Custom Bobblehead Blog

A custom gift is a gift that you have either assembled yourself or ordered especially from a manufacturer so that the recipient will feel highly valued because you took the time and effort to customize the gift. A custom made gift is different from an off-the-shelf type of gift in that the latter is often mass-produced from the public. To illustrate, my custom made gift could be a bath towel monogrammed with your own nickname in your favorite colors while an off-the-shelf type of gift is simply a white bath towel I picked up at the nearby department store. A custom made gift has more value than an off-the-shelf gift because a custom made gift is one that was assembled or picked out due to its special value to the sender and recipient. We might say you communicate your caring thoughts  about the recipient when you send a custom gift to him or her that you know he or she will appreciate.

Examples of custom gifts could be gift baskets that you yourself assembled, filled with goodies like chocolates, fine wine, and gourmet canned food; pretty plants or fresh flower arrangements that you have ordered from a florist; or corporate giveaways like clocks, watches, writing pen sets, or leather schedule planners embossed with your corporation’s logo. Since custom gifts are basically items that were picked out for a particular occasion (such as because of an illness in the family of the recipient; important family events like the wedding anniversary of the recipient; or corporate anniversaries like the founding day of your company or organization), you should choose custom gifts that seem appropriate for the event.

Take, for instance, leather schedule planners – it is not generally common policy for an organization to send these when a business associate falls sick and is in hospital. Rather, the more common type of custom gifts for convalescence would be a gift basket with flowers, special food that is not offered in hospitals, and maybe balloons (though that would depend on the age of the recipient and his personality.) Some people like to infuse a bit of humor into their custom gifts, like when a marketing tactics speaker used giveaways of mock straightjackets to show his point that marketing can sometimes drive you crazy – and the audience found it funny to have mock straightjackets handed out to them. How many of them still have such wacky custom gifts remains to be seen though.

Practicality comes into play when selecting good custom gifts as well. Corporations do this all the time because they want to be known as organizations you would trust your business to. It is part of the overall corporate image – meaning, a corporation that gives out practical gifts is a responsible organization. You may have received nice watches with the corporation’s logo in the past, or maybe leather-covered data organizers (which are hot stuff with young corporate types on the way up the corporate ladder actually) which all aim to show that the corporation sending these is thinking of the recipient (you) in practical terms.

So what do you do when you receive custom gifts like these? Well, in business it is usually a good idea to send a courteous note thanking the sender. If, however, you feel the custom gifts put you in an unfavorable position, you may always send back the gifts with a polite note saying why you cannot receive the gift. This helps bridge the etiquette gap that may come with the flow of custom gifts between individuals and organizations.

One way you can get a custom bobblehead toy or collection made for you is by contacting a bobblehead manufacturer and use a picture as a model. This means whether you want the bobblehead to resemble someone you know (like even you yourself, maybe) or a well-known personality (like the President of the United States or a famous actor) that is now very possible. The quality of the custom bobblehead may depend on which custom bobblehead manufacturer you contact though, the types of material used for manufacturing, and how skilled the artisan was at copying the image you supplied.

One drawback of manufacturing a custom bobblehead using a two-dimensional picture is, the artisan may have a hard time interpreting the same image in three-dimensional terms. This is why public personas like actors are often easier to customize than just ordinary people from pictures – public personas are often shown on video and TV shows so the artist can get a better idea of what the proportions of their face are and how they express themselves through non-verbal cues like facial expressions and body language. Though familiarity may breed contempt, familiarity is crucial to creating an uncanny resemblance to the person being honored by becoming a model for a custom bobblehead.

Where are custom bobblehead toys usually placed once they have been made and sold to someone? Some people like to put them on vehicles like automobiles and motorcycles so that they can be amused as they drive or draw the attention of passengers and drivers in other cars. Some keep them in the office, also to draw small talk from people dropping by the office cubicle. Still others like to keep them at home where the bobblehead may be displayed conspicuously for visitors to spot and then ask questions about.

This leads us to one appeal of custom bobblehead toys – they bring attention to the manufacturer  that made the, the individual or organization using the custom bobblehead toys for promotional purposes, and of course, the person or entity who has been immortalized by having his or her likeness become a bobblehead. A custom bobblehead may amuse, irritate, or remind us of the person being spoofed but certainly they are always attention-grabbing objects. That is their main purpose for being anway.

If you do decided to have a custom bobblehead toy or collection made, you may need to specify certain details like type of material to be used for the bobblehead, how soon you need the custom bobblehead toy or collection to be delivered, and who is the manufacturer has to copy as the custom bobblehead character. Upon such details rests the pricing for your custom bobblehead product package.

The custom bobblehead maker may have some past work done for previous public personas that you may want to take a look at. This could prove helpful for you so that you can specify just minor changes so that you can come up with a unique new version of the bobblehead personality you are copying. This can save time for you hunting down good photos of the personality being copied, time for the developer to give their interpretation of the figure, and time to make the actual dolls themselves.

Custombobble.com is a site that allows you to create funny and life like bobblehead versions of you and your Special lady or lad. While the Bobblehead (Celebrities, Athletes, Comic Book heroes) has been around since the 1950’s this site is unique in that regular folks can create thier own mini-me for any Special occasion.

“One of our most popular items is our bobblehead wedding cake topper,” says the companies spokesman Miles Chu.

“We take a photo of the bride and groom-to-be, then create a small bobblehead wedding cake topper in their image. You can imagine the looks on the faces of the bride and groom when they go to cut the cake and see their little heads bouncing around on top of it.” Chu went on to say custombobble.com doesn’t just specialize in wedding themed bobbleheads, they can customize one for any occasion.

