Could you throw a cuddly toy in the bin?

[mimblewimble]

I can't do it. I have to give them to charity shops and hope/pretend they'll find a new home. That's the only way my (teenage) children will ever agree to get rid of any too. I know it's illogical!

Does anyone else feel very attached to their kids' soft toys?

(To be clear, while I do have one very old and tatty teddy I've kept from my childhood, I'm talking about the children's toys here.)

Haha I know what you mean OP! I'm usually very good and pretty ruthless at decluttering, but there's a basket of cuddly toys on the landing that have been untouched for years (my youngest is 15yo) and I can't bring myself to throw them out!

Nope! I can't even give them to charity shops as my friend buys cuddly toys from charity shops for her dog who eventually chews them to pieces. I don't want ours to suffer a similar fate! So all the cuddly toys still live here and probably always will.

If they were in good, clean condition and with the CEC label attached, I would always donate them to charity.

I can’t bun anything that’s suitable for a charity shop, I hate the thought of adding to landfill.

I’m the same! I have two bin bags in my storage cupboard full of DD’s and DS’s, and another one in my mum’s loft full of my own childhood teddies which I have asked her not to throw away 😄

My friend did this with her own kids cuddly toys when they were teenagers! Kids didn’t seem bothered, I couldn’t bare to watch!!

dinky cars, train sets, dolls house, in the attic
books donated,
teddies, donated

I did it once to one of my old toys. This was about five years ago and I still feel a bit guilty. RIP Owly 💔

We bring ours to dogs trust for the puppies to have when they have no mammy to mind them. Well that's what I tell the kids but they give them to all the dogs as play toys

I thought charity shops didnt accept cuddly toys?! I have so many my boys dont want anymore that aren't sentimental (we have a massive family and they honeslty have loads, we keep their faves obviously!) and would love to get rid!

Yes I have done plenty of times. I will donate to the school fairs if in good condition but I have 4 kids in a small house and I can't keep everything. Certain ones I will never throw away.

In our area there are always charity stalls at fairs/ tombolas looking for cuddly toys! Especially
In the summer. Always useful for a clear out.

Oh no don't say that!

I've only ever handed them in as part of a mixed bag of donations...

Obviously only clean ones, which means the ones they weren't very attached to! DS wanted to get rid of a tiny puppy last time we had a sort out, and I knew a charity shop wouldn't take it because it was too worn and dirty, so I snuck it out of the donations box and hid it with some of their baby things in the attic.

I donated 5 bags full of it youngest daughters toys last week and felt sad letting them on it's the memories attached to them sometimes. I thought I was the only one feeling that way lol.

The local primary does a teddy tombola at the summer fete. Ideal solution!

Charity shops definitely still take them- my daughter has bought several to add to her mountain. I have a bag that need to be sent to another home, but I haven't quite managed it. The local free cycle page sometimes has them, so I should try there.

Toy Story has a lot to answer for. I came home after watching the first one and wanted to apologise to my old toys in the loft...

Maybe because mine are still young but I’m about to throw 2 sack full away that they won’t even notice. They are 2 and 4 and have favourites in their beds, but loads relegated to a cupboard that never get played with. We removing shortly so decluttering so they are going in the bin!

Argh!

This is why I have an absolute prohibition on people giving my DC cuddly toys as gifts. They get two a year - one for their birthday, one for Christmas. Since my older DC has had pocket money/been given money, a few more have snuck in. I've generally culled the ones that have snuck into the house though fair prizes/party bags although a few have survived the cull and are now treasured friends.

All the soft toys in the house except the bedtime crew are contained in two giant zip up beanbags in muted colours in DC1's room. The kids sit, roll and jump about on these so I feel that the toys stuffing them are being put to good use 😅. And no risk of polystyrene beads leaking out.

This is genius!

The 2 I go to most have big bins full of them so some still do!

Childhood teddies are sacred!

Nope. Can’t give them away either. DP keeps suggesting I cull dd’s collection but it’s not going to happen. Have bought some of mine down from the loft recently and it’s lovely seeing them again.

To just bin them, no, I never could.

OTOH we got rid of a whole black bin bag of dds’ old soft toys that had been languishing in the loft (we still have quite a lot, the Gdcs love them) after asking Battersea Dogs’ Home whether they’d like them. Yes, please - except for any stuffed with those polystyrene granules.

I’ve long known of friends’ dogs who like carrying a soft toy about, and become attached to it, so we really should have thought of this a bit sooner.
And if they eventually get chewed up/binned, we won’t know!

When my first was born, my parents brought round three bin bags of me and my siblings’ childhood teddies from their loft. I am still bitter!

I have donated loads over the past fifteen years with great difficulty (They have a face! Where on earth do you give them? Who will love them?) but many are still in my loft (some classics I want to keep like my care bears and a fluppy puppy, some that literally nobody will want and look slightly creepy, and some homemade ones from the 70s that I now feel responsible for - thanks Mum), along with several large laundry bags’ worth of my own kids’ teddies.