How old is too old to have stuffed animals?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am 21, and while I do not have a huge collection, I do have around ten inanimate creatures strewn around my bedroom. They are not of the cutesy teddy bear variety, they’re mostly wild animals (and an Ewok!). I’ve gotten rid of a lot of my other stuffed animals, and some I gave to my cat. I don’t cuddle with them, they’re mostly under my bed or in weird places like my laundry pile (I discuss in another thread that I am not good at keeping my bedroom tidy- I do clean it for guests though).

So my question is…do you think there is an age limit for having stuffed creatures or does it depend on how the individual displays or doesn’t display them? Is it two completely different things in your mind for a grown woman to have a bunch of stuffed animals on her bed vs. most of them in a box in the closet and maybe one animal she’s particularly fond of (either for sentimental reasons or because of the specific animal- i.e. a stuffed leopard because she’s interested in wildlife conservation) on display? Also, does gender play any role in your opinion?

I didn’t do a poll because I figured this is the kind of thing that probably has many gray areas.

2
  1. Seriously.

I’m going to have to say that by the time I was in college, woman that still had stuffed animals used them in order to make themselves appear younger and innocent in a wink-wink kind of way. So I guess you can have them as long as you want, but every guy is going to read something into it.

3

Never. I have two plush panda bears in my room. One was my first toy, the other is from probably the 70s. They are just on a table with some other stuff.

But I may not be a good example since as soon as I have my own place, I’m going to have my toys displayed (by toys I mean, action figures, plushies, playsets, etc.) Of course, my mom has her trolls all over the house, so…

A pile of stuffed toys on the bed definitely gives a specific impression though.

4

Never too old, once you’re old enough not to care whether you’re too old.

I was in my thirties or forties when I started accumulating some Opus and Cartman stuffed toys. I liked the characters. I thought the toys were cute and fun. I also have a thing for Donald Duck. And I’m male.

You like 'em? Keep 'em. That bothers someone, or they jump to a wrong conclusion? Screw 'em – that’s their problem.

5

I don’t care what people think of me; I keep mine. However, they are stored. But I would not love someone who didn’t retain at least a little childishness in their heart, so the guys that find them appalling can just move right along, please.

6

I sell stuffed toys for a charity, and the vast majority of buyers are people of (ahem) middle-age or older.

Last year I called a gentleman who was in his late eighties. He had been supporting the charity for many, many years and in fact had bought over thirty of our teddy-bears. So I asked whether he had given the toys away to family and friends as gifts, and he laughed.

“Bugger off”, he said, “they’re MY teddies. You might think I’m a mad old codger, but nobody gets their hands on my bears until I’m six-foot under”.

So maybe you’re never too old.

:smiley:

7

That has honestly never occurred to me and kind of creeps me out. I hope not all guys think this about women, and a guy who would be into that sort of role play (if he happened to see a stuffed animal in my room) would not appeal to me at all…our date would end promptly.

8

As in Furries or as in…uh, maybe I don’t want to know what.

Count me in as another “FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS” supporter of stuffies.

9

My stepson once remarked that the age of 12 is when you start getting all offended by being caught with kids’ stuff like stuffed animals or watching cartoons or etc. But, he says, the age of 15 is when you start realizing that you don’t care what other people think catching you with kids’ stuff. I think there is a lot of truth to that.

10

Do you also drink chocolate milk in restaurants?

11

Hey, I gave stuffed Grinches to two men in their 60s this Christmas, and they were both pleased. I think I’ll throw in with the “never too old” crowd.

12

I still have a few stuffed critters from my childhood (in a bag somewhere), including a rag doll my Grandmother made for me when I was 4 and who has a place of honor in my room…no glass display case or anything, just flopped on the armchair sort of thing. She’s not one of those creepy dolls I can’t tolerate…very benign and with stiched eyes that don’t follow you everywhere :smiley:

I wish I still had the big stuffed turtle pillow I loved so much…used to use it as a pillow to lay on my belly and watch t.v. and sleep with it like a body pillow…it fell apart by the time I was 7 or so. :frowning:

I also have a stuffed butterfly Beanie-Baby my daughter gave me that “lives” on my bedroom bookshelf. I love it 'cause SHE loved it and ME enough to gift me with it. :slight_smile:

Overall, I have a disdain for stuffed animals and actively discourage them. (My DD just bought 2 Beanie-Baby bears at the thrift store and I allowed it, but grudingly) :rolleyes: They’re small.

We keep several with special meaning (the Smokey Bear one my son got at the 150th STB celebration at Timberline Lodge, the “Liberty” bear my daughter got with her birth year stitched on the foot, the Cabbage Patch doll (“Curtis”) my son dragged around for a yr or so, the muslin rabbit and bear my son painted when he was 2, the doll with the lazy eye named Peggy whose hair I cut to the scalp when I was 4, the weird-ass-I-have-no-idea-if-it’s-supposed-to-be-a-racoon-or-what thing with the bald spot from where I used to suck on it (EWWW!), etc…

Now, someone who still buys them and displays them (like all those middle-aged or senior women who collected Beanie-Babies or 20-something girls who cover their shelves and bed with stuffed animals they have deep, meaningful relationships with…um, NO. :dubious:

But I guess, if it makes you happy, if it gets you through the night, what’s the harm? I was a kid who used to get out of bed and gather up my stuffed critters and dolls, speaking to them the whole time, because I felt sorry for them being left on the floor. I outgrew that, but by God, don’t fuck with that rag-doll on my armchair. :wink:

13

ETA I wish I still had the little stuffed Piglet which was my 1st Christmas gift (when I was 10 days old) and which I had until I was 6 or so. I tossed it in a move, considering it just a no-longer-cool stuffed critter. Now…I feel a bit differently. Wish it was in my small collection of old “friends”. :frowning:

Same for the little wind-up sheep that played Brahm’s lullaby I had about as long.

I admit I try to save a few select such critters for my kids, even when they throw them out/don’t want them. They may later. At the least, I may.

Hell, I read the Velveteen Rabbit. :smiley:

14

My stuffed Bun-Bun (yes, THAT Bun-Bun) has a place of prominence on a shelf in our living room. Insert obligatory “cold dead hands” comment here.

15

There is no “too old.” If you think the pleasure the dolls give you is greater than any of the displeasure the people who might make fun of you would give, then go for it.
Trope,
The Chocolate Milk Guy

16

No one is too old. I have a few in my bedroom, they end up somewhere in the covers or on the floor most of the time, I also have a couple in the car that ride along with me and the rest I want to keep stay in my toy box that Dad made for me.

I have finally learned to limit myself buying them though. It was tough, and sometimes I still itch for a new one. Last time I gave into that itch was for Richard of LFG. I’m nowhere near as bad as my friend who has HUNDREDS and still buys more…

17

What kind of pleasure do you get out of them though?

18

I’m 42. I have a few now. I haven’t had them continuously since kid-dom. The ones I’m holding on to include two that were gifts from my son (including one he won at a carnival). I also have a stuffed elephant that used to be his that works better for me as a neck pillow than anything commercially produced for that particular purpose.

My mom is 65 and has a bear in her room that she has had in every place she’s ever lived.

19

Stuffed animals in a girl’s dorm? Fine by me.

Stuffed pets in a girl’s dorm? Not so much.

20

How old is too old?

136

If you enjoy having stuffed animals, you should have stuffed animals. Period.