would like to buy him however I have to find him first.

The last information I had was that he was shipped to Arizona to live at a boarding facility. I would love and apprecitate ANY Leads.

I have attached a photo of him. He is a good friend.

Thank You for your time,
Patricia Friend Douglass

Send us your amazing animal stories.  We'd love to hear them!

Details of your amazing story