I was visiting my parents a couple of weeks ago and brought home a load of my old stuff to sort through as it’s been cluttering up their place for long enough!
I decided to put some of my old cuddly toys in the washing machine and it was carnage. There were lost ears, wings, noses and one bear exploded! There was stuffing everywhere.
To be honest, they were no good to give away anyway as their fur was looking a bit patchy, scratched eyes etc. So they are going to have to be thrown away. It’s funny how you have a connection with these things because you’ve had them since you were very little, so I feel like I’m having to put my friends in the bin
Has anyone still got any old toys they’ve had since childhood or maybe most people aren’t soft in the head like me and got rid of them years ago!
Still got my old teddy, he is very threadbare (no pun intended), and his growl is more of a burp these days.
As he is filled with sawdust he would come off worst if put in the washing machine! He gets a spray of Frebreeze whenever he gets too whiffy
I have my first bunny, Bubby(made by my mum), who I had as a baby. When he got put into storage by mistake mum made me Bobby, his twin, so when Bubby came out of storage I had both Bubby and Bobby bunnies My grandad then bought me a bunny pyjama case, and she was named Belinda. All three are well tatty now as I’m mid 40s, but I still have them
I also have my two Teeny Tiny Tears dolls, Anne and Abigail, another baby doll called Elaine, my soft bodies doll. Joanne, and my sisters Tiny Tears (my sis was happy to get rid of her but I wanted to keep her with ‘the gang’ LOL)
I also still have the two wooden cars my dad made for my sisters and my Sindy dolls, plus a wooden train and a smaller wooden car. And my favourite SIndy and favourite Pippa.
Still have my teddy, a snake, and basil brush all on my bed…my mum kept them for years and now I can’t bring myself to throw them away. My sister and I both had a large (approx. 3ft) doll each which were in my mums loft. When she died my sister went to clear the house and when she threw them out of the hatch, my nephew nearly died, he thought my mum had kept dead bodies in the loft!
Still have my ole teddy Robert (I think he may have been Rupert originally) and he is also very grey and totally threadbare. Some of his sawdust filling has gone,he has an empty nose and no eyes, and his growler gave up the ghost yonks ago, but he’s nearly as old as me and I can’t bear to throw him away (sorry about the pun!). I also have a small doll I bought with all my holiday money when I was about 6, so couldn’t buy anything else for the rest of the holiday, but I loved her and she is still wearing a knitted outfit made for her many years ago. My Sindy was given to my sister, who promptly wrecked her…I don’t bear a grudge, honest
My parents weren’t very well off in the fifties, so my Mum would knit me animals out of unravelled jumpers! I still have Purrypaws the cat, Lenny the Leopard and Poo the Poodle (although they’re very motheaten). Of the bought toys, I have Hazel the rabbit, Panda and Donkey ( a little donkey on wheels that wiggles its feet when pulled along…). I can’t bring myself to get rid of any of them- I’m sure they have feelings and would be upset!
I still have a few. Probably more than I should. I gave loads to the charity shop, but had to get my parents to take them because I couldn’t bare it. To be honest- a few probably should have been thrown in the bin, and I shouldn’t have given them to charity- but my thoughts where that I was happy for them to throw them, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It’s their eyes, I just can’t do it to them.
Bubby, Bobby and Belinda sit on a shelf in my bedroom - they are a bit fragile for sleeping with now (they did about 30 years LOL!) so I have let them retire I now have 2 bunnies my mum knitted for me - Little Blackie and Little Lilac LayLay (after 2 of my real bunnies) and a teddy that has a heat bag in him
My Sindy (who I called Julie) sits with my Pippa (Rosemarie) on the shelf next to the bunnies.
The cars and baby dolls are up in the attic - I get them out to say ‘hello’ every time I go up there.
And now I’m all grown up I have BJDs LOL! They are resin ball jointed dolls, and I have two girls and 4 bunnies (the BJD bunnies are rather spoilt and have a Romany caravan to live in).
I’m a sucker for a bit of nostalgia. When I was a child, in a gift shop in Cheddar Gorge, my mam and dad gave me the option to chose something to take back to the camper van with to keep me occupied. I was stuck between a Spice Girls Jigsaw, and a pink elephant hair scrunchie that made an elephant noise. I didn’t think of the practicality and what would keep me occupied for longest, I chose the elephant scrunchie. I regretted not choosing that Spice Girls jigsaw. Years later I found that jigsaw in a car boot sale for 10p, I had to buy it.
What a lovely thread. I did laugh at the “carnage” in your washing machine Wendy @Happywrap, especially the “exploded” bear bit - poor ted.
I still have my Bunty Boy, a standard yellow teddy bear given to me when I was about 4. My Mum (80) still has her favourite childhood bear (name slips my memory at the mo) who is threadbare but still has his growl, he sits on her sofa sporting a paper rosette won many many moons ago when I was at primary school and entered him in the oldest bear contest.
I still have tigger , he was my mums but I spotted him on top of her wardrobe when I was a toddler and she let me adopt him , he was furry once but is now rough and threadbare and leaks sawdust out the tip of his tail, his button eyes used to glow in the dark , but stopped once they had been glued back on. He now sits on the top of my wardrobe -gathering dust.
In all the old photos of me and my sister on holiday I am clutching my Tigger and she her one eared Lumpy Ted ( I must ask her if she still has him )
I’m still nursing a grievance from when my children entered Panda for the Oldest Bear competition at a Teddy Bears’ Picnic. The child of the winning bear obviously lied- it was clearly newer, being made from cheap acrylic fur! Deborah, if he’s from the fifties, Tigger’s eyes might be radioactive!
Yes poor ted exploding, luckily some of my older toys were spared the washing machine fiasco and are still in the lounge waiting to hear their fate. After reading how many of you have kept yours, they may survive the cull!
I still have nearly all my soft toys from childhood! Theoretically, anyway. We live in a tiny flat and don’t really have room for them, so Teddy, Paddington, Rabbit and about a dozen others are stored in a trunk in the garage. We may not have room for them, so I knit more…
My grandad then bought me a bunny pyjama case, and she was named Belinda. All three are well tatty now as I’m mid 40s, but I still have them 
