GOOD GIFTS! Not Bad, GOOD!

A looooong time ago, I received an email from a woman named Candace; she wanted to offer me a free CD from her company, Name Your Tune, which offers customized CDs with your child's name sung up to eighty times throughout the CD. I guess word got out that I am not only a music teacher, but one who also is a blogger. I mentioned that I had two children, and she offered to put both of their names on one CD, alternating names per song.

When I told her my childrens' names, she said that they had my son's name (which is unusual but not unheard of), but not my daughter's name (which is highly unusual and we have yet to run into another child with the same name). Of course, because I am a bit hot-tempered at times and apparently this was one of them, I shot back a smarmy email about being a 'customized CD offer' and all marketing lies...

...And then felt really stupid when Candace emailed me back again and said that they added new names to their song roster every three months, and she would contact me after they had added Supergirl's name, which would be in about three months (as they had just completed a recording).

I promptly forgot about it.

And then, just days before our trip to Hawaii in September, a package arrived in the mail. It was a CD - a customized CD claiming to have both of my childrens' names sung repeatedly! Their names were even printed right on the CD! And I was trying to pack and Bubbles was pining away for his sister who was at a playdate, and I needed a distraction!

I put the CD on, and as soon as "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!! If you're Bubbles and you know it clap your hands!!" came on, he stopped his insta-music-matic body groove and pointed to the CD player! "DAT!", he shouted, frozen in the pose of a toddler in awe.

Again and again he heard his name and actually 'got it'.

Supergirl didn't hear the CD until we were in our rental car leaving the airport, and she got an ear to ear grin when she heard her name sung.

If your child is named Emma or Dylan, then you can find stuff with their name on it everywhere. Not to minimize the effect of hearing your name sung if it is Emma or Dylan, but if it is Supergirl or Bubbles? Besides hating your mother for naming you that You never ever find stuff with your name on it! So to hear her name sung in a recorded song, even at age six, was a sweet thrill for Supergirl.

If your child does not have one of the three thousand names already recorded, you can send your child's very special name and/or pronunciation to them and they will make it for you. Really.

I expected to hear a distinct seam between the dubbed in name and the rest of the song, but unless you listen to it 50 times AND have a well- trained ear, you won't hear it, because when the singer records your child's name, he or she sings the entire phrase, and that is what is inserted into the recording - not just the name.

Admittedly, since I teach music, I hear a lot of it, and there are about three songs on this CD that make my ears hurt and make me ask the question again, 'Why the simpering? WHY?', But the majority of the songs are not only appealing to my children, but also tolerable for me.

And to watch them grin when they hear their name sung?

Worth it.

Not to mention, they have a bunch of other handmade and lead-free gifts! My niece is waiting for one of these.