Today we’d like to introduce you to Peggy Keefe-Lopez.
Hi Peggy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello! I am the creator of Yippitee, a brand of playful shirts with snap-on finger puppets. I got the idea for it when my oldest son, Aidan, turned two. He was really into bugs at the time and I remembered a shirt my sister had when we were kids. It had toy bugs that attached to it with snaps and she loooved wearing it and unsnapping the bugs to play with. She wore that shirt every day unless my mom had managed to sneak it into the wash!
I searched in vain for a similar shirt for Aidan. I knew he would love it and it would be so cute at his bug-themed birthday party. When I couldn’t find it, I settled for a simple shirt with only his age on it.
At his party, my mom told me that she had searched for a snap-on bug shirt as well – remembering how much my sister loved hers. That coincidence stuck in my head and I couldn’t let go of the idea of a shirt with detachable toys. Shortly after his birthday, I began the process of combining those two ideas myself and that’s how Yippitee was born!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest roadblock I ran into was with the toys themselves. I needed to find something strong enough to withstand kids pulling them off their shirts over and over, with the ability to attach snaps to them, from a company that would let me use their product this way and cute enough for my high standards. It was tough!
My first design was a monster birthday shirt. I think I tested out every monster finger puppet that exists. Many broke in testing. Many were too small or too thin or just not that cute. And then when I found some good ones, the companies ignored me. Until my current supplier. They had the best looking toys and the owner was awesome; willing to let me use their product in this odd new untested idea. I’m very appreciative of them.
By the time I came up with my second collection, which was rainbow unicorn themed I knew what to look for in a toy but had even less options. There were hardly any finger puppets of an entire unicorn – most were just heads!
The failure to find the perfect puppet worked in my favor once again. I ended up realizing I could design my own by turning an embroidered patch into a finger puppet. This meant for all future designs, I wouldn’t need to start the time-consuming search for a perfect toy over again. Plus, I love how the 2D toy better integrates with the flat shirt design so it’s less bulky and more of a surprise when it unsnaps for play!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
At Yippitee my focus is on making playful shirts with snap-on toys. Detachable finger puppets easily snap on and off for play on-the-go!
I started with birthday shirts for kids 1-5 but have recently expanded to include an Austin-themed design with a bat finger puppet that is available in baby through adult sizes. The launch went so well that I plan to brainstorm other non-birthday designs for future collections.
Contact Info:
- Email: peggy@yippitee.com
- Website: https://yippitee.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yippiteepeggy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yippitee/
