The Vermont Teddy Bear Factory was one of the highlights of our trip to Vermont. It’s a long drive, but it’s worth it.
The Factory Tour
Check-in for the factory tour is at a podium that’s visible as soon as you walk in. You’ll be greeted by a friendly person who will sign you up for the tour.
- The tour is $5 for adults and children under 12 are free. It’s well worth the price.
- There is a large group fee of $20 for 30 people in case you want to take your whole family or Sunday school class!
- The upgraded package is $20 plus $5 per person and comes with an enhanced souvenir tour pin for each person.
- The VIP package is $60 plus per person and comes with one tote bag with a teddy bear patch, one 18-inch Oh So Soft Teddy Bear, one custom t-shirt on the bear with your company logo, enhanced souvenir tour pins for each person (this is actually a great deal!).
- Seniors get a small discount of about $1 per person for the tour.
Your fee includes a commemorative button and a cute little teddy bear cutout.
It’s important to know that tours stop at 3:00 and the store closes at 4:00. If you miss one of these times, you’re out of luck until the next day. The good news is the factory is open every day.
You’ll visit the teddy bear hospital and see how the bears are cut out and assembled, and more. They have several cute heartwarming displays throughout the tour.
More Features That are Not to Miss
The factory guest areas are part store, part museum, part workshop, and part educational experience.
Incidentally, if you’re within driving distance around a holiday, check with them, because they often have fun little events throughout the year.
– The pajamagram outlet – turn right as soon as you walk in the big double doors. There’s a pair of velvet pjs in there that I’m still kicking myself for not picking up.
– Vermont Mitten Company products (also known as “Bernie Mittens”
– Cute little displays in the store like this one showing the history of Vermont bears (this one is on the wall between the bear-building area and the store).
– Plenty of great photo ops! From giant bears to a “what size bear are you” display.
– The opportunity to build your own jointed personalized bear…. This is not the same as Build-a-Bear where you pick a skin and someone stuffs it for you and then you customize it. At VTB, you truly can build a unique teddy in the construction area. See more below!
On the right in the photo above, you can see little stacked wooden bins. These are filled with bear parts! Choose his body, both arms, his head, and his legs. None of it has to match! Pick what you like.
You then construct your bear at a little workshop stand. You can lay out the parts and see how they look before you start.
Then, each part is attached to the body or “tummy” of the bear. You can do this process yourself or have an assistant help you. Here, but is holding his bear’s hand while his helper presses the jointed arm together for him – just in case it’s uncomfortable for the bear.
One by one, the joints are locked into place.
Then we take the completed bear to the stuffing area, where we can choose what we’d like to stuff him with. Bug chose Magic. We were also given a little heart to put inside.
Finally, we wrote out a birth certificate and named our bear. His name is Whistle.
This makes a truly unique bear. As you can see, you won’t find many like this one. Also these bears are amazingly huggable. I mean, some bears are soft and feel nice to touch but these bears truly feel good to hug.
You can then customize him in the store and are given a cute box to take him home in (complete with air hole).