During April, Custombobble.com is running a special on all wedding themed bobbleheads.

News: http://thespecial.ca/ts/2008/04/custom-bobbleheads-nod-i-do.html

- M.A Tamburro

The folks behind custombobble.com have announced their wedding themed bobble heads (used as unique wedding gifts) are being discounted through the month of April.

Springfield, MO (PRWEB) March 12, 2008 — A new fad has surfaced when it comes to the art gift giving. Instead of toasters and blenders, newlywed couples everywhere have found themselves staring down at something familiar after unwrapping their gift… themselves. Well custom made bobbleheads of themselves to be exact and it’s all thanks to the people behind custombobble.com.

Custombobble.com (http://www.custombobble.com) specializes in creating bobbleheads, which have been customized to match a person in a photo. In fact, it’s their twist to the common bobblehead that has made custombobble.com so popular with people looking for gift ideas.

“One of our most popular items is our bobblehead wedding cake topper,” said spokesman Miles Chu. “We take a photo of the bride and groom-to-be, then create a small bobblehead wedding cake topper in their image. You can imagine the looks on the faces of the bride and groom when they go to cut the cake and see their little heads bouncing around on top of it.”

Chu went on to say custombobble.com doesn’t just specialize in wedding themed bobbleheads, they can customize one for any occasion.

“We’ve had customers request anything from sports themes to graduation themes,” said Chu. “If they can think it up, we can do it.”

During the month of April, custombobble.com is running a special on all wedding themed bobbleheads. For more information or to place an order, please visit: http://www.custombobble.com

About Custombobble.com:

Custombobble.com specializes in creating one of a kind bobbleheads for any occasion. From the birth of a child to a wedding, a custom bobblehead is the perfect unique gift.

“My bobblehead - one of a kind.” Wouldn’t you like to be able to say that when you start showing off your prized bobblehead collection? All collectors thrive on having not just the best quality bobbleheads around but to have a bobblehead – one of a kind collection on hand and secure in equally high quality bobblehead cases. But how does one go about gathering a bobblehead – one of a kind collection anyway?

First, what type of bobblehead –one of a kind varieties do you feel like specializing in? This is valuable because you can devote your financial resources, time and energies to looking for such bobblehead –one of a kind figurines without wasting effort agonizing whether to buy other types of bobbleheads. If you want to focus on buying bobblehead – one of a kind celebrity figurines , then be devoted to that bobblehead one of a kind figurine category. You may be surprised how far that gets you.

Second, focus on which sub-category in that bobblehead –one of a kind category you will be zeroing in on. If you are mad about Marilyn Monroe and want to look around only for bobblehead – one of a kind celebrity figurines that are about Marilyn Monroe or related in some way to her celebrity mystique, then cool – focus on that. This gives your bobblehead – one of a kind collection a bit more of a distinctive character that sets it apart from other collectors who may have cast a wider net for their celebrity bobblehead – one of a kind collection. It also keeps you from going nuts wondering how you can afford all those celebrity bobbleheads that are being auctioned off online and around you.

Third, try to figure out what attracts you to that bobblhead celebrity in the first place. For instance, Chicanos (people native to Mexico or who have bloodlines from Mexican forebears) might go nuts over the Chingo Bling bobbleheads because Chingo Bling is a rap artist who comes from a Mexican family. If you collect the Chingo Bling bobbleheads, you will find they really qualify as a bobblehead – one of a kind collection because it seems no other rap artist has chosen the bobblehead as a marketing tool. Chingo Bling even likes to kid around that other rap artists might be jealous because he sells Chingo Bling bobbleheads and these other rap artists don’t. Could that be true? Well, if the Chingo Bling bobbleheads get even more popular among Chicano rap listeners then, yes, maybe Chingo Bling has a point there.

Fourth, try to ask yourself why you are spending all this time, energy, and money trying to build a bobblehead collection in the first place. You can’t bring it with you everywhere you go, most of the time your bobbleheads will be stocked up in your home or office their special case, and how many people would actually engage with you in a long detailed discussion about your bobblehead – one of a kind collection anyway? This last question helps you find out the meaning behind  your collecting mania and lets you know the value of a bobblehead – one of a kind collection for you in the long term.

What is a bobblehead anyway? Actually, you are probably very familiar with bobbleheads which is a type of toy that has a head that bobbles or wobbles on a spring connected to the body of the toy. This type of collectible also goes by other names which are wobbler, noddler, and bobbing head doll. You have probably seen a lot of these bobblehead toys on cars – particularly on the dashboard – where the slightest movement of the car will make the bobblehead wobble on its spring. The toys are glued or screwed into the surface they rest on so that they don’t fall off.

One use of bobblehead collectible items are for promotional purposes of different organizations, like by sporting events organizers. The modern type of bobblehead first made its public appearance back in the 1950s. In fact, one very famous type of bobblehead collectible series cropped up in the 1950s which was the Beatles collection. Bobblehead collecting was a craze until the 1970s when the trend seemed to taper off.

Though bobblehead collecting became less urgent for some time, once bobblehead manufacturing became less expensive to pursue with the switch to use of plastic as raw material, more bobbleheads were produced of varying types and bobblehead collecting became fashionable again. A key feature of modern bobbleheads is that the head of the toy is usually much bigger than the torso and other body parts which makes bobblehead toys stand out.

If you are mad about bobblehead collecting, you may want to know more about the background of the bobblehead toy series you are purchasing so that you become a true-blue bobblehead aficionado.