We are excited to announce something special we’ve been working on for all you babywearing moms who want the perfect outer layer for you and babe to enjoy cooler weather comfortably (and stylishly). Boba Vest has arrived. This high quality, thoughtfully crafted baby carrier cover fits over you, your little and your Boba Carrier just right and provides that extra layer of warmth for early morning walks, later afternoon adventures, and outings of all kinds, regardless of dips in temperature. (Check out the Boba Vest press release below).

To celebrate this exciting release, we’re giving you a chance to win a Boba Vest in a Boba Prize Pack complete with new Boba Carrier 3G and Baby Carrier Stuff Sack (print of your choice), and our organic cotton teething pads. Enter below now through February 28 (ends March 1, 12:01 am).

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Contact: Bethany O’Donnell                                                                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tel: 888-567-9727

Email: bethany@bobafamily.com

DESPITE COLD WEATHER, PARENTS AND KIDS CAN CONTINUE TO EXPLORE THE WORLD TOGETHER

Avoid cabin fever with these cold-weather safety and comfort tips

BOULDER, COLO., Feb 25, 2013.— As families around the country settle into a cold and snowy winter, parents of young children are finding ways to get out and explore despite the freezing temperatures. Children’s need for outdoor time doesn’t change with the seasons, and with certain safety and comfort precautions, the outdoors are just as accessible in winter as in any other time of year.

One way to keep young children warm and protected in the elements is to share body warmth through babywearing, such as with wraps or baby carriers. But babywearing parents are often deterred by lack of outerwear that will fit over the baby.

“My son’s first winter, I only took him for a walk one time in the snow,” says Abby Armijo, Senior Project Manager at Boba (www.bobafamily.com), a Boulder, Colo.–based company that creates award-winning baby carriers and related products. “When we had to run errands, I would put him in the carrier, wrap myself up in a warm blanket, and speed walk into the store to avoid frostbite.”

But this winter will be different for Armijo and other babywearing parents, since Boba has launched its new line of vests designed to fit snugly and warmly over baby wraps and carriers. Boba Vest is the result of Boba’s acquisition of Peekaru, a company that has been making popular baby carrier covers since 2006. The covers are not only more fashionable than blankets or oversized coats, but they also close the gap between parent and child to keep out the cold.

In addition to sporting outerwear specifically designed for babywearing, Armijo offers these safety tips for venturing out with baby in the cold weather:

1. Dress appropriately. Little ones are especially sensitive to the elements, so make sure to dress them in layers—and don’t forget the hat.
2. Keep the airway clear. It is very easy to get lost in layers, so it is critical that fabric never creeps up around the baby’s face or anywhere that could compromise an open and clear airway.
3. Protect baby’s neck. Babies are wiggle worms. Avoid any potential strangulation hazards by making sure no fabric could get tangled around their necks.
4. Get comfortable first. Make sure your baby is in the carrier properly before putting your cold weather cover on. Although you can still make minor adjustments to the carrier with the cover on, it’s much easier to do beforehand.

About Boba
Boba (www.bobafamily.com) designs thoughtfully crafted products for active parents who want the time and freedom to create a real and caring bond with their child, while living life to the fullest. We care deeply about what we do, and our customers’ happiness is our highest motivation as a company.

We’re proud to be chosen Editor’s Pick for Top Baby Carrier by BabyCenter.com! Boba 3G was among 15 Top Baby Products featured by Baby Center. The parenting site teamed up with baby gear guru Jamie Grayson to choose from among hundreds of parent reviews while also using their own parenting experience to make this year’s choices. Here’s what they had to say about the Boba 3G:

Top carrier: Boba 3G

Versatility makes this soft-structured carrier a winner. In contrast with other popular carriers, the Boba can be worn in front or on your back, allowing kids from 7 to 45 pounds to inhabit it snugly and safely. The Boba distributes your baby’s weight evenly on your hips and allows him to nestle in a froggy position — similar to the position he enjoyed in the womb. And unlike the Ergo, it doesn’t require a bulky infant insert to prop up the youngest babies.

