Unicorn Fever!

Unicorns and the Holidays!

Heavenly the Dreamy Eyes Unicorn Stuffed Animal by Aurora.

Every child loves stuffed animals. Here we have free and downloadable coloring pages of stuffed unicorns.

Heavenly the Dreamy Eyes Unicorn Stuffed Animal by Aurora is a delightful stuff unicorn. It has big, dreamy eyes, a shiny horn, and shiny feet.

Fantasia Beanie Boo Unicorn Plush.

Fantasia the Unicorn by Ty is a great plush unicorn for kids and collectors alike.
Fantasia features a smooth pink and blue coat, a gold horn, and golden hooves. This stuffed unicorn also has synthetic beans that all it to sit upright on flat surfaces.

Wildlife Artists Unicorn Plush Stuffed Toy.

Wildlife Artists offer a beautiful pink plush stuffed unicorn.
The Wildlife Artists stuffed unicorn is only in pink at the moment, but that may change by the time you read this. It is 10 x 7 x 3 inches.

Enchanted Unicorn.

The Enchanted Unicorn from Beary Fairy Friends is a particularly colorful addition to any child's bedroom.
The Enchanted Unicorn has purple fur, a pastel mane, and a sparkly pink horn. You can add other items to your Enchanted Unicorn, including scents, sounds, outfits, and wings.

Plush Despicable Me Unicorn.

Agnes' stuffed unicorn toy from Despicable Me is a cute little unicorn.
The Plush Despicable Me Unicorn is 12 inches high. There also is a 7-inch version.

Lambs & Ivy Plush Unicorn - Dawn.

Lambs & Ivy Plush Unicorn - Dawn is machine washable and thus very practical for anyone who likes to take their stuffed toys with them to, say, school or the office.
This Lambs & Ivy Plush Unicorn coordinates with the Dawn Collection and is made of soft polyester fabric.

10" Unicorn Plush Toy from Starting Out.

The 10" Unicorn Plush Toy from Starting out is a super-soft plush unicorn.
Available at Dillard's, this plush unicorn is safe for almost everyone. It is recommended for ages 1+, is made of polyester, and is cleanable with a surface wash.

Valentine 11.5" Stuffed Plush Pink Unicorn with Sparkly Hooves.

The Valentine 11.5" Stuffed Plush Pink Unicorn with Sparkly Hooves is sold and shipped by Walmart.
Sold at a very reasonable cost, the Valentine 11.5" Stuffed Plush Pink Unicorn with Sparkly Hooves is perfect as a stocking stuffer. It is perfect for Valentine's Day, too, but any little girl would be thrilled to receive this.

Fizzles - Swizzle Unicorn.

The Fizzles - Swizzle Unicorn from Aurora is a big unicorn, coming in at 12 inches.
Fizzles come in a variety of bright and vivid colors. Their soft fur and outstanding presence make them adorable for every child!

Melissa & Doug Plush Unicorn.

The Melissa & Doug Plush Unicorn is a very large plush unicorn that is available from Kohl's Department Store.
Although larger than most plush unicorns, the Melissa & Doug Plush Unicorn is snuggly yet sturdy. If you are familiar with the Melissa & Doug Plush Toy line, you know that it also offers a gorilla, cheetah, and alligator. These are great for kids to use as back pillows when watching television or playing with the smartphones, too.

Dazzle the Unicorn.

Dazzle the Unicorn from HearthSong is another big boy.
If you get Dazzle the Unicorn for the right child, they will spend hours lounging on it as they play with it or their other toys. It also comes at a good price, though shipping may take a while.

MY LITTLE PONY Pinkie Pie Sparkly Furry Friend.

The MY LITTLE PONY Pinkie Pie Sparkly Furry Friend really needs no introduction. After all, everyone has heard of My Little Pony.
Pinkie Pie is a great little unicorn who loves to laugh. You can add little outfits and sounds to your Pinkie Pie and enjoy its sparkly goodness. This is a Hasbro toy, so you know that is of good quality.

Trend Lab Rainbow Unicorn Plush Character Chair.

