Kmart Enhances Online Playdate Place, Offering Busy Parents Advice and Resources for Perfecting the Play Date

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill., May 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Planning the perfect play date is more than just child's play, with issues ranging from coordinating with other parents and selecting the appropriate toys to adult and child etiquette. With the newly redesigned Kmart Playdate Place community, parents will have even more resources at their fingertips to help them perfect the play date—Moms and Dads will never have to plan another play date alone.

Play dates are more than just a time to let children play. They serve as a platform for parents to help their children acquire basic cognitive and socializing skills through new games, and play dates allow children to see new settings. In fact, playing is actually considered a fundamental right for children by the United Nations*.

"Kmart Playdate Place offers simple and easy ways to coordinate and plan a play date with other parents. We help take the guessing game out of what to bring to play dates, providing customers with tips and recommendations from bloggers who are parents as well," said Dev Mukherjee, President, Seasonal & Toys, Sears Holdings. "With summer quickly approaching, we understand that our customers want to spend more time having fun with their family and friends, and less time on planning how to have fun."

Play dates also help parents get together to discuss tips, recommend new toys and socialize with other adults who, by having kids of the same age, share some of the same interests and concerns. While the kids entertain each other, parents are free to talk among themselves—for some, it may be the only adult conversation they'll have all day. Any parent will tell you one of his or her favorite parts of play dates is the down time these kid-friendly gatherings afford to moms and dads exhausted by the care-taking, chauffeuring, cleaning and refereeing involved in raising their children.

Kmart Playdate Place was launched in late 2010 to do just that – offer both parents and children a fun, inspirational and practical resource for all things play date, to help nurture the need for more play dates and to take the burden of planning away from parents. With recent enhancements, customers now have the opportunity to win Kmart Playdate Perks weekly and monthly prizes. Sample highlights of perks for parents include:

Ongoing (Online only at Kmart.com)

• $20 off when you spend $200 or more
• $10 off when you spend $100 or more
• $5 off when you spend $50 or more

May/June

• Free home delivery on Fisher Price roller skates  (and other select items)
• Mega Bloks Ni Hao Kai-Lan play set  - $8.00 (originally $19.99)
• Candy Land Sweet Celebration Game  - $10.40 (originally $24.99)
• Mattel Hot Wheels Color Shifters Creatures Octo Battle play set - $12.80 (originally $21.99)
• Cars 2 Collector Event - online pre-sell starting June 18 and in-store on June 25

In addition to prizes, customers can find advice from leading bloggers and access plenty of knowledge guides to help plan successful play dates all year long. The latest lineup of Kmart Playdate Parents reflects the diversity of parents today—there are moms and dads, singles and couples. The mom bloggers are Isabel Kallman of AlphaMom.com, Migdalia Rivera of LatinaOnAMission.com, Kim Danger of MommySavers.com, Jodi Grundig of MomsFavoriteStuff.com and Liz Thompson of thisfullhouse.com. The dad bloggers are Clay Nichols and Brad Powell of DadLabs.com, Jason Avant of DadCentric.com and Mike Johnson of PlaygroundDad.com and Lamar and Ronnie Tyler of blackandmarriedwithkids.com blog as a team.

To help kick off the enhanced community, Kmart is hosting a Playdate Picnic series this summer. An exclusive group of invited guests will participate, interacting with the latest toys to market. Parents play a big part in the play date experience as well—they can play with their children and gain first-hand experience of the latest products to hit the market, or enjoy a relaxing hand massage and meet and mingle with other parents.

As an additional perk, parents can sign up for Birthday Club, where kids earn $5 birthday bucks on their birthday and parents can access great tips on gifts for children. For additional information on Kmart Playdate Place, visit www.kmart.com/playdate. For the latest news, updates and perks, sign up for the newsletter at http://playdateplace.kmart.com/sign-up.

About Kmart

Kmart, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), is a mass merchandising company that offers customers quality products through a portfolio of exclusive brands that include Jaclyn Smith, Joe Boxer, Country Living, Route 66 and Smart Sense. For more information visit the company's website at www.kmart.com or the Sears Holdings Corporation website at www.searsholdings.com.

* The UNCRC Handbook (2007) describes play as possibly "the most interesting (of the group of concepts) in terms of childhood in that it includes activities of children which are not controlled by adults. Free play is of particular interest to IPA because of its importance in children's lives and because it is the component of article 31 least understood and appreciated." Handbook available at http://bit.ly/lSKQkt.

SOURCE Kmart

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