weirdest items collected

[Ole Granny]

My mother and I always loved auctions, rummage sales, garage sales.  Anything old.  Old furniture, china, coins,old brooches & pins.
Mostly we just enjoyed the search and the time we spent together.  Some Indian pieces and paintings (One my Dad painted and one a cousin painted).  All treasures to me.  Especially the memories.

[giester2]

not all that weird but...but i collect   bb cards and lighthouses

[Bonnie M.]

I hate to admit that I was caught up for a while in the Beanie Baby craze!  Lordy, Lordy!  I have a couple of nice sized plastic containers of those silly things stored away, for my children to dispose of, when the old folks are no longer around.  Since I was working at the Wild Animal Park during that era, the girls in merchandising would always let us know when a new shipment was coming in, and off we'd go, rushing to the gift shop!  I kept some granddaughters happy for awhile, as I was able to get those "rare" BB's, that were so hard to get your hands on!  What a deal!  I remember when the Cabbage Patch Dolls were all the craze, my son-in-law's Mother worked at K-Mart in Independence, and she was able to get some great Cabbage Patch Dolls for our granddaughters for Christmas one year, when they were "so hard to find!"  Creating a shortage of anything is a smart move! 

[archeobabe]

Does anyone remember when McDonald's had the Muppet Babies?  My mother has the whole group.  I collect Garfield the cat as well as comic books.

[Wilma]

McDonald's Happy Meals toys.  When first daughter and I don't want to take time for a decent lunch, we get Happy Meals.  We don't open the toys and once in a while we gather up what has collected in the car, bring them in, box and store them in a closet.  I don't know how many unopened toys we have now, but we have been doing this for years.

[patyrn]

Wilma,

I had a retired friend who did the same thing at McDonald's, and this year at Christmas time our church circle adopted an afterschool program at an inner city elementary school in Oklahoma City.  We had 50 kids to buy for and made it a goal to not spend more than $15 per child.   It was amazing how much we collected when we looked for real bargains throughout the year (we became  aware of lots of clearance racks and shelves with great "stuff")  and compiled them into generic collections for boys or girls in December. Every child ended up with a brown paper shopping bag that had been decorated by our members and personalized with each individual's name. Every bag had one of the McDonald toys of my friend.  What a joy it was to see the excitement of these kids who have so little as they explored the contents of their bags.   If your closets ever get totally overflowing with toys, you might find  some project like this that will make little children "smile".