Bigger definitely is better with stuffed unicorns, and we're getting very big with the Trend Lab Rainbow Unicorn Plush Character Chair.
Available at Kohl's Department Store, Trend Lab Rainbow Unicorn Plush Character Chair gives that special child of yours a comfortable nook all of their own to sit and play with their other toys or read books. This is for ages 12 months and up. This chair enables maximum cuddling!

Unicorn Plush Toy.

Unicorn Plush Toys from FouFit are 6 inches high.
These adorable little plush unicorns have metallic hooves, a horn, and a rainbow mane and tail. They also have a hidden squeaker to give your little one an unexpected surprise!

Pax the life-like stuffed Unicorn by Douglas.

Pax the life-like stuffed Unicorn by Douglas is made with soft, plush synthetic fur and measures 8 inches tall.
Pax is machine washable with instructions, so you can always keep Pax clean. These unicorns are hand-crafted and made to exacting standards. The price includes shipping in the United States. This is part of a large line of Stuffed Unicorns, Pegasus, & Fantasy Horses from Douglas so you can add to the collection if a certain someone really likes Pax!

Unicorn Faux Fur Plush Collection from Pottery Barn Kids.

Pottery Barn Kids offers an entire line of Unicorn Faux Fur Plush toys.
You can order a Unicorn Faux Fur Plush Collection toy from Pottery Barn Kids in Small (6" wide x 6.5" deep x 10" high), Medium (9" wide x 10" deep x 15" high), or Jumbo (32.25" long x 10.75" wide x 30.75" high). This is one of those toys where, if you aren't sure, you can get a small one and see if that works for your little one. These are suitable for all ages.

Unicorn Stuffed Animal, 40 In. - Assorted from Dollar General.

Dollar General offers an assortment of 40-inch Unicorn Stuffed Animals. They are covered in plush and velvety fabric.
These Dollar General unicorns are available in-store only at the time of this writing.

Feisty Pets Expressions: Silly- Glenda Glitterpoop.

Feisty Pets Expressions has a bunch of stuffed toys. Silly- Glenda Glitterpoop is an 8.5" Plush Stuffed Unicorn that sticks her tongue out with a squeeze.
Each Feisty Pets toy has great "attitude." They change their expressions from sweet to silly! If your child likes one, why wouldn't they like the other Feisty Pets as well? You can find these at Firefly Buys.

Cupcake the Unicorn.

Cupcake the Unicorn from Elly Lu is made of certified organic cotton fabrics.
Cupcake has non-toxic dyes and is filled with organic buckwheat hulls and organic cotton. There is a Mini Cupcake (8 inches) and a Standard Cupcake (15 inches).

Rainbow Unicorn ''Tsum Tsum'.'

Rainbow Unicorn ''Tsum Tsum'' from the Pixar animated feature film "Inside Out" is offered by shopDisney. It is 9 1/2 inches.
Little Tsum Tsum has embroidered details, soft, squeezable fill, fuzzy plush texturing, and is part of the "Tsum Tsum" Plush Collection. These are very reasonably priced and can be hard to get.

2018

Heartwarming Christmas Classic "Miracle on 34th Street" Endures

"Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) is a holiday classic. It was made during a brief period of time when Hollywood was making a string of sentimental classics such as "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) and "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946).


"Miracle on 34th Street" stars Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, and a young Natalie Wood.


George Seaton wrote and directed "Miracle on 34th Street." Seaton based his script on a story by Valentine Davies.


"Miracle on 34th Street" is the story of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa and whose influence drastically affects the lives of those around him.


Edmund Gwenn won an Oscar for  Best Actor Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as Kris Kringle. George Seaton won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay, while Valentine Davies won the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story.


"Miracle on 34th Street" has become a holiday favorite that is one of a handful of live-action films that are the elite of seasonal classics. Others in this group include the aforementioned "It's A Wonderful Life," "A Christmas Carol," "Babes in Toyland," and "A Christmas Story."


While "Miracle on 34th Street" is an obvious holiday movie, 20th Century Fox, which produced and distributed the film, decided to release it on June 4, 1947.


