I’m Áine the Irish Matchmaker. Isn’t everyone just looking for the simple thing of love and happiness, to be cherished and to feel special? A Paddy Pals Valentine’s Teddy Bear stands as a testament to the Irish art of matchmaking that has flourished in Ireland for centuries. It’s Claddagh emblem embodies the spirit of finding and celebrating love, making it a meaningful and thoughtful present, paying homage to the Emerald Isle’s cultural heritage.

This delightful teddy bear is the epitome of love and Irish charm, making it the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day. Bring home this lovely Paddy Pals Valentine’s Teddy Bear and let it be a constant reminder of love, tradition, and the magic of Ireland’s matchmaking legacy, there is no better way to say “I love you” than with this special Irish teddy bear.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

I’m Miss O’Doherty the Irish School Teacher and I teach the young bear cubs of our community.

The school day for a young bear is quite short, because they need their sleep, so they spend hours napping under their favourite tree. When they wake, I teach them their numbers and their ABCs. We have lots of fun learning outdoors while foraging for our favourite berries and nuts – picking berries is a great way to learn our numbers! The cubs also love to paint and draw – and we have such a pretty backdrop to recreate.

Many little bears have passed through the big doors of the old schoolhouse which is hundreds of years old. The sturdy desks and benches are great for keeping strong young bears at bay – although often I have to be quite firm with the bears as they can be quite boisterous and are always up to mischief!

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

I’m Ciarán and I am a junior bear cub. Seán is my best friend and we love to laugh and roll around the hills. I spend a lot of time by the lakes and rivers near the school as I love to fish and often watch Finn the fisherman pull in salmon and trout for the bear community. One day, when I grow up, I hope to be like him, but our teacher says I have to learn my school lessons first.

So for now, I’ll save my fishing for the weekends and the long summer evenings when the fish are a-plenty and we barbeque them in Bear Square in our village.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

I’m Èimear, a junior bear cub. Like all bears, I love to sleep, but every day I wake up with so much energy and I love to skip to school then dance on every break to burn it all off. Jigs and reels are my favourite and soon I hope to dance in all the bear Feis and Festivals like Molly bear to show off my steps.

When I’m not dancing, I like to count berries and search for honey in the woods near our school. And then when the day is done I fall into the deepest bear cub slumber and dream of being a dancer one day – travelling the world doing what I love to do, one dance step after another.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

I’m Saoirse and I am a Paddy Pal bear cub. I love school and learning, and I especially like doing it with my friends. One day I hope to be a teacher like Miss O’Doherty.

I walk to and from school with all the Paddy Pal cubs and we talk about our favourite things on our walks. Most days, after lunch, our teacher Miss O’Doherty lets us paint and that is my favourite thing to do in school. I love painting the mountains where we live, I don’t think there is anywhere nicer than our home.

I have a feisty side too – some might say thorny – but underneath, I’m a soft, cuddly teddy bear. I’m also very talented and I love to accompany Logan the piper on my bodhran drum. And just like the lyrics of the old song Róisín Dubh, pick me and I’ll glad your heart and give you hope too.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

I’m Seán and I am a junior bear cub although it won’t be long until I am all grown up. You can often find me in my PJs and night cap because us young cubs need a lot of sleep! However, when we are awake, we love to have fun, and sometimes we can be a little too energetic and mischievous, or so our teacher says!

In school my favourite thing to do is forage for berries and nuts in the woods beside our classroom because I am always hungry; plus, I want to be a farmer when I grow up, so it’s good practice and Páraic the Farmer is often impressed with my haul. Our teacher Miss O’Doherty uses the berries and nuts to teach us how to count, but that’s ok, as long as we get to eat them after!

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

There’s none quite as fair as an Irish Colleen and if you win my heart, then I’ll be your queen. At birth I was blessed with a beauty beyond compare and I have many suitors all vying for my love. The eyes have it, you see, as black as the coals of Kilkenny. My name means Little Rose, a flower that represents love.

I have a feisty side too – some might say thorny – but underneath, I’m a soft, cuddly teddy bear. I’m also very talented and I love to accompany Logan the piper on my bodhran drum. And just like the lyrics of the old song Róisín Dubh, pick me and I’ll glad your heart and give you hope too.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

My name is Finn and I’ve fished since I was a lad. As my name might suggest, I’m at one with the sea. Growing up in a small coastal village located in the shadow of the Mournes, I spent many happy hours on a trawler with my father, watching him at work, as he netted herrings and prawns. ‘All good things come to those who bait’, he would say.

Now I have my own boat and I catch fish for myself and all the other bears. There’s no better feeling than being out on the water and reeling in a great catch. Fishing isn’t just a job for me, it’s a way of life.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

I’m Lizzie and I’m a dancer from the Mountains of Mourne. I kick and I flick, and I jig and I reel. Dancing is an important part of our culture but it’s great craic as well and it help keeps me fit. I’ve entered many’s a feis and I’ve won plenty of medals but the best of all is dancing with my bear pals.

Our dances must be done with precision and perfectly timed with the music. And our costumes and wigs must be flawless as well. When I dance, I have two sets of shoes – soft for high jumps and leaps and hard for dances that require shuffles and clicks. Dancing is deadly, as us bears say.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

I’m Páraic and I’m up from the crack of dawn wide awake and hard at work on my farm in the Mournes, sowing crops, delivering calves, milking the cows and tending to the bee hives because us bears couldn’t do without our honey. It’s a tough old job sometimes and the Irish weather doesn’t help.

But I love working the land, and it’s up to me to bring in the harvest and feed the rest of the bears no matter how bad the weather. I may be a cute Teddy Bear, but I can hold my own with the best of them and my farm is the best in Ireland.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

I’m Molly, the basket weaver.  I make beautiful baskets for collecting nuts and berries, all the things we bears love. I have a special weaving shed where I made all my baskets and wicker furniture for the village. I even make wicker lobster pots for Finn and baskets for Páraic who uses them to hold seeds to sow his crops.

I love to see all my Pals making use of all the baskets and furniture I have made for them. My favourite baskets are my picnic baskets.  We fill them up with berries and nuts, jars of honey from Páraic’s bees and tasty fish from Finn. Then we all head off up the Mourne Mountain and look out over the sea and enjoy the views.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.

Ah, the pipes, the pipes are calling… there’s no sound quite as sweet as that of the uilleann pipes, one of the world’s most complex folk instruments. My forefathers played the pipes and passed this love on, generation to generation. Now I play them too, often to mark some of life’s great occasions. The sound is both beautiful and haunting and once heard, will live on in your memory.

Most evenings after a hard day’s work all the bears gather together and I play them a tune, Lizzie starts dancing and we all join in. And if we’ve a tale to tell, we can do it through music and that’s where the bagpipes of Ireland come in.

You can order me here… Don’t forget to let Irish Ann know who I’m for in the notes.