My daughter has WAY too many stuffed animals, but she does play with at least 80% of them ... I want to get rid of some, but my husband and I can't agree on which ones, so for now I'm thinking one of those ball storage things would be great. That way we can throw the ones on the floor in the top, she and her little brother can pull them out the bottom, and they all get played with.

The problem is I don't know what to call that thing. I have no idea where to look to buy one. (Okay, one idea - toys-r-us - but other than that, nothing.)

It might be cheaper to build one - I'm thinking a PVC pipe frame with some kind of elastic netting around it, but where am I going to find that netting?

Any help would be greatly appreciated cuz I want my hamper back

12/29/2005 11:24:55 AM

maybe you should ask walmart

12/29/2005 11:28:37 AM

just get some of those build a rack things

12/29/2005 11:36:53 AM

if there's netting around it how are they gonna get the ones from the bottom? i bet if you just called walmart like captain said, they could probably set you up with an old one

12/29/2005 11:37:49 AM

I dunno if you have heard of/seen them, but they make stuffed animal trees you can put in the corners of rooms that hold a ton of stuffed animals. The picture below is of a net... I had something else in mind, looking for the pic now.

12/29/2005 11:47:10 AM

haven't heard back from Walmart

I've seen the nets - don't want that - we're trying to sell the house so I don't want to punch more holes in the wall plus if they're 6 feet off the ground, they can't reach them

I'm leaning toward building one ... but I'm still not sure where to find the elastic mesh. I can probably sorta make one with lots and lots of cording and just semi-braid it like a chain link fence if I can find where to buy it.

12/29/2005 11:52:45 AM

Also this... not exactly what I was thinking, but it works.

12/29/2005 11:52:48 AM

you could get some small rope and make a lot of nooses, then hang all the animals around the ceiling of the room like a decorative border.

12/29/2005 11:55:05 AM

Or like a primative and yet sadistic set of gallows that will haunt your child forever and cause permanent mental scarring.

12/29/2005 12:07:35 PM

neither idea is good for promoting the sale of the house but thanks for playing

12/29/2005 12:10:44 PM

no clue about where to buy one but you can buy bungee nets:
http://www.stratadrome.com/bungee_net.htm

[Edited on December 29, 2005 at 12:24 PM. Reason : neat idea btw]

12/29/2005 12:15:56 PM

I don't know if this will help, but you can try here:

http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=504&contId=49

12/29/2005 1:45:02 PM

maybe your kid has too much shit

make them pick a few to keep and give the rest to the less fortunate

it'll make the kids better people in the long run

12/29/2005 2:32:13 PM

take the ones you think they dont play with and hide them somewhere
if your kid doesnt ask for one of them that you hid then you know you can throw it away

12/29/2005 2:39:42 PM

^winner

12/29/2005 3:07:26 PM

jonhguth ftw

12/29/2005 3:10:24 PM

dig massive graves in your back yard and maybe the kids will dig them up one day.

12/29/2005 3:40:58 PM

Quote :

"maybe your kid has too much shit"

Yes, she does - but it's not our fault - we got her like 3-4 things for Christmas, and she got one big thing from "Santa" but I could literally fill my van with all the stuff she got from my husband's family and my family. I told them all she's got lots and lots of toys ... but they don't listen. I even told them don't get anything for the baby because he plays with all her stuff. What did we get? We got at least a dozen large cat-sized things plus an entire frickin box of beanie babies.

Quote :

"make them pick a few to keep and give the rest to the less fortunate"

This is what I was TRYING to do, but my husband and I can't agree on which ones to give away. She's too little to pick the ones she wants. She's 2. She has no concept of what it means to give them away yet. I'm hoping taking "drastic measure" here will help
(1) the respective families to see not to give us any more damned stuffed animals
(2) my husband to see not to ask for any more stuffed animals and we need to get rid of at least half, if not more.
(3) keep them from getting strewn across the floor as a tripping hazard (they slide easily on non-carpeted floors)



I'll check that walmart auction - thank you

Being able to buy just the mesh might help - I can make a PVC frame, then just tack that to it.

12/29/2005 7:01:05 PM

The corner hammock above worked well for my son. Those hanging things look good too.

Here are the things I used to do for my dude when he was little-

use hammock or one of those fisherprice desks that doubles as a toy chest to control toys and stuffed animals.

I put 3 stackable plastic cubbies in his closest for small or other toys - such as action figures, dragons, etc...

Leave a few toys out, others less played with put in the closest (she can still see them, but may not pull them out as much). After a few weeks, switch out the toys that are out in the room (on display) with some that are from the closest. Its like a whole new set of toys has arrived. And the ones no longer holding interest can be retired for a little bit.

