A High-End Toy for Children Who Love to Build Forts

Do your children love to build forts? Have you been the victim of the $25 pop-up fort that lasts about an hour in the hands of your kids before bent plastic pipes and ripped fabric make it just one more thing to add to the trash? Thanks to Lori and Leslie of Tee Pee for Me there is a better way.

Stay at home moms Lori and Leslie met at a neighborhood cookie party and hit it off. “(W)e did not know it until years later but we were both thinking that we were the only normal ones in the room,” says Leslie, co-founder of Tee Pee for Me. The idea of creating a tee pee was inspired by their own children’s fort building, which often left their houses a mess. Eighteen months and many prototypes, fabrics and late night pow-wows in the cul-de-sac later, their first style - the original Wild West Red - was born.

At almost $300 a Tee-Pee, they aren’t inexpensive, but then again, they aren’t cheap either: “We use only high quality drapery fabrics and the poles are made from durable PVC, which isn’t heavy and won’t splinter or break like wood. These materials together make a surprisingly light tee pee! This was one of our main goals in designing our tee pee. We wanted safety above all else and we love to see that they are light enough for even a young child to move all by themselves!” Their own children (5 between them) have tested and retested the tee pees, which come fully assembled and set up and store away “in just seconds.”

What’s most rewarding about the creation of the business for these two? “We can stay home with our kids, and we are laughing all the time. We started out as business partners and have become best friends.” The hardest thing about starting a business? “Nobody tells you anything! Everything seems to be an ancient Chinese secret!”

It’s been quite a ride. Now living five hours apart, both working from home, five kids between them and with a common vision, it sounds like they’re having a great time. “We are so busy when we do work…we are marathon workers and really pack a lot into the time when our kids are at school. We never work weekends and try not to work after 6pm. We both just like to have down time with our families. In June we all went to Disney World together. That was a true test of how well we work together! We mapped out everything, with our husbands military backgrounds and walkie-talkies we were hitting the fast passes with a vengeance! It is hysterical to look back on.”

Buy tee pees at www.teepeeforme.com

When they aren’t building Tee-Pees, what do Lori and Leslie’s children (Cody - 2, Josh - 5 and Zach -6; Ally - 10 and Zac - 5) do for fun? “We love to see them use their imaginations, we love that about our product and we like to encourage creativity. Here are a few products they love to play with: crayons, color wonder, Leapster, Webkinz, K’NEX,and we have a great play dough recipe that they all love!”

2 C Flour
1 C Salt
4 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 T Vegetable or Canola oil
2 C Water
Food Coloring
if you want it to smell good add a little bit of unsweetened kool-aid

Mix dry ingredients then combine the rest in a saucepan. Cook over medium high heat stirring constantly until dough leaves sides of pan. Kneed with a little flour. Store in air-tight plastic bag. Does not crumble and keeps indefinitely.

www.teepeeforme.com

See Whitney’s review of Tee Pee for Me and get a free pillow with purchase.