Washing Furry Friends

The other day, I posted a photo on social media, which started a conversation... about washing, of all things.





Meet Sally and Olivia.

Olivia is the bear - who joined our family, the day my little man was born. For years she sat on his shelf... nameless. But about 3 years ago (when he started kindy) he decided she should come down off the shelf. He named her Olivia and she's sat on the end of his bed every night since then.

Sally is a unicorn and was the first toy to begin the unicorn obsession. I think she could possibly have about 20 unicorns by now.

Amelia saw this unicorn in a display, at the post office (of all places), while queuing with me (sitting in her push chair) just after she turned 2.

She caused such a fuss when we were going to leave her there, that I bought her with some of her birthday money.

Sally has been everywhere with us - except for 10 "difficult" nights when we forgot to bring her on holidays overseas. We've not made that mistake again.

So anyways, this photo, of the 2 stuffed toys, started the conversation about the best way to wash our beloved furry friends.





I threw them into the machine with some washing powder, but was told this is possibly not a good way to go about it.

Popping the toys into pillow cases was a popular response along with washing them in with a load of towels.

So tell me, how do you (or did you), wash your children's stuffed friends - without fear of them falling apart or losing their stuffing?

Do your children have favourite toys, which they just can't part with?


17 comments

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. We use Teddy Needs a Bath for all our precious stuff items. Love it. http://www.teddyneedsabath.com It would be easy to make one. Ours was a gift, again love love it.

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    1. Thanks for the link. I shall go and have a look :)

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  3. My youngest daughter had a blankie that never left her sight, when I took it to wash she would sit next to the machine whilst it washed with the other clothes, then she would carry it to the line and sit on a chair under it whilst it dried on the line. I have pics of her even hanging on to one corner while it was drying. We still have whats left of it - she still takes a corner of it to unfamiliar places - ten years later!

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    1. Kids are dedicated, aren't they? It's wonderful that your daughter still has a piece of her blanket to provide comfort when needed.

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  4. I think I broke my kids. None of them had a special toy to love -- it was just whatever stuffed animal that was handiest at the moment. I've washed lots and lots of stuffed animals over the years. I just throw them in with whatever I'm washing. For animals with long hair (manes and tails usually) I try to remember to put them in a pillowcase.

    Haven't had a catastrophic failure yet, knock on wood!

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    1. That's good! I wish mine would accept any of their squillion toys, rather than these two specific ones. If we can't find them at bed time, it's a mad dash searching around the house before they can sleep.

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  5. When I was a little girl, I had a big elephant stuffed toy. Last years it was sitting on the shelf so was getting dirty. I put it into washing mashine alone and that was a mistake. His eyes were scraped off. Not at all, but it was visible. I think next time it will be hard to find a piloowcase where to put it in because of elephants size (we all know they are huge...). In case if stuffed toys has big eyes or some other plastic details, i would recommend to put them in pillowcase.

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    1. Oh no!! So sorry that your elephant had a bit of trauma in the wash. Perhaps tying the pillowcase around their eyes (or plastic bits) is a good idea, if they're big toys which don't fit into the case. Thank you for sharing :)

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  6. Lingerie bags were used for my childrens softie toys and are now being used for my grandchildrens toys as well as any knitwear and any clothing might go out of shape, my white wash often has several bags with different types of clothing in, the rinsing water gets to the clothing better than a pillowcase. When giving a gift of soft toys or clothing I often also give a Lingerie bag. I would never just put the toys in the washer.

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    1. Yes, a lingerie bag would help the rinsing cycle. Toys with any soap residue would probably end up with slightly "crunchy" fur.

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  7. I have a wool cycle on my machine and put the toy in a pillow case. My machine doesn't have a central paddle like yours though, it is a front loader and the wool cycle is so gentle. Putting them in a pillow case will prevent the fluff off the toys clinging to other items. For those of you with favourite blanket to wash the best thing is to cut them in half then you always have a piece of "blankie" for them while one piece is in the wash.,

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  8. I wash them in the washer and dry them in the dryer! (But my washer is a front loader and they tend to be a little more gentle on the stuffies!

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  9. Always in either a pillow case tied tightly or a net bag and on a 30 or 40 degree wash, fast spin.
    Since Im in the Uk I try and dry them outdoors in sun and wind ha ha like when theres a sunny enough day!
    Generally I'd trip to the launderette and use a drier there if they are too large to sit on the radiators.

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    1. We've been having temperatures in the high 30's - low 40's (celcius) so the dry time is minimal at the moment. Bring on the cooler months... please!!!

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