Black Friday with Spray Pal!

Ain't no party like a Spray Pal party...and that includes Black Friday through Cyber Monday!

We'll be partying like it's 1999 (price-wise anways), and if you're looking to beef up your stash of cloth diapers and accessories, this is definitely the time to do it. I started cloth diapering mini Spray Pal 1.0 back in November of 2010 and I couldn't believe my luck when Black Friday came around. I literally bought her entire stash on sale, and the freebies were amazing because I learned about products and brands that I never realized existed!

So, with so many amazing sales going on, why shop at www.spray-pal.com? Well, here's why:

Just use the code "SPRAYPALBF" to apply the 15% off discount to the brands listed above! The stackable freebies are super easy...they'll be added to you order automatically each time you reach the spending threshold. No code necessary for those!

But wait, there's more!!

Not only will we have amazing discounts on the cloth diapers and Spray Pal products, but we'll also have FREE SHIPPING on all orders in the US! No minimums!!

Oh wait, what's that? You aren't convinced? How about this:

When this gorgeous Spray Pal + Smart Bottoms exclusive came out in April, we were all blown away by how quickly it sold out. But I had to hold a few back just in case of any shipping mishaps or manufacturing issues, and since there weren't many, I get to release these again! There will be VERY limited quantities for these, so if you're hoping to order other items to get to a certain level of stackable freebies, you'll want to do that early and be logged in ready to buy at midnight Eastern time!

Oh, what's that you said? You missed out on the beautiful Quick Trip in Azulejo? Not to worry! We'll be re-releasing a few we held back for shipping issues and oversells!  Again, quantities are VERY limited, so you'll want to have your cart loaded and ready to go!

One last thing I'd like to point out in case you missed it (I realize it's hard to miss the smaller details when you're looking at DISCOUNTS, STACKABLE FREEBIES, FREE SHIPPING, and RELEASING LIMITED EDITION DIAPERS), but we're also doing some GIVEAWAYS!! Every order placed between Black Friday through Cyber Monday that contains ANY Smart Bottoms product will automatically be entered to win a DOO-dle Me Cover! And each order that contains ANY Lalabye Baby product will automatically be entered to win an Azulejo cloth diaper!!

Hopefully I've convinced you with all of this amazingness, but just in case it needed to be said, we LOVE our Spray Pal customers so much and your silly order notes and social media comments always brighten our day...so THANK YOU for shopping with us!

The Significance behind Azulejo

 Prepare yourself, guys, I'm about to get mushy. ;)

Azulejo noun azu·le·jo \ˌä-sü-ˈlā-(ˌ)hō, -zü-, -thü-\  :  a glazed usually blue ceramic tile originally of Portugal and Spain.

This beautiful new exclusive print holds a lot of meaning for our family. First off, as many of you know, I spent a year living abroad in the Galicia region of Spain, which is a region that is very different from most people's ideas of this diverse country. From the weather, which is surprisingly rainy (similar to the Pacific Northwest), to the language, Gallego, which is more similar to Portuguese than Castellano, to the culture which stands out from the rest of Spain as being distinctly Celtic, you can see that this corner of the country really has an identity of its own. Just as Spray Pal tries hard to have an identity of its own within the cloth diapering community as we strive to support all families and brands and #makeclothmainstream.

There's another significance in the color choice as well. You may have noticed throughout our products that we have an affinity for the color blue. Personally, it has always been my favorite color, but now that we've become a family of four it has taken on a whole new level of love. Here's why. My birthday is in December, and my birthstones are listed as tanzanite, zircon and turquoise – all of them, appropriately, best known for beautiful shades of blue. Mr. Spray Pal's birthday is in March, as is mini Spray Pal 2.0's. So they share the birthstone, aquamarine, which has a rich turquoise blue color and has long been a symbol of youth, health and hope (perfect symbolism for our preemie warrior, Ryan). Its mesmerizing color ranges from pale to deep blue and they are reminiscent of the sea (perfect symbolism for our ocean-loving Dave). Then there's mini Spray Pal 1.0 who was born in September. And yup, you guessed it. Her birthstone is blue as well. The sapphire can actually be found in a wide variety of colors, but it is most widely known for it's deep shade of royal blue.

The variety of beautiful shades of blue found in this diaper represent not just our family, but the diversity of the families in the cloth diapering community. We hope you'll find a little bit of yourself in it's beauty and we can't wait to see all of your adorable babies wearing it as we work to #makeclothmainstream for ALL families out there!

Beating the System- Using Shower Heads as Diaper Sprayers

When Spray Pal wanted to expand to other countries (everybody deserves to prevent poo-splatter, amiright?) there was a slight problem- toilet plumbing for diaper sprayers. We heard over and over that the differences in toilet connections made attaching a diaper sprayer difficult or completely impossible. While this is a bummer, take heart, there are a few ways to still spray your diapers in your bathroom and use a Spray Pal splatter shield.

