Great Pretenders

There was a mom troubled by the lack of fun and imaginative toys for her children. Joyce Keelan set out on her ambitious journey to come up with creative, pretend-play toys that would light up any child's imagination. 30 years later her endeavours transcended into the lifestyle brand Great Pretenders!

Their mission is to design and produce products that inspire families to engage in creative, imaginative and interactive play. They strive to provide their customers with safe, quality and creative toys and gifts while exceeding our customer’s expectations at every opportunity. 

Creative Education of Canada is a family owned and operated business started in 1989. CFO Joyce Keelan oversees our team with offices in 4 countries and 3 global warehouses. She still designs much of our products and is the heart of the company. Her oldest and youngest children have followed in her footsteps and also work at the company along side our 50+ employees worldwide.

 

At Great Pretenders they believe that “dress-up” is so much more than just putting on a costume. Through pretend play kids develop their imagination and creative thinking skills. Pretending develops communication skills and an outlet for expressing feelings and fears. They keep in mind the difficulties disabled children may face when finding dress up and strive to design products for all children. 

Talented designers design all their dress up in house. They manufacture over 80 of our products at our manufacturing facility in Ontario, Canada. Hand made with quality fabrics, trims, flowers and accessories. From every bow to every bobble, they hand select it all to make sure our costumes are impeccably made. Look for their Maple Leaf seal on all their Made in Canada products.

QUALITY

All of our products are easy to care for and often get passed down to younger siblings because of our quality! With maximum sizing flexibility and simple machine washing instructions, it’s easy to get the best value for your pretend play costumes. Our creative team also ensures value when designing. Our infamous reversible costumes make dressing up twice the fun and double the value.

SAFETY

Speaking of impeccably made, all our products are impeccably safe! Everything is tested to the highest standards. At Creative Education of Canada we have our own in-house safety team who work around the clock to make sure everything from our fabrics, to our beads, to the Velcro on our garments all get tested. 

SUSTAINABILITY

Great Pretenders is dedicated to preserving the planet through environmentally responsible business. We are dedicated to preserving the planet by seeking greener ways to conduct our day-to-day business. Sustainability means keeping the wellbeing of our company, customers and community at the forefront, without compromising the ability for future generations to prosper on the planet we share.