A Stuffed Toy You

Here’s a cute holiday gift idea: a customized 3D photo doll. Look at my own little Timmy frog!

We were walking around the mall when we stumbled upon Animaland. We already knew this was a cute build-a-stuffed-toy kind of shop, but learning about these cute “I Dolls” made my husband and I go “Awwww!”. It was pretty easy to get. Here’s what happens when you want to get one of these dolls:

The shop merchant takes a picture of your kid (or you if you want!) using their store camera. The tough part was getting the toddler to stand still to get a cute smile! Oh, you precious little active toddler you. If you want to use your own picture, you can save it on a USB drive and share it with the shop. The shop merchant then prints it on some kind of nifty 3D paper, then slides the picture in to your choice of stuffed toy. There are a lot to choose from.

There are stuffed animals such as frogs, pandas, lions, bears, rabbits, tigers, dogs, cats, and more. There are character toys such as Angry Birds, Elmo, and others. They come in different sizes too. The one we got is about five inches tall. It cost Php385.

The shop merchant told us that it’s one of the most popular items in the store. He shared that it’s a popular item for party giveaways. I think it’d be more special if they had this service AT a party, sort of like those popular pop-up photo booths.

Here are the branches of Animaland if you want your own personalized doll:

Whoops, the picture’s too small. Here’s the list: Bonifacio High Street, Festival Mall, Mall of Asia, Robinson’s Manila, Trinoma Mall, Shangri-la Edsa Mall, Marquee Mall – Pampanga, Ayala Center Cebu, Park Mall Cebu.

We were so charmed by the dolls that H and I got one each — a frog for me (since Timmy’s into Leapfrog now) and a panda for H (since Timmy’s a huge Kung Fu Panda fan). The frog now sits on my work desk at home, and the panda is on H’s desk at his office. Cuteness for inspiration!

Hi! I'm Toni Tiu, and I've been blogging at at Wifely Steps since 2003. This started as a blog to help newly weds adjust to married life. It has evolved into a home and parenting blog. I write about things close to my heart -- good eats, good reads, family, marriage, and the little things that make everyday happy.