Thursday, August 18, 2011

It’s Jersday everyone!! A new episode of Jersey Shore airs tonight on MTV, and some of us here at ThrowThings are pumped (fist-pumped rather) to see what this week’s episode has to offer! Last week we were thrilled to learn about Deena’s new marionette the housemates have dubbed “Pierre”. We’re looking forward to seeing what adventures Deena & Pierre get into during the series fourth season! While you’re finishing up your GTL, check out our full line of puppets, marionettes & ventriloquist dummies available!

Deena with Pierre, her marionette




Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Monkey Business

Lost Stuffed Monkey Returned To His Heartbroken Family
Last week in New York, a couples’ beloved “Bongo” – a stuffed monkey doll, disappeared while they were dining at El Gran Castillo de Jagua in Manhattan. The couple had been in possession of the doll for over ten years and was rarely seen without him. Bonni Marcus and Jack Zinzi treated Bongo like a child and offered a $500.00 reward for this safe return. Last Monday, Luis Barreto found Bongo sitting on top of a parking meter and took him in. Although he had fallen for the little guy he did ultimately returned the beanie monkey to his family.

We here at ThrowThings.com don't claim to understand the thought process of a little monkey doll but it just seems reasonable that if he had some company of his own kind that he might be less likely to leave home. Bonni & Jack might want to take a look at Bongo’s close relatives, our Deluxe Gorilla Puppet and our Deluxe Chimp Puppet! We bet Bongo would like a little simian companionship and that the whole gang would enjoy a night out on the town - returning to El Gran Castillo de Jagua for dinner and then catching the early showing of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’!
Deluxe Chimp Puppet
Deluxe Gorilla Puppet

Monday, August 8, 2011

Snooki Gets The Boot

How Walter Walrus Could Have Helped Snooki
Thursday the fourth season of Jersey Shore premiered with the cast “Situated” in Italy. “Snooki” (Nicole Polizzi) mentioned her unfamiliarity with the geographic location of Italy, stating “But I know what shape it is, and it’s, like, a boot.” Maybe someone should have given Snooki one of our Around the World with Walter Walrus coloring books when she was a kid. (Walter spins the globe and visits some of his favorite places like London, Paris and Venice.) This is just one of our great promotional coloring books that can be customized with your logo or message. They're a great educational promotion to consider as schools get back into gear.


Friday, August 5, 2011

Welcome Sarah!

ThrowThings.com welcomes Sarah Fay to our team!
Sarah has experience in customer service, sales, marketing, and graphic design. Having  recently moved close to our headquarters, Sarah is eager to get in with the mix here at ThrowThings.com! She has extensive training in new products and how to market them and has worked in multiple areas of the promotional products industry including running her own company and handling national accounts. Her past clients include the Beverly Hills Hotel & J.D Byrider franchises among many others. When she’s not here working with the the ThrowThings team she enjoys spending time with family, friends, her boyfriend Ronnie, and their two dogs Molson & Duke. Sarah is also extremely creative, so feel free to contact her with any new interesting projects!

Sarah J. Fay

 

Friday, April 15, 2011

Dummies On TV

ThrowThings.com Ventriloquist Dummy on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
If you didn't catch it last night, one of our Basic ventriloquist dummies was used on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Jon Oliver interviewed Representative Dennis Kucinich from Ohio who showed off his ventriloquism talents...

Saturday, March 26, 2011

New Czech Marionettes Are In!

New Czech Marionettes Are In!

We just received a new shipment of Czech marionettes and they are just AMAZING! The marionettes that we sell are hand made by Marionettes Rici. Rici's workshop is located in the center of Prague in the Czech Republic and we have the marionettes flown in to us in the U.S. 

Richard "Rici" Kuklík is truly a modern day version of the great artisans of old. His design ability and skills shine through in each piece that do honor to the great Czech marionette tradition. The pictures make the marionettes look nice but you really won't know how wonderful they are until you see them in person. There is just something about their character that can't be captured in a picture.

Buying these marionettes through ThrowThings not only give you the oportunity to add them to your collection (or start a collection) with great prices, but because we have already have brought them in we can get them to you in the U.S. faster and cheaper than if you ordered from a company based in the Czech Republic. Plus you won't have to worry about any Customs issues (such as duties or customs clearing charges) or foreign transaction fees or additional credit card processing fees.

In addition to those that we have offered in the past we have added many more of Rici's Czech Marionettes to our site. You can see all of them at http://www.throwthings.com/gallery3.asp?search=69  

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Where To Buy Ventriloquist Dummies

Where To Buy Ventriloquist Dummies?

