August 8, 2009

Beanie Baby Kaleidoscope by lyle58

Do you have boxes and boxes of Beanies?  I hate to even bring up this topic, because it makes me cringe.  I think that LilSis and SisMama feel the same way.  We fell victim to the hysteria that surrounded Beanie Babies, and we absolutely wish we never had.  Now, what the heckie darn do we do with all of them?  I have boxes and boxes taking up room that I don't have, and I'd love to find a solution to the overpopulation problem.

I have three ideas so far, and obviously I'm not sold on any of them since I haven't done a ding dang thing yet:

• Send the Beanies to the Beanies for Baghdad project. You send the Beanies to this organization, and they ship them to our military personnel overseas to give away to little kids who have so very little.  I wonder if this is still a viable option, since the president is talking about withdrawal timelines.  Once they arrive, could we be sure there would still be a purpose, a distribution channel and a home for them?

• Take them to children's hospitals.  I've heard that hospitals aren't always thrilled about taking in Beanies because they can't be sure they haven't been played with, and they can't risk introducing any additional germs into the hospital environment.  Are there any nurses out there who might know about this?

• Try to sell them.  In this economic market, however, it's the worst possible time to try to sell a collectible item.  It's totally a buyer's market, and prices are way down.  I also think demand is too low and the supply is too high.  This idea seems useless to me.  I'd much rather donate them than fiddle around with selling them for a song.

So, if you have tried any of these ideas or if you have any other solutions, I (we) would LOVE to hear them!!  I don't want to just impulsively trash all these Beanies to get them out of my way … heaven knows how much money I invested.  But if they could be put to good use somehow, I think it would be selfish of me to hang onto them.  Help!

~BigSis