"Thin" those toys she seems less interested in right before birthday and Christmas. Put them in the Kids Exchange and other sales that happen twice a year (there are at least three different sales of that type and so that means there are 6 selling opportunities). Thin those that she has not played with for some time. Use the money to buy things for her or her sibling that you need or to save for a future big expense - like college

As she gets older, she can become an active participant in the the "thinning" by choosing which toys would be better for "little" kids (now that she is a big girl). When she gets big enough to decide on which toys to sell, then she can use the money to buy something she wants or to save part and spend part.

I usually make about 100.00 a sale and as James got older, he used that money to buy one thing he really wanted: a skateboard, a paintball gun, pets.

Good luck.

12/30/2005 7:59:07 AM

Quote :

"maybe you should ask walmart"

like walmart employees have a clue of whats in the sotre

12/30/2005 6:41:17 PM

^^ that's what we agreed to do - let her pick. But, she's too little right now, so we're just holding on to e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Once these two are old enough (like, 3 years from now, ugh) They'll get to go through them ...

1. Paige picks out the ones to keep
2. Eli gets to pick out the keepers from the ones Paige rejected
3. Whatever's left we'll pick out any that we as parents are attached to (previous favorites, etc.)
4. Everything else gets sold/donated

But for now, I need something big and freestanding.

I don't think yall understand the quantity... I could fill 4 30-gal lawn bags with stuffed animals and still have more left over. Volume wise there are more stuffed animals than anything else in that playroom. It's skurry.

12/30/2005 6:53:39 PM

buy the thing that supersucks all the air out of them and you can store all of them in a small bag

12/30/2005 6:56:24 PM

Kick them out of the playpen and put the toys in it or put them in the playpen with all the toys and all the ones they throw out get rid of. At that age they won't even remember those toys if they *disappeared*...

12/30/2005 7:44:52 PM

i used to have toys disappear and then show up at the church all the time
i never thought twice about it, and if i did i forgot as soon as i saw something shiny

12/30/2005 8:08:24 PM

The have roll away bins for under the bed. Larger stuff might not fit, but gets some of the stuff out of the way.

12/30/2005 10:17:10 PM

throw the kid away keep the toys

12/31/2005 1:06:12 PM

why dont you just make one, base with for legs, rope around the legs

12/31/2005 1:37:57 PM

^ probably going to do something similar - except with vertical bungees

12/31/2005 1:43:14 PM

Quote :

"if there's netting around it how are they gonna get the ones from the bottom?"

...cut out a portion of the netting so there's an opening, maybe?

12/31/2005 1:46:20 PM

yeah bungees might work but i'd be affraid my kid would get curious and fuck around and bungees and fuck around and kid does not compute

12/31/2005 1:47:47 PM

Couple Suggestions

1. Stolen from a university household hints list- discussion of the same problem

Some parents have taken the time to sew a little ring very securly to the back of the nape of the neck of each stuffed animal, then take a wooden dowel, a stand, and put pegs on it to form a rack. Animals hang vertically on the rack.

pros- no holes in your wall. Vertical storage space (always a plus).
cons - time, making sure the rack wont fall over and rings are secure. May not be kid reachable.

2. Toy chest. I had one when i was young, and things just got piled in it.
pros- wont fall over, keeps stuff picked up, kid reachable.
cons- may not be large enough.

Personally i'm suprized more kids dont have a good old toy chest.really.

3. Wall cubes - you can get wire ones from walmart that you configure however you want, but this is essentially just a shelving system that has sides.

4. This might sound silly, but if they'll fit into a hamper....get a second hamper for the toys! I know i have a fairly large plastic one from walmart that was like $10.

12/31/2005 3:34:55 PM

Right now I have these two big 2-drawer plastic bins that measure ~2x2x1 foot each drawer. We keep "hard" toys in there, like blocks and legos. There are already TWO hampers full of stuffed animals! I need the wall space for other things, like her play kitchen - things I don't want in the middle of the floor.

12/31/2005 8:41:40 PM

My entire attic is filled with my childhood stuffed animals, your kids don't have anytihng on me. Get rid of them while you still can.

posted by: Lutra

12/31/2005 8:44:01 PM

I sorted for James when he was that young. Though he still has one bed full of stuff animals and I have some from when I was a kid. At those young ages, you have to pick the least used, liked ones to go on your own. Just watch for the ones they least play with and don't seem to miss when they don't see them for awhile.

12/31/2005 9:46:14 PM

Quote :

"maybe you should ask walmart"

maybe you should stop giving such a generic messageboard answer.

1/1/2006 12:23:59 AM

i remember when i was little i had a bed full of stuffed animals and everytime i left one on the floor or in another room it disappeared...i never even realized it until about a month ago when i was going through some stuff in our attic and my mom explained to me why ALL of my stuffed animals were in storage.

1/1/2006 1:06:17 AM