The Awesome Responsibility of Building a Bear

This is one of those “you just never know” stories…and perhaps something to think about as you decide what Christmas gifts to get for the adorable children in your life.

One year when our nieces were young enough to love stuffed animals, we decided to give them a trip to Build-A-Bear for Christmas. How sweet! What fun! And they enjoyed it – choosing an animal (easy for one, difficult for the other), stuffing it, picking out an outfit and taking it home to be theirs forever. My sister-in-law told me that one of the girls had really, really gotten into Build-A-Bear and after several years of requesting gift cards and more trips there, she had quite a collection of sweet stuffed toys.

All good things come back around (or something like that) and several years later when my boys were about three, that’s exactly what happened. Their aunt, very good at remembering what little kids like, chose the Christmas present “trip to Build-A-Bear.” While a gift card with a promise isn’t very interesting to a toddler, in January when we actually made the trip to the mall with their aunt and older cousins the excitement set in.

There are choices. Lots of them. Trey almost immediately chose a sweet brown dog. Brett, after some deliberation, selected a monkey. They each selected a sound (barking for the dog and ooh-ooh-ooh for the monkey) and proceeded to the stuffing station. Instructed to pick a heart from the bin, they sweetly kissed those before the stuffing began. As you can tell from the pictures, this is very serious work.





The beginning: Every new friend gets a heart and some love!

Partway through the stuffing process, the hearts went in. And when the animals were sufficiently filled, they were swiftly sewn up and presented to the boys. Off to the “bathtub” for cleanup and brushing, and then to the options for clothes. Ultimately, we ended up at the computer stations for registration and NAMING. On the spot, before you really know your new friend, he or she must be named. Lots of ideas were tossed in the ring and tossed back out, but we finally landed on Ginger (full name Gingerbread) and George. A couple of house-boxes and pictures later, the adventure was complete. What an excellent experience!

But this was just the beginning. The trip was such a success that for many birthdays and other occasions afterward, the only request was to return to Build-A-Bear for another friend. And each time, Trey chose quickly and without regret while Brett changed his mind three or four times before deciding. Every time, the naming was the most critical step. Franklin. Brownie. Ruff. Mambo. Coconut. Sugar. Sally Max. Rusty. At DisneyWorld, they even have a Build-A-Dino, which spawned Bob and Tex. There have been adoptions, picked up at consignment sales, like new and apparently unloved by the children who made them, which is unbearably sad. Pudge. Patches. Hedwig. What started out so simply has snowballed into an uncontrollable collection of fur, all with the same pawprint tag and satin heart deep inside their stuffing. There are other stuffed animals too, but those are always the favorites.

Ginger and George are still with us. They have been well-loved and have survived numerous "rides" in the washer and dryer...they've also had a few return visits back to the store for repairs and sound removal (the sound wasn’t conducive to sleeping with the toy, as it was prone to start up whenever someone rolled over). Eventually I had to set up an animal hospital at home in the laundry room, because I was trained well at Six Flags in the art of sewing up plush.

These days we're practically overrun with these stuffed personalities. They've certainly provided a lot of fun and comfort to the boys, and sometimes a sweet child will offer his favorite to me, and tell me to sleep with it (I do). One day, I imagine these toys will be discards, no longer needed or wanted.  But I hope that's not too soon...for now, the kids can be kids and love their stuffed toys if they want to. There’s plenty of time to grow up later.