Hack #1- Detachable Shower Head

In many cases, a detachable shower head can and will work as a diaper sprayer. As long as the shower head is close enough to the toilet and the cord is long enough you've got yourself a solution.

If you're looking to replace a single shower head with a detachable one we have some things to keep in mind before you buy. Adjustability is important, if you can't focus the spray there may not be enough water pressure for the shower to function as a diaper sprayer. Now let's address cord/hose length- choose the longest you can find. Lastly, a shower head with an on/off toggle or trigger is ideal, otherwise, you would have to juggle aiming the shower head over the toilet while you turn the faucet on.

We asked our fans if they use a showerhead and many said YES and with great success.

Hack #2- Sink Attached Sprayer

If your bathtub or shower are too far from the toilet or you'd rather not use the showerhead perhaps a sink attached sprayer will work instead! Our friends at QD Spray have created a sink attached sprayer that's completely temporary. The hose attached to the faucet and can be removed as needed- perfect for renters or anyone with a toilet that can't accommodate a diaper sprayer. The hose can even be ordered in various lengths to suit your needs. For now this brand isn't available in all countries but maybe with enough interest they can make it happen.

Of course, as you explore ways to make sure that you can effectively spray your cloth diapers clean without a diaper sprayer we hope you also add a Spray Pal splatter shield to your shopping cart. We have a feeling if you don't the first time around you may come back after testing your sprayer soon enough ;) 

If you have any tips or tricks to add feel free to share with us in the comments or post to our Facebook page!

Register for cloth diapers the EASY way!

Did you know that it's easy and fun to create a Baby Registry with Amazon?

If you are expecting and are working to build your cloth diaper stash using a registry can help jumpstart your journey. The start-up cost of cloth diapering can be hard to overcome so having help from family and friends can make it a little easier on your wallet.

Our Spray Pal and Cloth Diaper Sprayer Bundle and Spray Pal - Cloth Diaper Sprayer Splatter Shield with Storage Wetbag are the perfect addition to your baby registry. When the proverbial poop hits the fan once your baby begins eating solids you will be so relieved to have your sprayer and Spray Pal shield installed and at the ready. Cloth diapering parents call their Spray Pal splatter shield "A definite must for cloth diapering" and say "If you are going to do cloth diapers, this is a MUST BUY! This made cleaning out the diapers an absolute breeze." 

AND, we are super excited to announce our newest addition to our Amazon listings, a cloth diapering starter kit! This kit is the PERFECT shower gift for any family interested in using cloth but isn't sure where to begin. We make the starting part EASY! The kit includes 4 different styles of cloth diapers from some of the top brands in the industry so you can try them out and see which work best for you. No more buying a stash of all one brand only to find out that they don't work the best with your babe. You'll also get the accessory-necessities to make your cloth journey a success from the start!

We've heard many times that convincing family members to buy cloth diapers or accessories from their baby registry can be challenging. Here is a tip from a blog post titled Registering (and getting) cloth diapers from your registry- "Keep your registry realistic and basic. By paring down to the essentials (does your baby really need that plush cotton robe and slippers or the decorative giant giraffe?) your guests will find it easier to shop for you and their eyes won’t glaze over..."  Our starter kit is the perfect solution!

If your friends and family are skeptical about your choice to use cloth, they may be hesitant to search out a specialty boutique to shop for the things you need to start your cloth journey off on the right foot. Luckily, Amazon is a quick and easy place for your friends and family to shop whether they're local to you or sending love from across the nation. Once you have your registry set up, you can use the clickable images below to add these cloth diapering items and others so that even the most skeptical friends can help support your choice. With the money you've saved, you can shop with your favorite cloth retailer to add to your stash once your shower is over! ;)

   

We'd love to hear from you. Were your friends and family supportive of your choice to use cloth diapers? Was your cloth registry successful for you? Comment below to let us know!

#ShopSmall this Prime Day!

If you've ever shopped on Amazon before, you surely know by now that they are hosting their 2nd annual Prime Day today, July 12th. You really can't miss all the ads on the sidebar of every website ever. Last year's Prime Day was met with high anticipation from customers hoping to score an awesome deal, only to find that most of the products offered were things they didn't really care to purchase, even at 40% off. The #PrimeDayFail hashtag was quite a fun one to follow, and begs the question, will this year be different?

We were actually asked to apply to have a Prime Day deal on Spray Pal products, but our products weren't selected this year. My guess is that 1) we weren't able to discount our items as deeply as they would've liked, and 2) after last year's #PrimeDayFail fiasco, they're probably looking for items that are considered more "mainstream" and "exciting" to the average customer.

