Been there, done that. Sadly, daughter # 1 nominated a limited edition JellyCat collectable as her favourite. We had acquired a spare in case and then one fateful day he snuck onto the bus into town and then legged it. I walked the streets of Guildford for hours in vain. Donkey was gone – the soft toy equivalent of Richie Manic. So the spare came out, and all was well again. Except without backup we're in the last chance saloon, and feeling horribly exposed. So we trawled ebay time and again until one day, there he was. BNWT Donkey. I'm refusing to say what we paid but as per the top it's a limited edition collectable.

It doesn't end there.

Unfortunately, purely by chance Donkey and his twin-who-must-never-be-seen met a few weeks ago. Daughter #1 went mental; how dare we try to pass off this imposter. His ears aren't the same and the stitching on his eye isn't slightly loose. Kind of the child equivalent of matter meets anti-matter – the two must never ever be seen together again.

Which now creates a dilemma. Do we keep the imposter just in case? Or put him back on ebay again…….

Serious tip for the parents / parents to be. Don't offer too many choices to them as their favourites, and try to steer them to a cheap and replaceable / backup-able one if you can. It's hard enough replacing JellyCat Donkey; don't get in the position where only the hand made soft toy that your sister in law bought froma remote village trekking in Ecuador will do!!!!

lol – "thumbs up" @ MrOvershoot

Consider it a gratis service, I don't have children (a wife with MS put paid to that) but I appreciate how hard it is to balance work and dependants in the same day.

He looks a proper happy little chap though & don't let him forget who his favourite bear is 😉

I have seen me searching entire supermarket floors for 'Moo Moo' and 'Floppy' before. Its great fun asking customer services to put a call out if anyone has seen them.

Just in case, Floppy is my sons little doggy and Moo Moo (Purchased by Trekster off here) is a cow belonging to my daughter

Glad to hear all's been sorted 🙂

My 3yo has "Humphrey", a little elephant with attached blanket. More accurately she has 3 humphreys (she had 4 but one went awol a few months back).

We initially had 1 but the reserves were enlisted early on for just such an event. Mrs Verses hangs them up on their own hooks by their blankets in the airing cupboard and for quite a while we made sure mini-verses didn't know about the "spares". One time Mrs Verses left the airing cupboard door open and mini Verses saw the spares all hung up. It must have looked like the elephant ku klux clan had been along! Anyhow, Mini Verses likes the idea of the spares and even requests a clean one from time to time (suspect she's inherited Mrs Verses OCD 😉 )

Are you mad? When they can tell the difference in the stitching of an eye from 10 yards, they'll spot the difference between a BNWT and the ones that been dragged through hedges, chundered on, worn dinner on a regular occasion….

They have to be cycled and recycled time and again to even up the wear. And even then, there's something obvious to them and not you!

Ours got found because he'd been washed and was on the boiler under a pile of other washing drying out. And well meaning Grandma decided she'd put the washing away. Hence the reveal!

Ah, didn't think of that. Good job I'm not a parent yet then…

Our little Izzi shakes her head from left to right manically in her cot trying to find both blankies (yes, we have made the error of letting them see both so they both want two each). She won't settle till she knows they are both there. She has also started to talk to them (well as much as an 11 month old can talk).

Fortunately I have a dressing gown which has a similar texture to the blankies so when I am holding her in bed after a witching hour feed, she will accept that as a substitute.

🙂

A few years ago our little fella had Barney a purple limited edition beanie soft toy. On holiday in Wales out in the countryside we dropped it. There was much heartache over the next few days and it was finaly agreed that the "otters had taken it". Getting back off holiday we scoured ebay, found a doppleganger Barney and put an excessive bid on the new Barney. In time "the otters sent Barney back" and all was well until someone gave him a new toy a few days later and Barney was cast aside….

Hi

Just ebeen looking for a comforter as we lost one. There is a its a boy one on ebay-Thought I'd let you know so you could have a spare

My son is nearly 11 and still takes the scabby remains of a baby blanket to bed.It is haNd crocheted by an old dear and I would never be able to replce it.

My goodness, I must have been a heartless child – couldn't be bothered with soft toys and kicked them all out of the bed!

My brother had about four of the same Mothercare rabbits over his childhood, but he accepted replacements no bother – must have been unusually pragmatic.. that or he had no sense of loyalty 🙄