Growing up, I had a huge stuffed animal collection. I loved each and every one of them, as if they were pets. From Big Bear, a tan bear that stood 3 feet tall (very big to a 2 year old) to Snoopy, a classic staple, the one thing every stuffed toy has in common is the tush tag. That's right, the little hang tag that is most often attached to the tush of each stuffed animal. I never really paid attention to the tush tag until I needed one of my own for BuckleyBoo.

I hit the toy store and started examining tush tags on every toy I could find; they contained care instructions, copyright info, company names, web address, "Made in" info and a PA number. What is a PA number?

Well this is not the easiest question to answer. Many hours on the Internet steered me in the right direction. I found a service that could handle my "Law Label" needs or I could try to figure it out myself, which of course, is what I opted to do.

In the plush world, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Ohio require manufacturers to register each product's materials with the state. PA has the strictest guidelines; First you fill out a form, then pay a fee and submit a sample of your product. Once all the paper work is complete, the state of Pennsylvania will issue the product a PA number. Then you must send in the application to Ohio; fill out a form, pay a bigger fee and send in a sample. Ohio tests the materials to make sure the product complies with the state of Ohio standards. The state of Ohio sends you an official certificate. Then finally, you send the biggest check of all to MA and once they give you the OK you are good to go.

The bottom line is, you can not sell plush in these 3 states without having the official law label PA number. Oh the bureaucracy!

Launching BuckleyBoo has truly been a family affair and from my perspective, knowing nothing about business but quite a bit about kids, it has been amazing to not only see my grandchild grow and develop with the Buckley menagerie (at 3 1/2 and after 2 years) she is still challenged to unbuckle the last two buckles while creating a make-believe world where her menagerie reigns supreme - it never occurred to us that a child might like more than one!!!!