Proud Father Kickstarts Plush Toy Business

My six year-old daughter, Lyla (pictured here), is the brainchild behind our family’s business, Lyla Tov Monsters (www.lylatov.com) ...plush Monsters that are the guardians of a good night’s sleep.

She designed the first Lyla Tov Monster when she was three years-old as a gift for me for the holidays and asked my wife, Erin’s, help to, “make it real.” Conveniently, my wife is a talented Emmy-award winning costume designer and fabricator for her work on Sesame Street. Lyla drew the picture, picked all the fabrics and specified every detail of the Monster. Erin put all the parts together, and they made an incredibly cute, stuffed toy. I was thrilled with Lyla’s creativity and the Monster.

To encourage her talent, we linked Lyla’s name with a play on the Hebrew words, Lyla Tov (“Good night”), and developed the idea of good Monsters protecting children from the bad monsters they imagine at bedtime. Lyla loved the idea and began designing more colorful Monsters to sell at craft fairs. Our popularity increased through word of mouth and soon our entire family was in the business of providing a good night’s sleep…one cute Lyla Tov Monster at a time. As a continued learning tool, we donate a portion of all Monster sales to children’s charities that Lyla chooses.

So now, two and a half years later, we have grown as much as we can at our current level. We want all kids (and parents) to know a good night’s sleep, but we need help. That’s why on June 4th we launched a Kickstarter campaign that runs until July 14th to help raise the funds we need to produce a limited-edition factory run of Lyla Tov Monsters. You can see our campaign at http://www.lylatov.com/kickstarter. I put my own skills and experience with 18 years in children’s media to make a fun video that showcases our family and the Monsters. Then we added in some fun incentives for backers to encourage their participation.