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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To make a soft toy bonfire

56 replies

TheBearAndTheBug · 16/08/2014 19:20

I've just been organising the toy cupboard and we have about a million of the useless bloody things.

I have never bought one in my life. People hand them over as presents and I make this face Hmm and then they get thrown in the bottom of the cupboard and bloody well breed.

DS1 (2.5) doesn't look at them apart from to randomly pull them all out of the cupboard from time to time and distribute them round the house, so I have to crawl around retrieving them, and DS2 is 6mo and is only interested in things he can grab and shove in his mouth. A soft toy would probably do the job as he's not fussy, but we also have about three thousand of those rattly squeaky sheep/caterpillars/octopi with dangly bits the only purpose of which is to be gummed and slobbered on by teething babies.

And why are they all a depressing uniform shade of off-beige? Why is it that the ideal present for a young child is deemed to be a crappy beige rabbit?

Anyway, I would take them to a charity shop, but I can't live with the thought that I would simply be contributing to someone else's cluttered toy cupboard misery. So WIBU to burn the furry beige fuckers?

OP posts:
Cirsium · 16/08/2014 22:56

Donate them to a dog rescue, young puppies love cuddling up to them in place of mum and siblings, and older ones love ripping them to bits. The puppy fosterers who looked after our rescue Staffie often request them.

hels71 · 16/08/2014 22:59

Now I was trying to work out why on earth you would want a cuddly bonfire.....

londonrach · 16/08/2014 23:00

Some of the nursing homes i visit you get alot from the patient if you talk to their soft toy. I remember one old lady who attached hers to a basket on the front of her walking frame. Can't remember its name but it wouldn't have one awards for cuteness.

Other good ideas like woman's refuse, charity shops, Christmas boxes etc. In our local area a lady collects them to send to Romania orphanages. Churches collects also for similar causes.

Don't burn them. How can you watch their little eyes watching you. Grin You not seen the last toy story.

OwlinaTree · 16/08/2014 23:02

hels that's exactly what I thought! Was this an early bonfire night thread?

LumpySpacedPrincess · 16/08/2014 23:14

These are your friend.

To make a soft toy bonfire
Vijac · 16/08/2014 23:17

Yabu. I and my son both love soft toys and they're great for imaginative play. I still have soft toys from my childhood and it's lovely to see my son play with them now. They do multiply though, I'll give you that. Donate some to charity. You can't have a bonfire Shock

ZenNudist · 16/08/2014 23:18

Hmm At motherless puppies and old people loving soft toys

My mil is always giving ds soft toys, usually huge bears. Just agreed with dh that we will ship a mountain back to her house.

Spadequeen · 16/08/2014 23:23

Toy story 3!!!

One thing my dcs school does at its summer fete is a find a friend stall. E dry one donates soft toys, they're all given names, kids pay 50p to pick a name out of a hat and they 'win' that toy. Schools gets lots of money for very little costs.

WARNING don't allow your children anywhere near that stall, otherwise you end up donating 1 and coming back with 8 more!

Original poster
TheBearAndTheBug · 16/08/2014 23:26

Zen finally someone who understands! Ours primarily come from fil, and are mostly floppy beige rabbits.

DS has plenty of toys he enjoys that promote imaginative play. Blocks, a train set, tea set, a doll he carries around in a sling and breastfeeds (so cute I could actually die), crayons and paints and I could go on...

We do not need a fuckton of beige rabbits!

OP posts:
HerrenaHarridan · 16/08/2014 23:27

:0 lumpy that's horrible!

My dd loves her soft toys, she been playing with them constantly for about 8 months (she's 2.5) we do lots of imagining games, picnic, dens, drs etc.

She took to playing with them herself and I then found it very helpful it role play with them to help her understand about her surgery and hospital stay. We have since used then to help explain many other things.

I actually bought her quite a few of them myself (to prevent ending up with a bunch of beige rubbish) we have an alpaca, a fox, an owl, a mammoth, a panda bear, a polar bear, a panther, a tiger, a lion and loads more besides.

