Sylvanian families - veterans over here please

[onedayatatime73]

Dd wants some sylvanian things for Christmas and birthday which is 2 days later. She's got a couple of rabbits etc but wants a couple of houses. Just wept at the prices and seem to be the same on eBay.

Do I wait for Amazon drops?
Does Black Friday do offers?

Essentially is there any other way around this other than spending more money than my own house on a small cottage for some rabbits and Hedgehogs?

The houses quite often come up on sale in places like argos, tesco and sainsburys otherwise 2nd hand on eBay! The figures are ludicrously expensive but hold their resale value...

Wait for Black Friday, Amazon have had them on offer previous years, also Argos often reduce the hotel or a big house nearer Christmas ( Argos are doing Black Friday), also Tesco keep having sets on offer.

We got Beechwood Hall, Cozy Cottage, the chapel and the caravan at half price from Argos and Toys r us one year.

I once visited the Sylvanian Family shop in London and signed up to the magazine just so I could get a bride and groom!

Thanks all. And those who have bought houses / hotels etc - any particular one that is good / has a couple of levels / etc? Is popular?

Check out ebay or your local charity shop to see if you can find some second hand ones. We recently donated most of dd's vast collection of Sylvanian buildings to our local charity shop. No boxes but otherwise they were in immaculate condition.

Argos - we got the Regency hotel 50% off for DD one year.

Lots of 'bundles' on eBay though the houses would be Collect I reckon , postage would be ££

I'm not a great fan of the houses, they are actually quite flimsy, the doors and windows fall out. We bought the hotel once when Argos had it half price, I took it straight back as the hinges broke when I took it out of the box. The smaller houses are a bit better, I wouldn't pay full price for any of them.

Where are you? I am in London and have a collection to sell, including the cottage with lots of furniture.

we got most of ours second hand or low priced on ebay.

dd has got the house (inherited from cousin)
But she really loves the car (from cousin)and caravan (last birthday) and the double decker bus (cousin)

This year she has asked for some of the nicer furniture eg kitchen set and bathroom set.

They are all SO expensive, but overall it has been a good toy, she started collecting when she was 6 ish, and has just had her 10th birhday and asked for more.

How old is she? Some sets are all tiny little bits and peices - easily lost if dd is younger

I agree that the houses are not great quality and I definitely wouldn't pay full price. To be honest, our dd doesn't play with them very much but she loves the figures. She makes things for them. She sews bedding and hammocks and builds tree houses with boxes and toilet roll tubes. She makes playground things for them too. What she mostly likes to do is line them all up!

Oh - it is bulky to store, so I would get too many big items, better to get one house and then collect furniture etc

There have been quite a few sets up at reasonable prices recently on my local Facebook selling sites, although they go quickly. It might be worth going on some and putting up a 'wanted'?

Beechwood Hall at Asda. Looks a bit cheaper than elsewhere.

It is expensive. We never got the really big stuff, more like the canal boat or the caravan, hospital, shop little houses. We did get quite a bit i the end (inc. from family). But it was loved, played with for years and we got quite a bit when we sold it all again.

Agree that it was played with for years. DD started collecting when she was around 5, and was only willing to let go of them this year - she is 12. I'd say that's pretty good innings for any toy!

Same Broken. In fact, she's hung on to the families.

Yes, Swedish - a couple of dd's favourite buildings, some particularly cute furniture and the families themselves have gone up into the loft for the next generation to play with! She just couldn't bear to part with them!

My granddaughter will be inheriting her mums sylvanians next year. I was really shocked at how much the little families are to buy now not that they were ever that cheap. I think they were about a fiver 25 years ago. Anyway ours lived in a dolls house and will be again when I redecorate it. Could that be an idea instead of all the special sylvanian residences.

Rain that's exactly what we did for DD1's birthday this year. My old dolls house came out of retirement with a new lick of paint/carpets and I brought the Sylvanian Families out of the loft (which my DM kindly stored for years). I've left some of my more precious items and all the tiny bits up there for the time being as DD1 is still only 3yo but they will come down eventually. I have managed to pick up a few furniture sets and a family fairly reasonably in a sale at Smyth's Toys earlier in the year. It's lovely seeing it all again and back in use.

Ah that is lovely. I cant wait to fix it up and pass it on. Hope she looks after it as well as her mum did.

This is so helpful thank you. So does all the furniture fit all the different houses or do they have to match? We don't have tons of room but say I bought the started cottage can I get the bedroom set (bed etc). Will it fit? Keen to get the more robust looking stuff. All she wants to do is line them all up and talk to them then put them to bed. Keen to avoid the teeny tiny pieces. She's only 5 and love playing with little things but I refuse to spend all of Christmas searching through rubbish bags to find a miniature missing croissant the size of a grain of rice . .

I gave DD1 the house all set up, so I removed the teeny tiny pieces from our new sets before she got her paws on it
The sets are all a very standard scale for dolls houses which is why we've been able to use it in our wooden house. It's 1:12.

DD has a whole city of Sylvanian buildings. Some were bought new (John Lewis store was my favourite) and some second hand from eBay and Gumtree (Grand Hotel).
For me, the second hand buildings were better just because I didn't have to spend Christmas eve sticking tiny stickers on the walls and making up miniature cereal packets (village store is a nightmare). DD never knew which were new or second hand as you really need to make the buildings up before giving them so they weren't boxed either way.
I got the hotel and a huge pile of creatures/furniture for £50 on eBay and she has played with it for years.
Sets of accessories and animals are great to suggest to others to buy her. DDs favourite was a toilet from her aunt.
All the furniture can be used anywhere.

Does anyone have Beechwood hall? And would you recommend it?

I got s massive bundle about 3 years ago from eBay. Filled the car boot! To be honest she plays with the people more than the buildings.

The thing that was the most successful I think was the bus. And the house but only used with a couple of armchairs!

If you are south London / Surrey borders I did mean to sell some of our bundle before Xmas!

Toomanycats I have pm'd you. Thanks all. Am off in search of some bargains and animals aplenty for her to line up.