We Love Stuffies!!

We did it!  Stuffie Adoption Day 2026 was a big success!!

This cutie patootie cracked us all up.
Photo shared with family permission.

Honestly, I have not idea how many stuffies were donated and adopted…  I do know one thing – there were far too many to count!

There were stuffies of every size, shape, and species.  There were characters (boy did we have a lot of Minnie Mouses this year).  There were classics (Pooh, Rex from Toy Story, and many more).  There were electronic stuffies (a cat that purrs and wiggles her ears, an owl that reads stories aloud, an I am not sure what that has eyes that look like screens and looks sort of scary…).  And there was everything in between.

The sun was shining.  The weather was perfect.  The kids were excited (and so was I!).  And the bakers were amazing!!

Getting ready to begin!!  The set-up volunteers, and the first group of event volunteers!  If you can't tell from the photo, we were excited!

How it worked:

Stuffies were donated by the community.  We asked that they be clean and in good condition, and wow, were there a LOT to choose from!  This is a rough estimate, but I am guessing we had between 200 – 300 stuffies (including, oops, the bag that accidentally got left in our car so didn’t even have a chance at adoption…). 

Visitors browsed through the many, many amazing stuffies, chose their 2 favorites, and then headed over to get an adoption certificate filled out.  There they were asked the name of their new friend for the official paperwork.  Most chose a name right there on the spot – Sparkles, Bob, Kitty… 

There were very delicious baked goods made by super kind neighbors.  There were Rice Krispie treats decorated for Halloween, brownies, muffins, cookies galore, cakes, donuts, cinnamon rolls…  My mouth is watering just writing about them!  One sweet baker, a young one, was all set to bake with her Grandma, but Grandma had a medical emergency so could not come to town.  No worries!  H. put on her apron and made delicious sweets all by herself (including adorable unicorn horns and cinnamon rolls!).  She also stayed to help out at the event!

Free Stuffies!  Stop and get your free stuffies!

A talented neighbor created kindness greeting cards and they were so cute!  I wish I had taken a photo of the display.  We have some of those left if you would like to buy any.  They are really nice.

 

Young artists made posters for the event and volunteers took turns holding them high to attract people driving, walking, and biking by.  One group of young helpers took it upon themselves to start a “drive thru bake sale and stuffie” business.  It was pretty funny seeing them interact with people in cars at the red light.  They made lots of sales of baked goods and gave away some stuffies that way, too!  One of the Venmo donations that came in included the note, “Thank you for the cookies & plushies!!  - the family in the black Ford Explorer”.  Ha ha ha.

Volunteers in ACTION!

I decided Stuffie Adoption Day was the perfect time to bust out my new (to me) tutu I had thrifted in Omaha.  It must’ve made a grand impression, because my almost 5 year-old friend John brought me over this drawing of me wearing it today!

I love this drawing of me in my tutu!  The way the artist changes perspective from looking at me to looking down on the tutu - isn't it great?  I think I may need to change my profile photo to this...

The event is meant to be a FUN Raiser, not really a FUND Raiser, because the stuffies are free to adopt.  But the addition of the bake sale not only means visitors have something sweet to eat, but that money is collected to support Kindness Activist’s mission to spread more kindness in the world.  We did not expect to raise a lot – the event was only 6 hours.  But boy howdy, were we surprised to add up the total!!

The bake sale (and cards) raised $802.37 for Kindness Activist!!  Amazing!

Not to worry - I only adopted the pig HAT, not the other two pigs in the photo.

My favorite part of this event was talking with the guests.  It was so fun chatting with volunteers and “shoppers”.  One woman came up to me and said, “You know, we have been wondering WHAT this house is…  We tried Googling it but couldn’t figure it out…  We are so glad we saw this event today and stopped by!”.  They left not only knowing about KA and the work we do in the community, but they also bought a Kind is Cool shirt to help us spread the word!  (And I think that their little baby will be back next month to write a letter to Santa…)

Such great volunteers!! 

I was delighted that some guests of the Little Yellow Free Pantry got to get baked goods, too.  Whenever I saw a guest at the Pantry, I invited them over to choose something from the bake sale table.  They were so happy to be included and to get a homemade treat.

So many volunteers came out to help – of all ages, too.  At some points we had more volunteers than shoppers!  And that was a-ok with us because it gave us time to put out more stuffies and gave us an excuse to stand on the corners with our signs. 

Happy adopter with her new stuffies, snuggled in and ready for bed

We heard lots of great comments during the day about how fun it is to help, how cute the stuffies were, and how tasty the lemonade and baked goods were.  One mamma took time to send us this note, explaining what her son told her after they left.  He had a hard week, and she wasn’t sure they would be able to come over.  But then he told her: “I thought today would be the worst day, but today was a really fun day—the BEST day!”  His mom reported, “He seems to say this every time we come to a kindness event. I think the kindness energy accumulates into a powerful presence chez vous!”.  After choosing his stuffies, he even stayed to help with the beautiful chalk messages, and we were very happy he came.