When you buy ventriloquist dummies, who you buy it from can be as important as what you buy. You can see the differences between the various levels of ventriloquist dolls that we sell by watching the video on our site. But what if you are looking for cheap ventriloquist dummies and are comparing the beginner ventriloquist dummy that we offer (the Basic level) to other options that are out there?

Chances are that if you want a dummy you will be getting it online. As far as we know, there really aren't any physical ventriloquist stores that you can go to and check out an assortment of dummies. While some stores might have a dummy or two, there just aren't stores that will have as wide of an assortment of ventriloquist puppets as you will find at ThrowThings.com.

The Basic Celebrity Ventriloquist Dolls that we, as well as others, offer (Slappy the Dummy from Goosebumps, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd, Howdy Doody, Danny O'Day, Groucho Marx, W.C. Fields, Emmett Kelly Jr, Carol Channing, Bozo the Clown, Willie Tyler's Lester, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy) all come from the same manufacturer. Our figure makers do the work on the special upgraded dummies that you'll find on our site, but if you are just considering a Basic you may wonder why you should buy dummies from one place instead of another.

To start, ThrowThings.com offers the widest assortment of these ventriloquist dolls. We generally maintain the largest stock in the industry - even larger than the manufacturer - and we ship very quickly. We almost always ship dummies on the same day or the the next business day from the time that we receive your order. We don't use slow shipping services - you shouldn't have to wait weeks to get your dummy. And we don't show a low price for the dummy and then charge excessive shipping. As a matter of fact, with our flat rate shipping to any location in the continental U.S. (the "lower 48 states") you can buy as many dummies, ventriloquism DVDs, books, etc, as you would like and shipping will still only be $9.00. If you have questions, we are here to answer them. You can reach us by email, phone, or our online help system. (One of the principals that our company was built on was that we should provide better customer service than you would expect not only from an online company, but from a local store. We are proud to say that we have been recognized many times for our exceptional customer service.)

But what about the dummies themselves? It would seem reasonable to assume that if two online stores are offering the same Basic ventriloquist dummy, made by the same manufacturer, that you would get exactly the same quality dummy regardless of where you buy. This is not necessarily the case.

We have heard from many customers over the years that they initially purchased a ventriloquist dummy from another source and received a doll that didn't work. After going through the hassle of returning it, they then purchased from us. So why would they get one that didn't work from another store?

The answer is really quite simple. Not all of the dummies that come out of the factory are up to par. As a matter of fact, the majority of them need some work to be up to our standards. Other places to buy ventriloquist dummies may just send out a package without even looking at the doll. Some sellers of ventriloquist dummies may not even have an oportunity to see the item...having it shipped from a remote warehouse where the dolls are stored and shipped out. At ThrowThings.com all of our ventriloquist dummies are checked prior to shipping. If we see a problem it is either fixed then or the dummy is set aside for further work. We think this is the way that it should be instead of sending out dummies that don't work and waiting to see if the customer will accept it or send it back.

The most common issues that we find when inspecting the Basic ventriloquist dummies have to due with the space between the mouth and the chin and cheeks. The plastic used in the molding of the heads and mouths can expand or contract a bit more than expected. This can lead to too small of a gap between the mouth and the chin which means that the mouth may not open properly or once open it may not close. While we correct this before shipping your new dummy we have heard many stories from customers that purchased elsewhere who received a dummy whose mouth did not move properly. (And what good is a dummy whose mouth won't open or close?) On the other hand, sometimes the gap between the mouth and the cheeks will be extremely large, giving the dummy a distorted look. We work with the manufacturer to have these heads replaced or reshaped prior to shipping.

Over the many years that we have sold ventriloquist dummies there have been other problems that effected all or part of a production run. These have ranged from mouths not staying in place and falling back into the head to hats missing from characters that should have them, missing shirts, hands not being attached securely, mislabeled packaging, etc. Instead of just shipping out the dolls as they are and hoping that there won't be a problem, we address and resolve the issues as soon as they are discovered.

Now, we are human and it isn't impossible for a dummy with a problem to get by us. And we aren't there when other companies ship their dummies so we can't say exactly how they handle things. But we do know for a fact that we not only have an extremely low return rate but that many of our tens of thousands of customers have come back to us again and again when it is time to add to their ventriloquist dummy collection.

When you are trying to figure out where to buy ventriloquist dummies please consider ThrowThings.com. We think that you will agree with our other customers who know that ThrowThings.com offers the best combination of price, selection, quality and service.