Me to You Bears (also known as Tatty Teddies) is the brand name of a collection of teddy bears made by the Carte Blanche Greetings Ltd. They are often found in Clinton Cards. They were first created in 1987 and appeared in their current guise in 1995. A number of products are available related to Tatty Teddy including plush toys, figurines, cards, mugs, and wedding accessories.[1]
Origin
The beginnings of Me to You started in 1987 when Carte Blanche Greetings chairman and Founder, Stephen Haines, approached Mike Payne to create a group of 'cute' characters to appear on a series of greeting cards. This led to the creation of various cartoon animals called the Miranda gang, which notably included a brown bear with patches.
Deciding it was time for a refresh, in 1995 Carte Blanche gave the bear a new look. Drawn in charcoal pencil turning the bear from brown to grey, and with the addition of a bright blue nose, a few more patches and a story of his very own 'Tatty Teddy' and 'Me to You' were born.
Me to You is now a global brand and Tatty Teddy now appears on a wide range of Me to You products including greeting cards, plush, clothing, gifts, figurines, personalised products and confectionery. Over 75 million Me to You plush bears have been sold since 2000.
Availability
First only available in the UK, it was announced in December 2011 that the Douglas Company received a license to sell the brand in the US and Canada.[2]
Appearance
The first generation of Tatty Teddy soft toys, produced in 2000, was based on the original greeting card design of 1995 consisting of a teddy bear with short grey fur, small black eyes, an off-white snout and a blue nose with a white reflective spot on the right hand side. They also have patches of a light grey colour which appear to have been sewn onto them, along with stitching repair work on the arms and head, hence the name 'tatty'. The words 'Me to You' are embroidered on the right rear paw. The very first Tatty Teddy was hand crafted by Linda Laverty of Worthing, West Sussex. The second generation Tatty Teddy, introduced in 2003, kept to the same overall design but with much finer fur. To coincide with the 2003 redesign, the 'Me to You' story was also published, describing how the teddy bear came to be in its current state. A third generation Tatty Teddy was introduced in May 2009. This bear has much longer fur in various shades of grey and a blue plastic nose, rather than the fabric nose on previous generations. The reflective spot has been removed since the new plastic nose has reflective qualities.[3]
The bears come in many different sizes, ranging from 5 cm to in excess of 80 cm, and often come with accessories such as hearts, roses, T-shirts, wooly hats and scarves. Some have personalised messages from a simple "I Love You" to longer seasonal and event related messages. It is even possible for customers to personalise their bears. The bears are particularly popular amongst females in the 10–30 age group although they are also designed to be romantic gifts for people of all ages as they can be considered 'cute'.[4] Due to this they are becoming collectors items, similar to Steiff and Beanie Baby toys. Indeed, there are even annual Tatty Teddy national collectors events.[5]
Several special edition and limited edition bears have also been produced, enhancing the collectible nature of the toys, which see the bear dressed in different costumes including various animals and the four seasons (summer, winter etc.). Many of the limited and special edition releases are designed to tie in with events such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Christmas. The number of these limited edition bears produced is usually 9000, however this can range from 1500 to in excess of 10,000.[6]
Regional variations of Tatty Teddy are also available, for example Scottish dress and London Beefeater. Versions of Tatty Teddy have also been made for the tourist market, usually wearing a T-shirt with an expressive message, for example 'I Love Cornwall'.
The makers of the teddies do not recommend that they are cleaned in washing machines but instead should be hand washed.[7] This is because the dye in the clothes of the bears has not been tested to see if they are colorfast.[8]
Backstory
(wip)
My Blue Nose Friends: Series 1
In the summer of 2008, "My Blue Nose Friends" were released – other animal toys in the same style as Tatty Teddy. The story given is that Tatty Teddy was lonely and dreamt of a wardrobe full of friends.
7 new blue nose friends were released in September 2019. These included Toots the Elephant, Konker the Hedgehog, Legend the Unicorn, Blossom the Rabbit, Tiny the Mouse, Milkshake the Cow and Twiggy the Giraffe.
2020
Set 1
1 Aurora the Caticorn
2 Rezi the Raccoon
4 Otto the Octopus
Others
3 Blossom the Rabbit
5 Toots the elephant
6 Lightening the sloth
7 Twiggy the giraffe
8 Nala the narwhal
9 Rufus the dog
17 Jester the monkey
14 Konker the hedgehog
21 Milkshake the cow
35 Tiny the mouse
44 Legend the unicorn
2024
Set 2
1 Queenie the Corgi
2 Casey the Dalmatian
3 Zig Zag the Zebra
4 Bray the Donkey
5 Maverick the Goat
6 Fizzy the Bee
7 Bolt the Squirrel
8 Karma the Llama
9 Blush the Flamingo
10 Denny the Fox
11 Splash the Elephant
12 Sonny the Sloth
13 Spirit the Cat
14 Cotton Tail the Bunny
15 Spike the Hedgehog
16 Snooks the Panda
17 Jester the Monkey
18 Skye the Giraffe
19 Abra the Unicorn
20 Chill the Dinosaur
21 North the Husky
22 Rufus the Reindeer
23 Salty the Polar Bear
24 Cuddles the Penguin
25 Rosie the Robin
26 Dexter the Dachshund
27 Cosmos the Owl
28 McDuff the Highland Cow
29 Ruby the Ladybug (aka Ladybird)
30 Quackers the Duck
31 Cracker Jack the Mouse
32 Ember the Red Panda
33 Flit the Bat
34 Dancer the Shetland Pony
35 Blizzard the Snow Leopard
36 Gobbledygook the Turkey
37 Snowball the Arctic Hare
Johan
A 10" snowdear with a blue nose, this character is listed on the my blue nose friends page, although it isn't stated if this is actually a Blue Nose Friend.
Luna the Wolf
To celebrate the launch of their 100th My Blue Nose Friends character, Ramble the Centipede, Carte Blanche launched a free-to-enter competition in June 2012. 100 fans had the chance to win a rare and exclusive 4" My Blue Nose Friends character, Luna the Wolf. The character is not available to buy anywhere in the world.
