UPDATE Giant Stuffed Animal Mistake

[bisous]

I used Corie's suggestion to swap the giant animals out for small tsum tsums and it totally worked. I still have the animals. We took pictures with them and I'm going to find a donation spot. That will happen in the next 24 hours! Yay!



This is 100% my goof. My neighbor quietly came and talked to me alone and said she was getting rid of some giant stuffed animals and wondered if I wanted them for my kids. I said YES! Why? I don't know. I could have said no and the kids wouldn't have even known about them. I appreciate that she was very discreet, so again, this is all me. WHY did I say yes? I think because I knew the kids would love them. And they do like them, but they don't love them. But now I have FOUR stuffed animals almost the size of my kids. We already have 6 people living in 1200 square feet! The animals currently live in my DS' bedroom (all 3 boys share a room) and they're big enough that the room looks cluttered instantly. It drives me nuts. I'm now looking for solutions to fix this.

I have thought about donating but do any places really want used stuffed animals (they're in excellent condition!) I think I can persuade a least a few of them to donate the animals.

Otherwise I'm stuck.

Maybe solutions for meditation to get rid of the angst I feel when I walk into that crowded room? Lol. Kinda.

TIA!

[belovedgandp]

Do the same as the neighbor? Start asking around to find them another good home. I get it though. Yes, comes out before it should from my mouth all the time.

[Globetrotter]

I would love to see a photo. This is cracking me up, but I feel your pain! There are organizations that take stuffed animals, but you should google local resources. They generally have volunteers who clean them before passing them on, though I don't know if they would accept life size ones! These would be great for a shelter playroom or orphanage or preschool, but people may be hesitant to take used ones.
Or you can always freecycle.

[ang79]

My girls LOVE stuffed animals and often get them as gifts. I talked them into donating a ton of them when we moved, as we just didn't have room to take them with us. We ended up donating 4 kitchen trash bags full to our local EMS. They were thrilled and even sent the girls a typed thank you letter, thanking them for their generosity and thinking of others. They use the stuffed animals to help calm down kids in traumatic situations. Life sized ones may be harder to get rid of, but check around, there might be some place that will be interested in them. Before I found out about the EMS we always took them to a resale shop that raises money for Habitat for Humanity. I explained to the kids that families that were not as fortunate as us shopped at this store, so they might be able to buy my kids' nice toys at a big discount to give to their own kids, and the proceeds then go to help build homes for people. It was much easier for them to let go of their toys and stuffed animals when they thought about them going to other kids that might need them.

[bisous]

I think I'll put out some feelers to see if I can find these big guys a home! DS2 and DS3 are saying they want to keep them for sure. Maybe I need to make a home for them in the garage. Or the playhouse outside. Or the fire pit. Kidding. Kind of. DS1 is fine with rehoming and DD will most likely not notice.

[Corie]

I absolutely cannot stand stuffed animals. I think they are just big huge dust collectors.

If I were you, I would just be completely honest with your kids and say that there isn't enough room
for the stuffed animals.

And then maybe you could take them to Target and let them each pick out a Tsum Tsum. It's a teeny
tiny stuffed animal. Could that be a compromise?

[liz]

My local Salvation Army accepts stuffed animals. Ask me how I know

[bisous]

I absolutely cannot stand stuffed animals. I think they are just big huge dust collectors.

If I were you, I would just be completely honest with your kids and say that there isn't enough room
for the stuffed animals.

And then maybe you could take them to Target and let them each pick out a Tsum Tsum. It's a teeny
tiny stuffed animal. Could that be a compromise?

I like the idea of replacing them. My kids are well familiar with tsum tsums. That might work!

[bisous]

Corie's suggestion worked! I'm replacing 4 giant stuffed animals with 4 tiny Tsum Tsums. I'm majorly happy about this!

[Corie]

I used Corie's suggestion to swap the giant animals out for small tsum tsums and it totally worked. I still have the animals. We took pictures with them and I'm going to find a donation spot. That will happen in the next 24 hours! Yay!

Awesome!!!