June, obviously, is not the holiday season, so it was an odd time to release a Christmas-themed film. Very few people are thinking of the holiday season in June. Despite this, "Miracle on 34th Street" did fairly well at the box office, earning $2.7 million on a budget of $630,000. One can think of this as counter-programming of a sort, but it was still an odd decision that was based on the simple fact that more people go to movies during the summer than in the winter (which is still the case).


The initial box office of "Miracle on 34th Street," however, is dwarfed by its subsequent earnings as it became an undeniable holiday classic.


"Miracle on 34th Street" concludes with the Johny Payne and Maureen O'Hara characters buying a house. The real house used for that scene is at 24 Derby Road, Port Washington, New York. It still looks pretty much the same.


The child star of "Miracle on 34th Street," Natalie Wood, was a well-known child actress at the time of its production. She first began acting in the 1943 film "Happy Land," and was named the Most Talented Young Actress of 1946 by Box Office Magazine.


Edmund Gwenn, who plays Kris Kringle in "Miracle on 34th Street," was an accomplished British actor who began acting in 1895 and became a silent film actor. Not particularly prominent in Hollywood at the time, Gwenn reached his height of fame with "Miracle on 34th Street."


Maureen O'Hara, who plays Macy's event director Doris Walker in  "Miracle on 34th Street," already was a top Hollywood actress. Just as Edmund Gwenn had acted in four Alfred Hitchcock films, O'Hara had broken through to stardom in the Hitchcock film "Jamaica Inn" (1939). O'Hara was the biggest Hollywood star at the time, and she receives top billing despite the film's focus on the Kris Kringle character.


John Payne, attorney Fred Gailey in "Miracle on 34th Street," was a top B-movie leading actor. The success of "Miracle on 34th Street" enabled Payne to get better roles at other studios.


Natalie Wood, who was eight years old, honestly thought that Edmund Gwenn was Santa Claus during the filming of  "Miracle on 34th Street."


There were good reasons why Natalie Wood might have thought that Edmund Gwenn was the real Santa. Besides his obvious resemblance to Santa Claus, Gwenn played Santa Claus in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on 28 November 1946. This was a real event, not done for the film, a very unique example of verisimilitude for a young girl. Gwenn did this for real, not as a stunt, though, of course, it tied in nicely with his role in "Miracle on 34th Street."


The crew for "Miracle on 34th Street" had motion-picture cameras placed at several points along the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route. Every scene showing the parade in the background was shot in one and only one take.


Everybody on the set loved Edmund Gwenn.


According to Maureen O'Hara, the movie set of "Miracle on 34th Street" was extremely friendly.


William Frawley, a little-known actor at the time, plays a canny political operative in "Miracle on 34th Street." A few years later, Frawley got his friend Lucille Ball to cast him as Fred Mertz in "I Love Lucy."


Edmund Gwenn did not actually have a beard even though Natalie Wood pulls it - hard - to see. He also gained 30 pounds for the role.


"Miracle on 34th Street" was shot on location in New York City in the actual Macy's Department Store. This gave a unique opportunity to film a scene which shows the actual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade rolling by outside.


In fact, in an early scene of "Miracle on 34th Street," Natalie Wood and John Payne are shown having a conversation in front of a window overlooking the parade. That was the very Thanksgiving Day parade in which Edmund Gwenn rode on a float portraying Santa Claus.


Only three Christmas films have been nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. They were "Miracle on 34th Street," "It's a Wonderful Life," and "The Bishop's Wife" (1947). None of them won, and no Christmas films have been nominated since.


Macy's reportedly closed early one day in 1947 so that its 12,000 workers could see the first run of "Miracle on 34th Street."


Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, and John Payne routinely walked together along Fifth Avenue after each day's shooting, which was done essentially in real time during the 1946 holiday season depicted in the film.


The decision to release "Miracle on 34th Street" during the summer led the studio to disguise the fact that it was a holiday movie. So, the studio changed the film's original title, "Christmas Miracle on 34th Street," to drop the reference to Christmas.


If it's the holiday season when you read this, look in your local theater listings - there's often a showing of "Miracle on 34th Street" in a theater near you!


2018