So while there are plenty of cloth diapering moms and dads who would be THRILLED to take advantage of a discount on the greatest poop splatter shield on the market, Amazon probably just didn't see it that way. Which actually worked out well because we wanted to provide a sale or discount but we didn't want to undercut our retailers. So, we decided, instead of a discount on Amazon, how about we support our small business retailers with a sale instead?? For this year's Prime Day, we'll be sharing a list of retailers who are offering an approved sale on our Spray Pal products. Stay tuned on social media for this list!

Running a cloth diapering store is hard work and comes with lots of overhead, especially if you have a physical brick and mortar location. But these stores are invaluable resources to their local communities. Just think how many families they can educate, support, and build a community with in their local area. Without these stores, cloth diapers wouldn't be nearly as mainstream as they are today. One of the best things we can do to help #makeclothmainstream is to support our local stores by shopping (and BUYING) locally. We hope you'll consider checking out their deals on Spray Pal and adding a few other cloth diapering items to your cart when you shop, because who really needs another cheaply made phone battery pack at 40% off anyways? ;)

Every day is a Prime Day to shop small. :)

Now that Prime Day 2016 is over, please check out our list of retailers to find out if you have one near you and support them by spending your dollars locally! You can find them HERE on our retailer map!

Spray Pal Down Under!

EDITED APRIL 2017 TO ADD: Every sprayer now includes a non-return valve at no extra charge!! You asked and we listened! :)

The time has finally come. After nearly a year of testing various sprayer adapters, we're launching the same great diaper sprayer that has gained massive popularity here in the USA, just with the correct fittings to easily install it on your Australian toilet! No more dunk and swish down under! No more spending extra money on liners that can damage your plumbing! The Spray Pal system makes nappy clean up so easy and mess-free, you'll be dancing in the streets telling all your friends and family how awesome cloth diapers can be...even when dealing with the poop! ;)

Cloth skeptics, beware...the cloth advocates now have one more tool up their sleeves to convince you that cloth CAN BE DONE. And easily, too. :)

We're mostly excited that we can start saying cloth nappies legitimately now!

Special bonus, when you shop on your website, your flat rate international shipping will qualify for anything else we carry on our website, so be sure to stock up on any other cloth diapers or accessories you need! Also, to make things easy, you can change the currency on our site to AU$ and it will automatically convert things for you. Happy shopping!

SHOP NOW

Is it Worth Changing your Facebook Group to "Close Friends"?

If you’re in a group on Facebook, you may have noticed an influx of notifications over the past 24 hours letting you know that a group admin as deemed you to be one of her BFFs. In other words, she changed the setting of the group from something like “closed” to “close friends” in the hopes that you would see more of her posts in your news feed.

You likely also noticed that many of the groups that made this change are trying to sell you something (LulaRoe, anyone?!), so it makes sense that they’d want to get those posts in front of you to increase interaction and thus (in theory) increase sales.

Is this a good move? I suppose the jury is still out. As someone who is a Facebook groups shopper as well as a small business owner, I can see this from both sides. I completely understand the need for small businesses to get their message out there to the millions of daily Facebook users without wanting (or being able to) pay for ads or promoted posts. In fact, I’ve recently been testing out some theories on the latest Facebook algorithms over on our business page for this exact reason. But, I will admit, I haven’t tested any of these theories in our chat group…this was solely on our business page.

On the flip side, here’s what went through my mind when I woke up this morning to THREE TIMES the normal amount of notifications on my personal page:

“Whoa!! 25 notifications overnight?! Is it my birthday?? No…hmmm…something big must’ve happened. Let’s check…OK, so like ¾ of these are about LulaRoe groups. WTF? Wait…they’re all changing the groups to “close friends”?? Why?? Wow, how the heck was I in so many of these groups?! I need to clean up this list. Click. Leave group. Click. Leave group. Click. Leave group.”

So, as you can see, in my case it was not a great move for these admin to do this all at once because it brought attention to the fact that I was in way too many groups to begin with. But, you might look at that as a silver lining. The people who are going to leave are the ones who are done shopping and aren’t going to be your customers anyway. If changing the group setting increases your visibility to those who are actually going to buy your stuff, then it’s worth it to lose a few “duds” in the process.

Before you make any changes, decide what your end goal is. If your goal is to have higher numbers in your group, I say don’t mess with it. If you’re ok with losing some members in order to target those who are actually going to shop, then go for it! But, one more thing to consider before you make the switch it this: Does the setting of the group actually increase engagement? I’ve heard from some LulaRoe consultants that it has, but my thought is that it could just be residual from those notifications going through. If people weren’t (like me) just leaving the groups as they got notified, they may have actually clicked the notification to check out what was going on in the group and then interacted with a post. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the group setting change made the difference. Only time will tell. Of course, by the time we have this figured out, Facebook will probably change its algorithm again. ;)