Teddilicious Teddies

A stuffed animal is a toy animal stuffed with straw, beans, cotton or other similar materials. Some stuffed animals are very old - home made cloth dolls stuffed with straw go back to at least the 1830s, perhaps much older. Stuffed animals are also known as plush toys and soft toys or cuddly toys. The most well known type of stuffed toy is undoubtedly the teddy bear, and there are even many custom teddy bear variations.

Stuffed animals, in the past, were used for random stuffing of the evacuated skins of hunted animals. The phrase is still sometimes used to refer to examples of taxidermy. However, with modern technology it is now possible to produce them with synthetic materials. For this reason, plush toy or plushie or soft toy may be more appropriate names for modern synthetic stuffed animals.

It seems like everything today is mass-produced from the same mold, and it is difficult to find products that exhibit originality or reflect your personality. When my sister had her first child last spring, I didn’t want to get my new nephew some run-of-the-mill, generic toy from a department store. I decided to look online to see if I could find something more personal.

After some scouring on the internet, I came across a site that offered custom teddy bears. This seemed to be the perfect combination of a traditional gift that still maintained a sense of individuality. I choose a distinct outfit for my nephew and had the bear created in the same attire, which created several memorable photo ops.

One of the classes I took in college was a media history class with one of the wackiest professors on campus. Everyday he would give us some random fact and, ironically, these are the things that I remember best from that class. Although everyone else in the class already knew this, I learned how the stuffed bear got its current name.

The term teddy bear comes from President Theodore Rooselvelt, commonly referred to as Teddy. While on a hunting trip in Mississippi, Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that his hunting mates had staged for him. After a flurry of publicity and a detailed political cartoon, shop owners started branding their stuff bears with the President’s nickname.

Like most kids, my favorite toys when I was growing were my stuffed animals. Each one had a name and a distinct personality. I remember being able to sit for hours going on imaginary adventures and expeditions with my stuffed friends. My favorite one was my teddy bear George.

George was one of those one of a kind teddy bears that you could easily pick out of a crowd. He stood over three feet tall and was bigger than I was for most of the time that I was played with him. Today I still have George and plan on passing on the unique bear to my kids someday.

Collecting stuffed animals is a memorable part of everyone’s childhood. These soft and plush friends provide comfort and companionship for children of all ages. Plus, they come in a variety of barnyard, jungle and exotic animals. They’re a guaranteed source of entertainment for your children.

I remember I grew up during the Beanie Baby craze. They were so popular that many toy stores were sold out of them on a regular basis. My most prized Beanie Baby – wish could be considered a variety of collectable teddy bears – was the Princess Diana bear. A deep purple stuffed animal with a white flower on its chest and a ribbon around its neck, this bear sat in a clear display case on a shelf in my bedroom for years. It was much too important to play with, but instead served as a prized possession.

Everyone seems to have a lucky number. For many, the number seven will suffice because it already has a lucky connotation. You can bet your bottom dollar that no one in their right mind would choose 13. I’ve noticed that many hotels and even cruise ships don’t have a 13th floor; the elevator goes straight from 12 to 14. Whether it’s something to bet on or intended to be a sign of coincidence, you could ask anyone what number they prefer and I’m sure it wouldn’t take them more than a few seconds to give you a definite answer.

My lucky number is six. It’s not a jersey number or the number of men I dated before I met my husband. It dates back all the way to my childhood when I was about six or seven years old. It was Easter and my family had gone to our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Before the games began the announcer had mentioned that there were several eggs with special marking that indicated a prize. I found an orange egg marked by the number six and won a stuffed animal. And what became even more special about the number is that this stuffed animal – a bunny in a purple suit – became my favorite stuffed animal of all time.

Most children grow up with several stuffed animals and receive many throughout their lives. Usually, however, one stuffed animal becomes the most special to a child and must travel everywhere with him. Failure to bring this special animal along on car trips, to the doctor, etc. can spell disaster for the child. And if the animal become irreparably soiled or destroyed, it is nothing short of apocalypse.

This may seem dramatic, but most parents would agree. That’s why it’s a good idea to buy extras of the stuffed animal that your child favors most. I had a friend whose son loved a teddy bear that played a song when you pulled a string. This bear would often become soiled from being left out in the rain or being sucked on by the boy, and the music would stop playing after a while. My friend always had three or four backup stuffed animals – exact replicas – to replace the bear once the current one had to be thrown away. Of course, the exchange was always done in secret, and her son was never the wiser!

Children and stuffed animals go hand-in-hand – quite literally in many cases. At a certain age, it can be difficult to separate a child from his favorite plush toy. Teddy bears and other stuffed animals provide comfort and constant companionship. For young kids who are afraid of the dark, a teddy bear is often a source of strength. It’s no wonder that parents and family friends put a lot of forethought into which stuffed animals they present to kids.

There are plenty of mass-produced teddy bears on the market, but their abundance is part of the problem. These stuffed animals are made in far-flung regions of the world with little regard for craftsmanship. One of a kind teddy bears, on the other hand, are made with painstaking attention to detail. In their most important stages of development, children deserve nothing less than a quality companion.

For many years I had a strong aversion to zoos. Every time I went to see a new exhibit, I would feel sorry for the animals stuck in cages. Luckily, the zoo in my town is known for being progressive. Each animal’s natural habitat is recreated with a startling degree of accuracy. As such, I began taking my 3-year-old son to check out the wildlife. He grew especially fond of the Daisy the black bear.

Trips to the zoo can be expensive and time-consuming, so I formulated a plan that would appease my son when he wanted to “go see Daisy.” I looked online for custom teddy bears and came upon a black bear that bore a remarkable resemblance to Daisy. My son loved the gift, but he still pesters me about going to the zoo to see the penguins.