So many people to thank.

Thanks to the donors of stuffies (YOU thought you were “getting them out of your house”, but you were also making lots of kids very happy)

Thanks to Teresa for making the beautiful cards

Thanks to the talented bakers

Thanks to the sign makers

Thanks to the chalk artists

Thanks to the “drive-thru bake sale” crew and to ALL of the amazing volunteers

And thanks to the people who came and adopted stuffies.  I know, I know, you already have “enough” stuffies in your lives, you do not really need yet another one.  But still, you came.  You let your kids choose a new friend (or two!).  You bought baked goods and help further our mission.

And you made my heart very happy.

Helping a little friend made his selection

P.S. - Check out this sweet "letter" John wrote (all by himself!) to David today about the stuffie event!

P.P.S. - We adopted out about half of the stuffies, meaning we have a LOT left.  This is a good thing, because it means:  

1.  We get to host an afternoon session of "plop into the stuffies and take your photo" day (date and time to be determined and announced soon)

2.  We have great stuffies to donate!  If your school, troop, religious institution, or group would like some, please email us at:  KindnessActivist@gmail.com .

Stuffed Animal Kindness

I parked at Ikea this sunny afternoon and was surprised to find THIS on my walk into the store:

A MONKEY ON A CAR!!!

A vehicle with a STUFFED MONKEY on the side mirror.  Isn’t it fabulous??? 

It made me smile.  It made me curious.  It made me so happy!  And it made me wonder…  How did that monkey GET there???  Did someone see it outside the vehicle on the ground and think the people dropped it getting out, so “returned” it??  Did the owners always put a little monkey on their mirror when they went in places, maybe making it easier to find their car later??  Or did someone GIFT it to the people from the car, put it on there while the car owners were in Ikea shopping????  That was the theory I went with – a GIFT!

But then, of course, my mind started wondering MORE…  Who gifted it??  And WHY?  Was it maybe an inside joke between friends?  Was it a gift between lovers??  Or did a complete stranger just decide, “I am going to give these people this adorable stuffed monkey!”???  Such a MYSTERY!

But since I was the one that saw it, and since I got to do the pondering about it and enjoy it, I decided on this theory:

A complete stranger bought this brand new cute stuffed monkey.  They bought it for the sole purpose of surprising a stranger with it, and today was the day! 

And then I became inspired… 

You know, the whole premise behind the Kindness Activist project is this:  if we see kindness in action, if we receive it or are told about it, we in turn are inspired to BE KIND – to go out and spread more kindness in the world ourselves. 

SO THAT IS JUST WHAT I DID!!!  I got everything I had come to get at Ikea (and then some, because that is what always happens at Ikea…).  Then I headed for the children’s section to check out the stuffed animals.  To my surprise, the monkey from the parking lot was NOT being sold at Ikea.  But there WERE lots of other stuffed things to choose from!  (Side note: I often look at Ikea’s stuffed toy collection, and it is bizarre…  I don’t know if you have checked it out before, but they have strange stuff!!  For years they have had a stuffed red heart with ARMS – why it has arms I am not sure – but that one is on clearance now (so if you are really hankering for a heart with arms better rush to Ikea soon…).  They have, I am not making this up, STUFFED VEGETABLES.  Today I saw stuffed BROCCOLI.  I like broccoli as much as the next guy, but I don’t think if I was a kid I would want to PLAY WITH IT.  And they have these little stuffed RATS.  I have always thought they were gross and wondered WHO in the world buys them.  Today I found out – 7 year old boys seem to think they are amazing!  “Mom, look, a little stuffed RAT!”.  Ewwww.

Anyway, I narrowed it down to a stuffed bunny and a stuffed panda.  In the end, the panda won out.  I checked out, put my purchases in my car, and set off with the panda to find the perfect car to put it on!! 

The Ikea parking lot is crowded on the weekends,
so there were loads of cars to choose from

I decided I would choose a car with a car seat in it, because not all adults dig stuff animals but I THINK all kids car seat size do.  So I found this car, and I put the panda on it:

Panda hiding on unsuspecting car...

Doesn’t it look cute??? 

Cute little panda butt

I watched as a couple of people walked back to their cars in the area, but they weren’t the owners of the “lucky car”, so I left.  I put a Kindness Activist card with the bear, so the people who find it would know it was done in kindness and wasn’t, like, some skanky old bear with poison on it or something 😊.  So maybe they will find it and send me a photo, who knows.

What I do know is that was $4.99 well spent.  It was fun picking it out, fun choosing which car to put it on, and fun imagining the people’s surprise when they found it. 

Thanks for inspiring me, stuffed monkey giver. 

And maybe reading this has inspired YOU to do something kind for a stranger on a sunny spring day.  I hope so!

(You can follow Kindness Activist on Twitter @KindActivist and on Facebook at Kindness Activist)