Okay …. so what parent has an entire collection of Beanie Babies, stored away somewhere?! Because they were the “hot” item to collect when you were little and YOUR parents thought these were going to be worth something, some day? Ummm NO!
I will admit, I am THAT parent 🙂 Up until a few days ago, I had hundreds of beanie babies stored away. Some that I collected when I was younger and some I inherited from my Grandmother. I have been contemplating for weeks what I was going to do with them.
Do I give them to my kids? Um no, I do not need a hundred beanie babies scattered around my house. Can I sell them? They are worth very little, maybe $20 or so. I do not have time to list all these! Do I drop them off at Goodwill? Can I actually part with these tiny, collectible items?
I did some research and asked some mom friends. I was given so many fantastic suggestions!
- Keep a few: When I began sorting, the kids kept about 10 for themselves. They are great to create a “pet shop” and pretend play. We kept the ones that had been seriously played with, tags ripped off, dog may have chewed a bit, etc.
- Donate them to your local library: This is where the majority of mine went! Did you know that they use these as prizes for their Summer Reading programs?! I loved this idea. I love that fact that children were doing something educational and receiving my beanie babies as a reward.
- Contact your local police station or fire station: Some may accept them and give them to children in crisis.
- Donate to Operation Christmas Child: These are great to fit in a shoe box and do not take up much space. Children would love to receive a special animal in their box!
- Donate to any Children’s Shelter: There is a local mom collecting items to create Easter baskets for a shelter. I donated a bunch of Easter beanie babies to be included in the baskets.
- Contact a preschool teacher or music teacher:Â I donated about 30 beanie babies to a local preschool teacher. She used them with her classroom kids. They had “Adopt a Pet Day”! I loved this idea! There were different stations through out the classroom. A station where you adopted your pet and received a certificate, a veterinarian station, a station to get a leash/collar, etc. You could even use this idea as a childcare provider!
