MIL buying bears

[OhDeer24]

So I’m not really sure what to do. When our daughter was born, my MIL bought her a Harrods bear for her first Christmas. It’s quite big, but a nice idea to commemorate her first Christmas. This year, she bought the 2024 Christmas bear. She’s told us she plans to do this every year until she’s 20…we have said several times (in a lighthearted manner) that we just don’t have the room in our very small house, but she still went ahead and got her the bear again this year. She’s even joked about us needing a bigger house for them.

We really don’t want (or have room for) these giant teddies, and I don’t think my daughter will want 20 teddy bears when she’s older. My daughter’s room isn’t very big and we already struggle for storage. It’s such a lovely idea but just not practical. Any ideas how we can sort this without hurting MIL’s feelings? Or what we can do with all the bears she will accumulate? She doesn’t have a super close relationship with the baby so we don’t really want to take this away from her, but it’s just not practical.

Can she store them for you?

Bear hammock. DD had a Beanie hammock for the billions of bloody wide-eyed weirdos.

Can she get the smal collectable ones ?

Explain that that's cool but you'll need to operate a one in one out policy with the bears, unless she keeps them at her house.

keep your daughters favorite with her.

for the rest, Store them in a big plastic tote. Use vacuum bags if needed to save space. Use them once a year for Christmas decorations.

we actually have stuffed animals under our tree standing guard against the cats. It’s quite effective and cute.

Can you just ask her to buy the small versions?

Depending on your daughter's tastes as she grows up 20 bears may not be a huge proportion of her soft toy collection - my 4yo has at least 50 and refuses to let me get rid of any 😩

Tell her no and mean it. Our house is very small and our family are respectful and don't buy mad toys we cannot possibly store. They bought our 3 year old books and clothes this Christmas except for a few members of family who specifically asked what he would like and could they get it for him. A huge bear every year (even a small bear every year!) would not be possible for us. Our son has a handful of most beloved soft toys and doesn't need any more.

You can be polite, but firm.

Is MIL's intention that your daughter will play with the bears or is she buying them as collectibles?

If she's going to play with them, you'll only need to have them around for a short number of years until your daughter naturally grows out of bears and asks grandma for something else for a Christmas present.

If she's buying them as collectibles, store them packed away to keep them safe - do you have an attic? Garage?

With a baby, people are overcome with love and excitement. She may have declared now that she'll buy one every year for 20 years, but she won't necessarily follow that through. Especially if she gains more grandchildren over the years. I'd be inclined to suffer it for a few years and see how it plays out.

I think Grandma needs to store these at her house. Or you operate one in, one out.
But that becomes a pure waste of money.

Ask her to get the Harrods bear tree ornaments instead