Throughout my entire life stuffed animals and plushies have remained my favorite type of toy. Vinyl figurines or other plastic dolls were never of much interest to me, instead I found myself drawn to stuffed animals. There is something so comforting about a soft, sometimes fuzzy, squeezable plush toy—and others seem to agree. Stuffed toys are incredibly popular among people of all ages. Just look at the rise of Squishmallow plush toys over the last few years. The Squishmallow brand by KellyToy has been around for less than five years but has already surpassed fifty million sales worldwide and tripled its sales in 2021.
Over the course of my life I have amassed quite a large collection of plush toys that continues to grow to this day. A number of my stuffed toys, which I will refer to as my “plushies” or “stuffies” from now on, hold tremendous sentimental value to me. From the stuffies I’ve coveted since my childhood years to ones gifted to me later in life by friends and family, many of them carry stories and deeper meanings than merely being a stuffed children’s plaything. Since my stuffies mean so much to me, I want to share with you a few of my most favorite members of the collection.
Long Time Friends
These are a few of the stuffies I’ve had for as long as I can remember. Keeping my earliest memories fresh in my mind is very important to me, so these are some of the stuffies I cherish the most. Our experiences in this fundamental stage of life is what shapes the people we become and because of this I hold these stuffies—and the memories attached to them—dearly.
First I have Pink Bunny and Baby Bunny. This was one of my very first favorites. As you can see, she’s been very well loved and her pink color is a bit faded.
Coca-Cola bear is another who has been around for as long as I can remember. He was given to me by a family member. Seeing the commercials on TV that featured white polar bears in the snow enjoying fizzy Coke out of glass bottles is made me love this bear. Holding something in my hands that I had only previously seen in the magical glass box was fascinating. This fascination definitely followed me in regards to future stuffies I would cling to.
The Pusheen Collection
While I don’t consider myself a brand loyal person, Pusheen plushies are one thing I will pay name brand prices for. Besides Squishmallows, the Pusheen brand plushies are the only kind of stuffie that I’ve made it a point to collect multiple models of. I own several of these adorable stuffies and definitely plan to acquire more in the future.
Here’s the entire gang:
A couple of my favorite Pusheen designs are the pizza Pusheen and the Halloween edition zombie Pusheen. Here are some close-ups of them:
Universal Souvenirs
Two stuffies in particular are very special to me because I bought them during my very first and second trips ever to Universal Studios theme parks. Visiting Universal was a dream come true for me, an event I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It sounds silly but so many of my favorite movies, ones which influenced my youth, were created by Universal. Only one of them is pictured below, the other is getting a bath because she’s a little dirty after four years of loving.
I purchased Hello Kitty and her friend ChocoCat from the Hello Kitty store in Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. This is a very cute store that I would highly recommend browsing if you have the opportunity. Not only do they carry a variety of Hello Kitty merchandise, but they also offer some of her friends like Keroppi and Pompompurin.
Yummy World Gang
Upon discovering this line of plushies I was immediately obsessed and quickly acquired multiple toys from the line. Some I received as gifts and others I purchased myself. Each character in the Yummy World line has their own name, too.
While the price of these plush toys is a bit high, the quality and cuteness is definitely worth it. Kid Robot, the brand who is responsible for creating the Yummy World line, has even won awards for the brand. These interactive plush toys are super fun to play with and super cute, which is what makes these some of my most favorite stuffies.
Squishmallows
Yes, the ever so coveted Squishmallow! I have only a few of these adorable round stuffies. After having my eye on these for some time after they initially debuted, I was gifted two Squishmallows. Winston the blue own and Piper the pink penguin were my very first Squishmallow brand stuffies. Little did I know that soon this would be a sensational brand, selling out in stores within minutes and being resold for two to three times the original price by online vendors. Over the years I’ve gotten my hands on a few more of the squeezable animal themed stuffies, but I don’t make it a point to search for them due to the wild popularity.
The rarest Squishmallow in my collection is my Mayor from the film The Nightmare Before Christmas. If it wasn’t for a family member out of state, I wouldn’t even have this cutie pie!
Build-A-Bear
One of the more recent additions to my stuffie gang was my newest Build-A-Bear. This stuffie was a gift for my 23rd birthday! The Build-A-Bear is a birthday cake scented Jawa.
As soon as I spotted this stuffie in the Build-A-Bear Workshop I knew I had to take him home with me. He’s a Star Wars themed stuffie from the Disney+ show The Mandalorian. This stuffie is super special to me because not only was he a birthday gift, but my Daddy took me to make him.
Newest Additions
My stuffie collection is constantly growing because after all, I am a spoiled princess. The most recent members of my stuffie crew include Togetherness Bear, a multicolored Care Bear with a rainbow heart on her tummy, and an E.T. in a basket stuffie from Universal.
The Care Bear was a Valentine’s Gift from one of my partner’s and I spotted the adorable E.T. stuffie not long ago in one of Universal’s gift shops. Merch is ever changing in the Universal shops, so I had to snag it.
The Entire Gang
Taking a photo of my entire stuffie collection at once is a bit of a challenge due to the sheer number of them but I tried my best!
Which one do you like the best? Do you have any plushies? Do you have any suggestions about where I should get my next stuffie from? Despite my collection being expansive, I’m always keeping my eye out for which new stuffie is in need of a loving home.