The second Pullip and Dal Doll Lovers Event (PUDDLE) was held on June 6, 2009 in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. The event was sold out, with 60 attendees who enjoyed gift bags, contests, doll pajama parties, and more. There were at least four dolls on hand for every attendee. Lovers of Pullip, her boyfriend, and his kid sister traveled from a dozen United States and Canada.

The day included a trip to Mitsuwa Japanese Mall for lunch and shopping. Online shop PullipStyle.com delivered both preordered and impulse-purchase Pullip, Dal, and Taeyang dolls, in addition to donating kawaii notepads for everyone. Raffle items donated by online store The Sleeping Elf Ltd and by etsy sellers keelyvh, salukimom, sewgrandmacathy, and BlythesOCDCloset were raffled off, and over $100 was raised to benefit the Save-A-Pet adoption center in Grayslake, Illinois. The event gift bags were filled with goodies from PullipStyle, Jun Planning USA, Rement International, and over a dozen other sponsors, including the Mimi Collection, AmbitiousLove.net, CanCan-Jseries, JPop Dolls, and eTraders Place, plus etsy sellers Megipupu, Jackiekie, FollowtheWhiteRabbit, Burntbao, and CommonlyCute. Etsy seller EffieDalShop made a pair of doll pajamas for every gift bag!

Mamasllama was awarded a Haute Pullip in New York doll, donated by HauteDoll Magazine, for her winning entry in the doll customization contest. Kirakishou, the winner of the dress-like-your-doll contest, won a cute kimono from etsy seller keelyvh. Gogojimmy and tiglem, the winners of the online and event photo/art contests, received gift certificates from online shop panikstoybox.com and etsy seller MyOwnLittleWorld. Seven lucky attendees went home with mini dolls donated by event coordinator TrueFan and given out as door prizes. The $3,000 cost of PUDDLE was funded by a small registration fee and generous donations from the sponsors.

PUDDLE 2009

PUDDLE 2009, on June 6, was an unqualified success! Officially we had 50 attendees (the event capacity); unofficially, it was more like 60 than 50. Details on the winners of the contests as well as links to photos will be along shortly.

If you are interested in attending PUDDLE 2010 and would like to receive email updates, please send an email to truefan at live.com. The date for PUDDLE 2010 has not yet been set, but it is likely to be in early June, in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

Tomorrow is the big day! News to come....

Congratulations to gogojimmy! Her entry Blown Away is the winner of the 2009 PUDDLE online photo/art contest. She wins a $50 gift certificate donated by online toy store Panik's Toy Box. Honorable mentions go to beanbunnybass, glasshouse, and Luffygirl (for her first entry). Thank you to everyone who entered the contest: beanbunnybass, bee_couture, Glasshouse, gogojimmy, haileebobailee, LuffyGirl, Matsuda22, McKenna, Meesa, Miss Mandy Lynn, Tiglem, and TrueFan. The entries received almost 100 votes, and it was really fun to see the creativity and talent. Thanks also to Panik's Toy Box for the gift certificate. Great job, everyone! I look forward to more great work for PUDDLE 2010!