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“I just want a break”. That was the sentence that started our search for a holiday destination that would work for our whole family.

A little introduction first perhaps. I’m Kristina, and along with my husband Graham, we run Bon Tot: an independent children’s clothing and toy shop, based in Edinburgh, and also selling online. We started Bon Tot 2 years ago, and opened our Bricks and Mortar store a year later ......

We were very excited to be asked by one of our fave kids' websites, Babyccino, to write a weekend guide to our fair city. As many of you will know, this turned in to a great giveaway, and one lucky winner 'won the weekend' and will soon be getting to test out our tips for themselves! 

Can't wait to meet them, but in the meantime, you can check out our recommendations below (Or Click HERE to read on the Babyccino page!)

The next in our Bon Tot Meets . . . series, we get to know Ruby Diamonds a bit better. You might know Ruby from Instagram (@rubydiamonds), or perhaps you follow her gorgeous blog - www.saltandsand.co.uk

We love Ruby's photos and wanted to know a bit more about her beach side lifestyle, and what brands she likes to buy to keep up with her adventurous kids! Ruby talks sand, sea AND gives us her best picks for outdoor living from our AW16 ranges... Thanks Ruby!

Hi! My name is Ruby, I live with my husband and four children. 3 boys and 1 girl, aged 12, 10, 8 and 5 oh and two dogs!!Save

This week, Bon Tot Meets . . . Samantha Baker (IG: @samantha_baker2). Sam has developed a particular expertise in the world of "twinning" and we love to see what she picks for her 2 little blonde bombshells! We asked Sam to give us some tips on shopping for boys, and asked what she has her eye on from our AW ranges... 

Hi, I'm Samantha, living in Bedfordshire with my husband Nathan and our littles, Harrison just turning five and Rowan who's two. Life is beautiful filled with everyday chaos of raising two boys.Save

The very first post of our brand new 'Bon Tot Meets . . .' series, where we'll get to know some of our makers, designers, but most importantly; our followers and customers. We've met so many amazingly talented and interesting people through Instagram, and through the doors of our Edinburgh store, that we thought it would be interesting to share some stories and get to know people in a little more detail.

First up, we'd like to introduce you to Samantha Sinclair (aka. @babisinc on Instagram). We've been long term admirers of Sam's deep, moody photographs, and we talked photography, style and Mingo.. Thanks so much for sharing, Sam. x

My name is Sam and my partner is Michael.  We fill our lives with the chaos and charm of parenting Stellan who's only days away from turning four and Lily who’s seventeenSave

A lovely article by one of our customers, who has her own blog and impeccable taste! Ok.. we might be a little biased since she's saying lovely things about us and our collection, but if you want to see her fave picks from our AW16 lines, then click HERE ! Thanks so much Lauren.

Particularly pleased to see our own brand Bon Tot Knits make the grade! Remember, we do knitwear bespoke to your sizes (even up to grown up size!) and can do bespoke pattern commissions too.. just drop us a line at hello@bon-tot.com with any questions.

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A day out at Cairnie Fruit Farm in Fife followed by Fish and Chips in Anstruther is one of our favourite days out! (Especially when pumpkin patch time comes round... not long now!)

It's also one of Claire's, aka This Little House, ideal days too, and she's written a blog piece about it HERE .... We're delighted to see our Gray Label Salopettes featured and looking autumnally perfect. Thanks Claire!Save

A little throw back post to our 2016 photoshoot with our amazing pal (and part time Furry Dogmother (Susie looks after Frisco when we're on holiday!)), Susie Lowe.

She wrote a little Blog Post about the day on her own website and you can read it here:

http://www.susielowe.co.uk/bon-tot/Save

Getting pretty excited about the arrival of amazing US based queens of minimalist magic; meme kidswear! The new collection (another UK first for Bon Tot *ahem* thank you *ahem*) will be with us very soon!

Until then, you can still see some of the pieces that will be on offer on the Uberkid Blob. Pretty excited to see our name on Chloe's blog. If it's cool, style conscious, minimalist kidswear, then it's on her blog!Save

We're very proud of our brands, and so we're always delighted when other people come to the same conclusion about their awesomeness! GOSOAKY rain coats and capes were an instant Bon Tot fave when we found them at Playtime Paris last year and we were the first stockist to bring GOSOAKY to the UK!

Was such a delight to chat to our absolute favourite designers - Gray Label - about where we like to spend our time in Edinburgh. Obviously we'd suggest popping in to see us! But there's a wealth of places to go with kids, and we gave Gray Label just a teeny taste of our faves..

Read more here:

http://www.gray-label.com/en/journal/places-to-go-edinburgh/

Well.. it's been a pretty amazing couple of weeks for us here, with not one but TWO amazing interiors magazines featuring Bon Tot.

We were approached by Homes & Interiors Scotland magazine for their "This Life" feature, which includes lots of photos of the shop AND of our own home! That was quite a daunting process, but we were really delighted to be approached and so if you want a sneak peek of our little homestead, and want to know where we go for breakfast, then you can download the article from HERE.

As if that wasn't exciting enough, super talented Emily Murray, journalist for Stylist Magazine and Conde Nast, asked us if she could feature Clemence's bedroom to help launch her brand new interiors and style magazine, "The Pink House". You can find a few more pics of our place, along with some more insight in to our design ideals and thoughts on gender neutral design generally HERE.

Quite a couple of weeks.. hope you like the articles! Would love to hear what you think... x

We're just back from our first ever trip to the amazing trade fairs Playtime Paris and Kid.

One of our favourite blogs, Chalk Kids, asked us to write about our experience, and you can read our review on their page by clicking HERE ! 

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CLICK HERE TO READ: STOCKBRIDGE EDINBURGH.COM

Graham tends to write silly little poems and rhymes to her, but this one struck a chord with me, and so I wanted to share it below. Because it describes a core reason for setting up Bon Tot. We didn't want to follow the 'pink for girls and blue for boys' rules when we had our little girl. Not that there is anything wrong with those colours; and in fact we have lots of both in our store. We just believe that kids should be able to wear any colour they choose, and play with any toy they wish, without an identity being forced upon them.

My girl has power

My girl has strength

No need to keep her at arms length.

My girl has brains ...Save

When Kris and I set up Bon Tot, we always envisioned it as a physical space. My background as an architect, combined with Kris's retail history, was definitely going to push us in that direction.  When the chance came up to open a physical store on a really beautiful street in central Edinburgh; well, we couldn't say no! As soon as we accepted the offer though, we realised that we'd have to open very quickly and on an extremely limited budget.

"Let's build it from cardboard", I said.

Phew! It's been a busy few weeks for Bon Tot, but we've finally dusted off the New Year cobwebs, packed away the Christmas tree, and are looking forward to all the new brands that are coming our way (and then YOUR way!) in the coming weeks!

We're also still keeping our eye out for our ultimate aim of having a bricks and mortar store, so that you, the lovely mums and dads of Edinburgh, can see and touch our goodies for yourself!

Although we ship globally, and will always do so, we do have our roots in Edinburgh, and so until we find the perfect space, we're offering free shipping to "EH" postcodes.

Just enter "EDINBURGH" at checkout to take off postage charges! xx

(Please note that if you apply this code and live outwith Edinburgh, we will NOT ship. We're sure you lovely people wouldn't do that though!)