Once enrolled in the rewards program, guests will be notified via email by June 21 if they are among the 200,000 guests in the U.S., U.K. There was a fantastic selection of t-shirts on offer and all the kids easily found something they were happy with. Once everyones bear was filled and had a heart they gave their bear a scrub down so that they were clean and ready to choose a t-shirt to keep their bear warm. It was so uplifting to watch all the kids kissing the hearts and knowing that they will always have a special bond with the bear. Once their bear was full, they were given a heart which they were told to rub against their own heart so that the bear will always feel their love.

Each child went up to the stuffing machine and helped create their own bear using a foot pedal which stuffed the bear with filling. They were then all seated in a circle and were kept occupied in a game of pass the bear until it was their turn.

The kids were encouraged to throw the bears around and stretch and massage them so that they were ready to be made into a real furry friend. I loved how the Build-A-Bear Party host got the children involved in the building process by waking the bear up from hibernation so that it could be stuffed.

Bonus member build a bear