The Boba’s stirrups also set it apart from every other carrier on the market. When your child grows beyond the baby stage, she can rest her feet in the stirrups and adjust and support her weight as needed.

Thank you to Baby Center, Jamie Grayson and all of your for continuing to make Boba 3G a top pick by parents of babies and toddlers!

Ocean is the newest edition to our Boba Wrap collection and the first in a new line of print styles. It features a blue and gray nautical color palette and like other Boba Wraps, is made of 95% cotton, 5% spandex for the perfect amount of support and stretch. Get the Ocean Wrap.

Introducing our newest look! Boba Carrier 3G, Stuff Sack and Boba Mini are now all available in Safari, our great shade of light, cool khaki. Perfect for long hikes, short treks or just running in and out of the grocery store, Safari gives you the same 3G you love with a sandy kick.

Win the whole Safari line and more with our Boba Safari Giveaway!

To celebrate the launch of this outdoorsy trio of new products, we’re giving away a fantastic Safari prize package! Enter now through Sunday, November 11 to win all three Safari products, one of those great Melissa & Doug giant stuffed giraffes, and the children’s book Starry Safari. Enter here:

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Today, we announce something we’ve been bursting at the seams over for a few months now (and developing for much longer): BobaAir!

BobaAir is the lightest, sportiest baby carrier out there and we hope that this first-of-its-kind addition to your baby carrier collection will make that freedom together you have with your family even more effortless (and help spread the benefits of babywearing, too). This innovative new baby carrier is a real game-changer for active families because it is:

• Lightweight – only .7 pounds (11oz)
• Folds into itself to fit into a purse
• Water resistant
• Unparalleled portability
• Easy, quick on/off functionality
• Made of high-tech nylon fabric

BobaAir is perfect to keep stashed in your purse or glove box, and will be a perfect travel companion. In fact, to highlight BobaAir’s convenience, we’re running a special $1000 vacation package giveaway to help you experience a great, surely much-deserved family getaway with the ease of BobaAir. Check out the BobaAir $1000 Dream Vacation Pin-It-To-Win-It Giveaway for more info.

Visit BobaAir in our online shop for more details.

Read the BobaAir Press Release.

Great news! We’re excited to announce we’ve partnered with uber-cool Diaper Dude to bring you a new designer 3G! You’re probably well-aware of Diaper Dude and their great, hip products geared towards dads and active families. It’s the same Boba Carrier 3G with all the latest features you know and love, now with two new full-carrier print options geared towards the babywearing men in our lives, releasing just in time for Father’s Day!

The Special Edition Diaper Dude Boba Carrier 3G comes to you in of-the-moment Camoflouge or classic black Pinstripe, and fantastically matches other Diaper Dude products.

Hop on over to our baby carrier store to check out this awesome addition to our 3G line for more details, click over to our interview with Diaper Dude founder Chris Pegula to get some babywearing fashion tips, and read on for a chance to WIN one for the babywearing guy in your life…

Diaper Dude Boba Carrier 3G Father’s Day Giveaway

In celebration of these fabulous new designer prints and to honor all those fabulous babywearing dads out there, we’re giving away a Diaper Dude Boba Carrier 3G for Father’s Day! Now through June 15, submit a short one-minute video nominating that special fatherly dad-tastic Dude in your life, and he could win the Diaper Dude Boba Carrier 3G of his choice with matching Diaper Dude bag (or, should he be a runner-up, $120 in gift cards to diaperdude.com and bobafamily.com).

Happy nominating and happy babywearing! We can’t wait to see and hear all the great things about your guy.

Giveaway entry is open Friday June 8, 2012 through Thursday, June 14, 2012 (contest closes at 12:01 am on the 15th). Winners will be announced Friday, June 15th!

