Jo Loves Penguin Place

Thanks so much Penguin Place–you supply the best products, the fastest responses, and the most outstanding customer service of any site on the web! I’m so glad we found you!
Jo

Valentine Penguin Almost Sold Out

Sadly we were only able to wrangle a couple dozen of Rosey the Romantic Plush Penguin and since putting her up on Penguin Place last week we’ve almost completely sold out with none available to re-order from our distributer.  Fortunately, we’ve got plenty Ruby the Romantic Penguin Plush and our Valentine Plush Penguin to fill the waddling void after Rosey is gone.  Also, just back in stock for those thinking of putting together a penguin Valentine bouquet of lots of little loving penguins is our Cute Couple Bookmark.

Adorable Penguin Couple Bookmark

Penguin Knit Pilot Hat & Mittens Back In Stock

Our very popular Knitwits Knit Penguin Pilot Hat and Mittens are back in stock and not a moment too soon.  Well, actually it would have been great had they come back sooner, but it’s still January, we’re still freezing and we welcome these cool items that keep us warm back with open flippers.  Just like before they are available individually or as a set, make great Valentine gifts and my kid can’t walk more than 10 feet without someone giving her kudos on her penguin hat.

Knit hat and mittens are back while supplies last.

Another Cool Valentine Penguin

Another Valentine plush penguin has arrived here at Penguin Place, and just in time as we were only able to get our flippers on a small number of Rosey  and she’s already almost sold out.  This romantic waddler is called Ruby the Romantic Plush Penguin and she’s all of 11 lovely inches tall with a glittery ruby red heart pendant around her scarf.  Also, our Hugging Plush Penguin Couple will be back in stock in two weeks, but alas not in time for Valentine orders.

Ruby may melt your heart, but hers will remain intact.

Kidnapped Penguin Police Officer Rescued

An observant patrol officer this morning discovered a purloined 7-foot-tall penguin peeking from a wooded area on the west of the Knoxville, Tennessee yesterday.  “We have recovered a 7-foot -tall penguin and we are in the process of trying to determine its identity,” Oak Ride Police Department Patrol Capt. Mike Uher said this morning. “We are fingerprinting his flippers and looking for any identifying marks or tattoos.” Uher said the fiberglass penguin dubbed “Happy Feet” by ORPD was discovered during the night by an officer patrolling along Wilshire Drive. The penguin was found in a wooded area near an upper middle class residential community. The penguin wears a blue police-style hat and suit and bears an emblem for the New York City Police Department on one flipper. The penguin appears to be holding a radiation detector with one flipper, Uher said. Uher noted the penguin bears a strong resemblance to a statue reported missing Monday from ICx Radiation, 100 Midland Road. An employee said the statue was last seen in the company’s courtyard on Friday afternoon. The employee valued the missing penguin at $5,000. At the time of the report, ORPD listed the theft case as closed because of the lack of leads or suspects. “I don’t know who would want to steal that statue,” the employee told police, according to the theft report. “Its probably some teens playing a prank.” The company sells nuclear detection and measurement systems, according to its Web site. Uher said he expected a representative of ICx Radiation to visit the ORPD today. “They said they’d come down today to identify him, but we want to make sure he gets back to his rightful owners,” Uher said.  When asked by the Penguin Post if the kidnapping of this radiation detecting penguin could be the work of terrorists or part of some bigger conspiracy ORPD declined to comment. More details as they develop here at the Penguin Place Post.

Recently Rescued Radiation Detection Expert, "Officer Happy Feet"

Celebrating Penguin Awareness Day?

How did you celebrate Penguin Awareness Day? Believe it or not, Wednesday was a special day honoring the unique birds. And while they’re cute, there are probably some things you don’t know about the puzzling creatures. “I think that everyone thinks that penguins are from cold-weather environments,” said Jeremy Goodman, the director of the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo. This is a common misconception. “Most penguins are from tropical climates, like our African penguins,” he said. And these birds do bite – but they don’t fly. At least not the way you would expect. “They do fly, but they don’t fly in air like other birds,” said Goodman. “They fly in the water. And they are incredibly graceful as they fly in water and use their wings to navigate under water.” Penguins raise their chicks together, and usually mate for life. And why do they look like they’re wearing a tuxedo? “You can imagine that if you’re a shark or a predator trying to eat a penguin, it’s to their benefit because as a predator is looking up, the underside being white will blend in with the sky. And when a predator is coming from above, the side being black blends into the water.” Goodman explained. But why do these birds get their own awareness day? “We’d like to think that all our animals get their own awareness day,” said Goodman. “But today is a specal day. Everybody loves penguins. And we love them at the Turtle Back Zoo.”

These penguins, roaming around the Turtle Back Zoo in Essex County, were the center of attention on Penguin Awareness Day

Penguin Bowling!

