Have your children collected mini figurines, souvenirs, or tiny toys over the years? Do you find them in their room collecting dust, but they can’t seem to part with them? Do they fill your junk drawer because they want to keep them forever? Well, I have the sweetest solution for you!
OK friends, it comes down to this: you are either “team collect” or “team toss” when it comes to all the cute little knickknacks your children receive. Many kids love holding on to these treasures because they mean something to them. Whether they proudly display them on a shelf or hoard them in a bag, the fact remains that kids love their stuff.
Knickknacks vs Collections – is there a difference?
There are essentially two kinds of collections you can have. You either have a collection that you have curated, or you have a collection that has been gifted to you over time. As a child, you are at some point asked what your favourite colour is, or what your favourite animal is. You may play a certain sport or like a certain hobby. When that has been said out loud to others, you suddenly are the president of that thing. Suddenly, all your gifts are in your favourite colour, or if you play tennis, every gift is themed with tennis racquets all over it.
I had one friend that said she loved turtles. She said those words in high school. For decades, she was given turtle gifts – crystals, stuffed animals, books, jewellery. I was a culprit too! She has since let go of almost all those items because the fad is long gone. As for myself, I loved teddy bears as a child and I will forever love teddy bears. When I got older, I invested in collectable teddy bears. I even have an heirloom Steiff teddy bear from a trip to Germany, made with mohair. So you see, sometimes the collections can live on, while other times you might never want to see another turtle again in your life.
Knickknacks tend to be a bunch of little things. Sometimes, they are of the same theme, other times, they are all very random. Knickknacks tend to be kitsch and unattractive. Sometimes, a whole house can be considered to have nothing by knickknacks. However, in some oddball incidences, knickknacks can be really fun to look at and create their own kind of art.
Displaying Knickknacks
There was a time, one of my boys loved Shopkins. And as I mentioned above, as soon as friends and family knew that he liked them, that was his go-to gift for years. We painted a display shelf and he had them on his wall in his bedroom. After a while, he grew out of his collection and generously decided to gift it to a younger friend that was still into the toys.
Our boys have had a ton of collections of things over the years. Other collections of small items have included, but have not been limited to, fidget toys, Lego figurines, cars, bouncy balls, and Pokémon cards. Now, for some collections, it is easy to keep them in a box or bag and call it a day. For others, you can get creative.
Years ago, I had seen this frame on Pinterest:
From a post by Art and Almonds: https://www.artandalmonds.com/lifestyle/diy/bilderrahmen-diy
And when I was a KinderMom Ambassador, I thought about eventually making this for my boys and placing a picture of them inside. But honestly, as fun as this frame is, I don’t have the wall space for it in our home. I think it would be a very cool addition to a basement or game room but for us, it just wouldn’t work.
However! I kept many of the Kinder Egg Surprises with that intention and recently stumbled upon another idea. If you are nostalgic, you may have noticed the massive trend online reminiscing about 80s and 90s toys. This trend is everywhere, and I kinda love it. And wouldn’t you know, most of those little egg surprises are mini replicas of toys I used to love too. Every superhero character and cartoon show has come back around again. Whether it is Marvel, My Little Pony, or Disney princesses, they always bring a smile to my face.
Tada! A sweet nostalgic display of mini toys to put in your child’s room.
So tell me, if you are part of “team collector” would you give this display a try? And if so, what would you put in it?
