I have some stuffed animals from my girlhood - about ten of them. A koala, a rather large lion, a Siamese kitteh, one of those Snoopy teaching things where one shoe has laces, one has a buckle, he has a button and a zipper on his jacket, etc. (Man, that zipper gave me problems when I was real little! It was the last thing on Snoopy I mastered.) I don’t really feel like hanging on to them - we have enough clutter as it is - but I can’t quite bring myself to throw them in the trash.
I wanted to donate them, but all the toy drives specify that they want NEW toys. Not thirty-year-old toys. I understand … but what can I do with my boxful of teddy bears and things?
On second thought, I’ll probably keep Snoopy. Too many memories in him. Also - screw you, mom, for getting rid of my stuffed vulture. It was my favorite. You probably sold it for a nickel at one of the garage sales you held while I was in college.
When I moved out of my parents’ house, I gave away a lot of stuffed animals and model horses. I’m sorry now that I did so…I particularly wish that I had kept a couple of the model horses and an ancient stuffed cat.
What I’m saying is to make sure that you really won’t miss them when they’re gone.
Try direct contact with someone involved with kids who would need cheering up. Children’s hospital, hospital with a pediatric ward, family homeless shelter, etc. As long as the toys are clean and not beat to hell, you should be able to find someone willing to take them.
My little girl goes to Le Bonheur Rehab for therapy every week. This week Santa came by to visit the kids and there was a wall of stuffed animals for the children to choose from after they sat on his lap. I could tell they were second-hand but it was the sweetest thing to see. The kids don’t know.
When she was told she could pick any toy she wanted my daughter picked the biggest Care Bear I’ve ever seen. She’s never had the choice of the biggest toy of the bunch so it was just magical for her. She didn’t care if it was a little worn and faded. It was huge!
I don’t know how they collected all those toys but I imagine lots of hospitals and charities out there will indeed take them. Just gotta ask around.
I still have the oldest thing I own. It’s a stuffed kitty given to me by my father on the day of my birth. I wouldn’t part with it for the world.
And many of my favorite things have disappeared over the years. A person just can’t hold onto everything for a lifetime without things getting cluttered up.
Do you have nieces/nephews? Children? Can you sew? Know someone who can?
Here’s a good idea I just heard of recently: When your parents are gone, make clothing out of material from some of the items they wore and dress a stuffed animal in it to give for gifts.
I’m presently in the process of dressing two teddy bears for my adult children in the manner of their grandparents. I think they’ll like the gifts. (Yeah, I know - just more stuff to carry around with them. But the sentimentality of the gifts will be appreciated and bring them memories, I think.)
Well, the Snoopy is probably valuable to someone…though I understand you wanting to keep him. (I have my first Snoopy sitting on top of a bookcase in my bedroom.)
If you can’t find a charity willing to take items, try Freecycle or the free stuff area of Craigslist. I gave a ton of garage sale leftovers to a needy family that way once - they came by for one or two things, politely inquired about a couple of other things, and I ended up giving them boxes upon boxes of stuff.
Do what I do - stuff them into a closet and close the door! Along with a hundred Beanie Babies. My daughter won’t hear of getting rid of them, says she’s going to save them for her kids (though she’s at the moment anti-marriage and anti-kids).
The Salvation Army has a sign right on their door, “no stuffed animals accepted”. Though I’ve seen a few in the thrift stores.
Maybe you can clean them up as best you can, spray with Lysol, put ribbons around their necks, and put them in the Toys for Tots bins (or whatever they’re calling it) found at this time of year at malls and grocery stores. I’ve cleaned up lots of plastic dolls, toys, games, Legos, etc. so they look as good as new and donated them there.
I think that if you have animals that are old and are really stuffed it is a kindness to take them to the vet and have them put down. Why make the poor old, stuffed creatures suffer any longer?
Sometimes police departments have donation programs for stuffed animals … that way kids who are in the middle of crime scenes or are being removed from the home have something to cuddle.
Kids: don’t have 'em, plan on never having 'em. Also, if I DID have kids, I probably wouldn’t have posted my OP!
Nieces/nephews: I’m an only child, so is my husband. Extended family lives 1,000’s of miles away - not worth shipping for a used toy, plus there aren’t any new little kids on either side of our family anyway.
Hospitals: insist on new-with-store-tags, specifically don’t want used. They are full of, y’know, sick kids, so the potential possibility of a toy harboring something innocuous to you or me but problematic for a cancer patient presents too much risk.
Local Toys-For-Tots program run by the police dept. - same thing.
I’d set them out on the front porch and post a note on CraigsList first-come-first-served, but the weather has been unpredictable lately and our steps are currently uncovered (roof work, house renovations) but when the weather clears I might just do that. Was hoping for something more … creative, I guess, so if anyone has any other ideas, please post away!
I did this. I just called the non-emergency number for my local department and made sure they could use them, and then I brought them in. Thinking about terrified, confused kids with their parents getting arrested just breaks my heart, so I hoped my toys could provide some comfort to them.
If no one else wants them, some animal shelters will accept stuffed animals as donations. If you’d rather they go to children, maybe you could ask women’s shelters that also accept children if they’d like them?
You probably sold it for a nickel at one of the garage sales you held while I was in college.