Finally after two months on the back order list our Penguin Place store order of Penguin Bowling has finally arrived. My kids and I have had so much fun since Thanksgiving playing this game that I kept calling my distributer to check on the status of our order so the rest of the penguin loving world can also share in the fun. The game consists of 10 little penguin bowling pins that are about 2 1/2 inches tall, a little white marble ball and a 32 page booklet that is a guide to various types of mini bowling games and a few fun penguin facts. The way I personally set the game up was on our kitchen table using some old kids encyclopedias in a U formation as bumpers and back stops so the ball wouldn’t roll off the table. The penguin pins would be set up at on the inside of the bottom of the U.  I knew those books would come in handy one day. It takes about 2 minutes to set the whole table top alley up, then just make a score sheet out of paper and pen and presto you’re bowling. If you’ve got a decent pin-setter it (me) it may take about 30 seconds between rolls.  One night just after I picked up Penguin Bowling from a local store my oldest, Sophie, had some math homework to do, but really wanted to bowl, so I made a deal with her. If she kept score. I mean really kept score all by herself, including doing the calculations for  both of us with the frames after spares and strikes then she could blow off her homework. I figured learning how to self score in bowling, especially Penguin Bowling with bumpers where the scores average around 165 is much more of a mathematical brain stretch than any 1st grade homework she’ll have to do. After a brief tutorial she was on her way by the end of our first game, she was scoring on her own and doing all the calculations, plus she beat me 178 to 132 in game one and 164 to 141 in game two. I know because the score sheet is on our fridge courtesy of the winner and scorer.  Thanks Penguin Bowling!  My kid can score.

Penguin Bowling Fun For Everyone!

Penguin Pooper Leaves ‘Em In Stitches

Dear Penguin Purveyor,

This year I received a pooping penguin for Chanukah. I thought it was cute and put it on a shelf in my 5 yr. olds room. Recently he came down with a cold and we were looking for something to occupy our time other than Spongebob and coloring books. Enter the pooping penguin, 30 minutes later we were exhausted from how much we laughed. The movements and the pooping action was entertaining enough for us to have made a pooping version of table hockey and a sort of basket pooping/gathering game. Now, I know that the pellets are edible cola flavored candy but along with them not being tasty they’re better used when recycled. just the sophomoric humor of stuffing poop back in just to be pooped out, well you get the idea. In summation I would recommend the pooping penguin for relief of boredom due to cabin fever or flu.

Mark Lumpstein (Newton, Mass)

The Penguin Pooper

Priority Mail Hikes Make Penguin Lovers Pay

Since time began or since folks began shipping things via mail order, shipping and handling has for the most part equaled rip off.  Ever buy something on-line and think you were getting a bargain and then realize or were paying up the ying-yang for shipping.  I just purchased a winter knit hat from an un-named company and was charged $17.00 for shipping.  $17.00 for a knit hat that weighted about 12 ounces.  To top it off the company I ordered it from is in the same state and only 40 miles away.  Obviously, I really wanted that hat.   The point is that we at Penguin Place have always tried to be fair with our customers when it comes to shipping charges.  In order to make things as simple as possible for our customers we adopted a flat, price based shipping policy.  In other words everyone in the country no matter where you were located or how much your order weighed paid the same price.  A sub-total of $35 was $6.95 shipping  whether you were ordering from Alaska or down the block.  In some cases we came out $1.00 in the black and in others $1.00 in the read.  It mostly evened out and our customers knew up front what they were paying for shipping and didn’t find out in the last stages of the check out process.  But, about three weeks ago the post office quietly raised their Priority Mail rates along with UPS and Fed Ex.  The minimum Priority Mail price is still the same, but every other rate for over 15 ounces and distance has gone up.  Even under 15 ounces to different regions of the U.S. has gone up.  I won’t bore you with the rates and I probably already are boring you.  In fact, I’m boring myself, but what I’m trying to is try as we might to keep our shipping rates the same we cannot go on losing money on shipping.  I like keeping the simple flat rate for shipping charges, but these increases make it impossible not to raise our rates a little.  So, our lowest shipping rate is now up one dollar to $5.99 and our middle rate from $7.49 to $7.99.  We’ve also added a dollar to some of our larger order rates.   Hopefully, we can keep this steady for awhile.  Also, sadly I don’t think we will be able to offer any more free shipping for all orders over a certain amount sales.  Shipping is simply too expensive.  Just thought we should let you know.

These kids love our new shipping rates!

Liverpudlians Vote For Their Favorite Go Penguins

THEY were the weeks the whole world went Penguin-crazy. The 200 fibreglass penguins may have been confined to Liverpool and Merseyside, but interest in them has come from across the world. As part of the Go Penguins public art show organised by Liverpool City Council and Wild in Art, we asked the public to design their own penguin suits. And the replies have just flooded in. No just from people inspired by the penguins dotted across the city, but by folk from as far away as Brazil, inspired by what they had seen of the penguins in the internet. Young and old got the penguin bug alike. By the time entries closed last week, we had over 500 designs for the penguins, with the youngest entrant just three years old, and the oldest a veteran 94. ECHO editor Alastair Machray said: “I’m thrilled by the response to the competition, the response to the penguins and the level of creativity on display. “It’s been a wonderful initiative that everyone’s loved – both out on the streets and in the pages of the ECHO. “There’s a vital environmental message, of course. But penguins are fun and it’s great to see so many people joining in.”

Go Penguins was commissioned by Liverpool City Council as part of Year of the Environment and was organized by Wild In Art, which was responsible for the Go Superlambananas trail in Capital of Culture year.

From November to January, penguins were dotted around Liverpool decorated by artists and celebrities in all manner of styles, following on from the hugely successful Superlambananas

We asked ECHO readers to offer their own designs for the penguins, and out of the 500 submitted we have whittled the list down to 200, all pictured in this supplement.

Sally-Ann Wilkinson of Wild In Art said: “How exciting – over 500 entries Šand I’ve got so many favorites! We can’t wait to hear the result and commission an artist to transfer the winning design onto one of our official penguins in readiness for it to take centre stage at the Go Penguins Auction on February 4.”