We love that wooden toys are suddenly "modern." We especially love when they're handcrafted by people who care about their products and enjoy what they do. Craft-E-Family is an Indiana family business started by Lloyd and Joyce Ebert in 1980 to keep busy during their "retirement". It's now run by their daughter and son-in-law with help from other family members including their niece who polishes the blocks and their daughter, LeeLoo, the official block tester.
Craft-E-Family makes all kinds of wooden blocks and blocks sets. You can purchase maple alphabet blocks as a set ($17-$19.50) or order just the letters you want for $3 each. You can also order a customized block (as seen at top) to mark special occasions - a baby's birth, christening, adoption, etc. (starting at $15.50).
Another custom option (and a great gift) are their names on a string which can be easily disassembled if you'd like to paint the wood spacers between each letter ($29 + $1.50/letter).
Play blocks come in sets of 9 with 2 pictures and 2 corresponding words per block. Above is the dinosaur set ($16). Also available are bugs & reptiles, transportation, barn animals, and wild animals.
Personalized bug boxes ($19.75) let each little bug hunter have their very own "cage".
Craft-E-Family also sells wooden perpetual calendars and wood photo boxes.
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We got one of these personalized baby blocks as a gift for our newborn. Absolutely adore it, and plan to make it my signature baby gift from now on.
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