I don't really know much about In The Night Garden (though my cousin has told me they are all the rage with the under 5s) but it's weird if you have "best friend" characters that you aren't marketing them together on stuff. Surely that's what the audience would expect/want.

Stupid gender assumption thingies.

Not sure if I've told you, I have a 14 year old male student that has a bright pink school bag (and has had one for the two years I've known him) and I have never seen anyone give him grief about it or say that he was "gay" or anything like that. There seems to be hope.