28 October 2008
Shrinks a Million
Posted by admin under: crafts .
If you’ve ever done crafts with your Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts (or horror of horrors even the Boy Scouts) you’ve got a fair chance at having heard of Shrinky Dinks. The concept is simple. The craft gives you plastic sheets that you draw on and then pop in the oven until they shrink down into a hard, permanent whatever (charm, sign, nametag, etc.).
What I didn’t know was that these things were invented in the Cub Scouts. Now that the Den mom is retiring from the business that went from her kitchen to the world I’m learning that she is the craft mom’s dream. She did the activity with her kid and built it into a multi-million dollar company.
Their story has been told many times: the two stay-at-home moms found a craft project in a magazine that involved tracing on plastic lids and shrinking them in an oven. The Cub Scouts were so excited by the activity that Morris and Bloomberg decided to pursue the idea of creating a product and selling it.
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Colorforms was the first major toy business to make Shrinky Dinks under an exclusive license agreement. A Smurfs Shrinky Dink kit was their biggest seller, Morris recalled.
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In addition, K&B makes craft kits in North Lake that are sold to retailers such as Michaels and Hobby Lobby, as well as online. The Web site has sales of $20,000 per month, and total annual revenue is well over $1 million, Morris said.
She estimates total retail sales for Shrinky Dinks products, since 1973, at $150 million.
Millions of den moms can’t be wrong. My Girl Scouts have used them for swaps. My family has made Christmas decorations with them. I’m happy that Betty Morris has made her mint. The story says she’s planning to sell the business and retire. Who’s out there ready to take on a multi-million dollar corporation?
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One Comment so far...
Dan - Scouting News Says:
28 October 2008 at 3:52 pm.
Nice story. I had no idea.
Though I do remember having fun with “Shirnk A Dinks” back in the day…