To enter:

• Make a one-minute or less video telling us why your Dude is the best Father!
• Put the link to your video from Youtube, Vimeo, etc as a comment to this blog post (mandatory for entry).
• Tweet the link to your video with the #mybabywearingdude hashtag for an additional contest entry
• Like and follow Diaper Dude and Boba social media per the rafflecopter prompts for even more chances to win!

Prizes (chosen at random):

• 1st place – Diaper Dude Boba Carrier 3G (choice of color) with matching Diaper Dude Bag.
• 2nd and 3rd Places – $60 gift card to Diaper Due along with a $60 gift card to Boba.

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Heather for Boba: Diaper Dude is such a popular brand and your products are very cool. Congratulations on your success! Which part of this ride has been the most fun for you?

Chris Pegula: Wow, this is a tough one since there is so much of my job that is fun and that I love.  I would have to say after looking back over the years, if anyone ever told me I would be designing diaper bags for dads I would’ve told them they were crazy!  This is the last thing I thought I would be doing.  But the fact that I can be inspired by my family and have them involved in my career (coming to work, tradeshows, etc.) has to be the best part for me.  They are really the inspiration behind the brand.  It’s also fun to see our product in weekly magazines sported by different celebrity dads and moms.

Boba: Were you a babywearing dad yourself when your sons and daughter were little?  

CP: Yes. Totally!

Boba: As a father, what do you appreciate most about babywearing? 

CP: I loved that I could hang out with my child while they were in the carrier and have amazing experiences like walking to the beach or even hanging around the yard.  Carriers really give a connection that dads don’t get to experience during pregnancy.  So much is foreign to dads for the first year since your baby is heavily dependent on mom (eg. Feeding.)  I liked that I could spend one on one time with each of my kids and feel confident that I could handle their needs.  I loved when they would fall asleep while on a walk.  There is nothing more precious than seeing your sleeping child so peaceful.

Also, since my youngest son was a preemie, we learned that physical contact impacts physical and psychological wellbeing.  We made it a point to share this contact time with him.  We totally believe this made a difference in his growth and strengthened him to recover more quickly than normal.  I believe the same holds true for anyone using the Diaper Dude Boba carriers.  It strengthens the bond and gives the security your child needs and loves.

Boba: There are a lot of different kinds of carriers out there, and a lot of different baby carrier companies. Why did you choose Boba for the Diaper Dude branded carrier?

CP: Boba really felt like the right partner from the start.  We both share the same idea about making life easier for parents.  Our design focuses on creating products that eliminate stress for parents.  Working with a company that shares that same concept was a no brainer for me.  Plus they have a great design.  I wish they were around when I had kids, but I am long past that stage.

Boba: Diaper Dude and Boba have similar freedom-based “make life easier for parents” goals. What do you think bringing the two brands together for the Diaper Dude Boba offers today’s fathers most?

CP: I think our brands give dads a product that will help them to be confident in their new role as a father while bringing them style and ease of use at the same time.  What could be better than that?

Boba: Not much, I don’t think! What kind of father will the Diaper Dad Boba appeal to most? Who should be getting one for Father’s Day this year?

CP: I think dads today overall are more style conscious but that doesn’t mean that these carriers won’t appeal to all dads.  Just like the Diaper Dude brand gives that feeling of belonging to the dad club, I believe the Diaper Dude Boba carriers will add a whole new level to that idea.

I know a few celebrities already got their hands on some, like Chris Hemsworth, Bruce Willis, Cash Warren and JR Martinez.

Boba: Okay, design moment of truth: Pinstripes or Camo? Which would you be sporting first?

CP: I have to say at first I was all over the pinstripe carrier but once I saw our camo carrier on our model, Thomas, I was immediately swayed.  Camo is definitely the way to go!

Boba: How about a fashion tip for our babywearing dads and moms buying the Diaper Dude Boba for them (or themselves!) this year? Personally, I’m in love with the Yellow Submarine line, so I’m torn between the Pariscope and the Sea of Holes bags to go with the Pinstripe. What do you think?