They get so much use in our house. It's funny the different thing that people perceive of as invaluable/pointless.

Original poster
TheBearAndTheBug · 16/08/2014 23:29

Clearly the world is divided into two types of people. Soft toy people and non-soft toy people. I'm not sure we will ever understand each other.

I'm going to donate them though. I'm not a total cunt Grin

OP posts:
ICanSeeTheSun · 16/08/2014 23:34

Can I send her a build a bear vochour :)

Stevie77 · 16/08/2014 23:42

I tried donating to a women's refuge, they only wanted BNWT, even though the ones we want to give away are branded and in brand new condition (well, they only sat on a shelf).

I like the idea of dog shelter or nursing hone, will investigate!

ADHDNoodles · 17/08/2014 00:56

I have yet to meet an old person that does NOT like soft toys. I volunteered at a nursing home and there was one lady who would not stop talking about her bears, what they were named, and who they were from.

But she died. Sad

I wonder what happened to her bears sometimes.

sweetboysmum · 17/08/2014 15:11

I'm thinking about what to do with my little boys soft toys. He loves them. He's 5 1/2, but he talks to them and cuddles into them at night. It's really sweet BUT they are taking over his room. He also likes trinkets. His room is basically full of clutter. I'm going to buy a hammock and chuck all (apart from his favourites) in it.

ninetynineonehundred · 17/08/2014 16:08

You are being vvvu.
Why concentrate on the soft toys (and isn't breeding what rabbits are supposed to do anyway) when you could be burning all the plastic bits of crap that originally belonged to a doll /beads / insane elephant butterfly game that your 4 year old leaves on the floor for the baby to find?
And don't get me started on loom bands.

Sob

LucilleBluth · 17/08/2014 16:27

Burn them....dust collectors. DS1 just spent over fifty Euros on holidays at one of those claw machine things.....we came home with four furry PAC man ghosts, five smurfs and an assortment of minions.

nostress · 17/08/2014 16:52

OMG. How could you do such a thing! My DS loves cuddlies. He has loads and he has just bought 2 more. He turns 12 next month & just starting senior school. I've already had to promise that they will never be given away and he will keep them for his kids. He adores them. We chucked out practically all his other toys.

Ronmione · 17/08/2014 17:51

Agghh, I had soft toys, they take up soooo much space.

Space bags don't work well for toys as they don't flatten well. (I've tried) I took a whole black bag to the charity shop, and I honestly think they came back as there are still loads about in the house.

Why do people buy my ds's soft toys? They never shown any interest.

Velvetbee · 17/08/2014 18:28

Don't burn them, they'll smell disgusting and global warming will be ALL YOUR FAULT!

IAMACLANGER · 17/08/2014 18:38

OH NO. We love our fluffies here. NONE are allowed to leave. EVER. They are real and alive and all have names. They all talk too. I'm a very happy person!

Eva50 · 17/08/2014 18:46

The problem is we have the one I was given for ds1 by a patient in my ward who died not long afterwards. All the little Andrex puppies my late mother saved the tokens for. The owl an elderly neighbour gave me for ds3. The baby boy teddy ds's 1 & 2 saved and bought to give to ds3 when he was born etc, etc, etc. Theres no room for anything else in ds3's bedroom but how can I ever part with any of them? Each one tells a story.

muffliato · 17/08/2014 19:55

Dd didn't really get into playing with her soft toys till she was about 3.5 and is still very much into role playing with them now at 5.

Sparklypants · 17/08/2014 20:02

I'm a total non-soft toy person here. Luckily my DS (3) doesn't seem to give a rats arse about them either (not even the stupidly priced sully from monsters inc!)

I can just imagine the groans when the local charity shop gets another bag of cuddly shit Grin but seriously, I do like the idea of donating to a hospice or similar .

Orangeanddemons · 17/08/2014 20:09

I have NEVER been able to pick up anything with those claw things. NEVER EVER. I'm amazed you managed to acquire anything, never mind a big haul