Jellycat lovie questions

[LAMom]

After rejecting dozens of toys, we tried Jellycat Bashful Bear (after reading good comments about them here). He loves it! Can't separate him from it. So now we need more in case one is lost. Here are the questions

1. How many would you say we would need, to account for various childhood mishaps? I hear anything from 2 to 7!
2. Do Jellycats go on sale, and if so, when/where? We want to buy soon, so they get equal wear
3. Has anyone tried to wash them? In a short week, it got soup on it, got dragged in the grass and got wet from the shower. I am concerned it will fall apart.

Thanks!

[goldenpig]

Glad your son likes Bashful Bear! Our daughter has Bashful Kitty and we just bought Bashful Mutt for our new son.

1. How many would you say we would need, to account for various childhood mishaps? I hear anything from 2 to 7!
Up to you...I would get at least 4 myself...but I am paranoid about losing loveys! Haven't lost one yet though.

2. Do Jellycats go on sale, and if so, when/where? We want to buy soon, so they get equal wear
I got mine at Oompa Toys online and various gift shops/baby boutique stores locally. I haven't really seen any on sale, they're usually about $15. I would definitely get them now as they often change their designs (like now their Bashful kitten is black, not white). Good idea to use them all/rotate them because my daughter has started to get picky and rejects the newer kitties in favor of the grungy ones that are missing their whiskers.

3. Has anyone tried to wash them? In a short week, it got soup on it, got dragged in the grass and got wet from the shower. I am concerned it will fall apart.
I have given them "baths" in the sink with warm water, a little liquid soap (colorless Method hand soap) and Oxiclean, gently squeeze/wring and let them air dry...they never get as soft as they were new, but she actually prefers the older kitties.

[MontrealMum]

My DS' favorite animal is a Gund and we have 3 of them, but #3 still has the tags on :) So I'd say you need two of whatever it is.

We have one large and two small Jellycat Truffles sheep, and a small bear and they have all been spot cleaned (pee incidents) with great success. They don't go in the machine though, like the Gund bear who is machine washable. Gund bear #1 is much smaller than #2 (backup bear :) ) due to all the washing, but DS doesn't seem to mind, even though he does notice that the tag is more shredded on #1.

Hanna carries Jellycat and they're sometimes on sale there. Can't help with other US stores, but here in Canada they're sold at Chapters too. We love them - they're so soft!

[MamaMolly]

I'd do 4. DD's lovey is a blanket and we had 2. When I saw a similar one in Walmart for $11 I called DH and he insisted I buy 2 more. So glad I did because they are in constant rotation (read that as all are in a similar state of wash-wear related ick) and she has no trouble going from one to the other.

She's recently fallen in love with a large Ty kitty (very similar to the Jellycats) that may replace the blanket lovey. I'm gearing up to start hunting those down. I love them because they are machine washable. He's already made the trip a few times.

[kboyle]

ds1 just has a ONE blanky and that's cause when i went back to get another one i couldn't find it anywhere

ds2 has 2 blankets and 4 TY Pluffies doggies

ds3 has 8 aden + anais swaddle blankies that he drags around like Linus and 1 beanie baby cat, 1 beanie baby kitty and 1 beanie baby dog (all 3 are OLD, so i have no idea if i can find a replacement)

i'd personally get 3-4