CP: I’m all about color so I would go for the Sea of Holes bag myself.  It’s so much fun!  The periscope is definitely a cool bag too but for that more conservative Beatle fan – if there is such a thing J  And which would you pair with the Camo Diaper Dude Boba?  It depends on the mood and how daring you are.  If you are feeling like the dad who is ready to kick some butt then go all out camo with either the messenger 1 or II camo bag.  On the other hand you can accent the carrier with the more subtle colors like our messenger 1 black bag or our messenger II gray bag.  The choices are endless and that’s what makes it so much fun.  Who ever thought we’d get a chance to express our style when wearing our kids.  I gotta admit, that is kinda cool and the reason I love my job!

Boba: I love your job, too! It’s so great to see all the great ways that you have spread the love of being a father – you are an awesome role model for today’s dad! Thanks so much for taking the time for this interview and congratulations again on all your successful ventures, and adventures!

About Chris

Chris Pegula, the founder of Diaper Dude diaper bags and products for dads, helps make a dad’s life easier with serious style. Pegula is a lifestyle expert in all things family, parenting and partner related with the goal of making a man’s transition easier when he becomes a dad. From maintaining a great marriage, to staying connected to your partner and kids while traveling on business, Pegula understands the challenges and expectations of being a great husband and father, and uses humor and creativity in juggling the everyday chaos that accompanies his family-man lifestyle…

…continue reading at www.ChrisPegula.com

Last year, after the big launch of our Boba Carrier 3G, we were finally able to prioritize product development for something our baby carrier customers have been asking for from us for a long time – a carrying sack for their carriers. People told us of all the creative ways they were storing their carriers, but that they wanted something that was really easy to use and that matched their Boba Carrier print. So, in 2011 we went to work on it.

We decided that a very basic, economical fabric carrying bag would be best, like those we use for our sleeping bags. When we looked around for examples of this classic “stuff sack” (a term popularized by the sleeping bag industry; “stuff” being a verb, mind you), we found a lot of standard examples with the drawstring on one end and handle on the other – the same orientation you’ll now find on the Boba Carrier Stuff Sack. We were excited that our search also led us to a working mother with a popular baby carrier accessories shop on Etsy.com selling her version of the classic stuff sack, made especially for soft-structured baby carriers like the Boba 3G. Charlotte Kaufman runs the Etsy shop Red Charlotte where she sells a variety of pretty and functional custom fabric pieces including stuff sacks (she was the first to gear a stuff sack towards baby carriers), teething pads, and more. Unfortunately, after much conversation and earnest wishes to work with another mom-led company, and after running the math of sizeable production and distribution needs, we weren’t able to source our stuff sacks from Charlotte due to volume and pricing obligations. However, her experience and devotion to babywearing, and her strong support of carrier companies continues to be an inspiration to us! In fact, we’re featuring her in our upcoming Babywearing All-Stars series where we pay homage to the people, companies and places that have inspired a growing movement in regions where babywearing had long been forgotten as the best way to move through the world with baby (in the meantime, check out Red Charlotte on Etsy – we know you’ll love it and we’d love to show her our appreciation with the traffic to her store).

Well, after several rounds of designing and redesigning our would-be baby carrier stuff sack, reviewing seven different prototypes and then sourcing production, the Boba Carrier Stuff Sack finally arrived to market this month and wow, were we surprised at the response! Though we knew the people who had been asking for them for so long would probably jump at the chance to get them, we had no idea how fast they would sell out (most of them went in one day!). As of this blog post, we’re waiting for our next shipment to meet back-orders and have even re-worked our production schedule to help prevent these kinds of sell-outs in the future.

All in all, new products like the stuff sack offer us a world of opportunity to experience the excitement of our customers, hone our abilities to answer requests and meet new needs, and grow as a family and business. We continue to thank all our Boba fans for their love and use of our products. We can’t wait to include you in our next new product launch (hint, hint: there’s a big one right around the corner)!