Would you start a collection for your kid?

I can’t see any fun in having something still in the package. I guess it would be great to have because of the value. All of the dolls in my collection are out of the package and displayed, even though collectors told me not to do that. I don’t care so much for the value. I only collect things that give me happiness to touch, hold and display.

No. The value of those items would not make up for years of frustration and disappointment.

Why let the kid look at them at all? The kind thing to do would be to start this collection without telling him – until he’s finally sensible enough to value money more than fun… ~

I worked with a woman that bought the Barbie™ dolls for her daughter to collect. She always bought two of each. One to let her daughter play with and one to keep in the package.
Seemed like a lot of trouble and storage issues to me and I wonder if they are worth anything today.

Reminds me of Beanie Babies. Everybody went nuts over those stupid things in the late 90’s. Collecting every kind and then some. They are virtually worthless today.

Nope – wouldn’t do it. Why not just collect them for himself and keep them put away?

My wife and I completed the 50 states quarters for my son. It’s a big map of the US with a quarter in each state. I hope he appreciates it when we give it to him.

The guy is a jerk, who the hell would do that to a child? haha
Yeah, like my parents giving their horse crazy daughter a saddle but no horse til I turned 18.
“Oh honey, you can just look at this saddle and smell it and sit on it for the next 10 years.“WTF! lol

Kids will tend to take care of the things they love, I gave my daughter expensive model horses on all her birthdays and she cherished them and played with them too, just give him the BEST Hot Wheels set up you can afford and then, play with him!
That other dad is a weenie and a half, some memory making, staring at unopened packages of Hot Wheels.

“Hey son, what say, let’s go open the closet and LOOK at your Hot Wheel collection.” The kid might knife his dad in his sleep one night around age 11. haha

No I would not. Who is say he would have my taste or interests? More often than not, kids don’t.

@non_omnis_moriar Good point, I gave my daughter model horses, projecting my love of horses on her, but she still loved them and we had horses and a donkey.
She never was into them or riding like I was though, and that was fine.

As the owner of an auction house, I can tell you that there are definite, hard core, factions here, @fluthernutter.

My “Best Answer” is that I knew a couple that bought Beanie Babies as a hedge against the 7 yo’s college fund. Now, unless he can find a college that enrolls for less that the cost of a textbook, the boy is out of luck.

I also remember the woman that told me the entire family bought Precious Moments for her granddaughter, every occasion. The granddaughter is now in Texas and wants no part of PMoments.

Kids are kids only once. Try to give them things that give kids pleasure, happiness and joy.

When my son was small, those cars cost about a dollar, so we’d often pick one up at the grocery store, and he played with them. If they’re still relatively inexpensive, buy two so the kid can play with one and the other can stay in mint condition. Personally, I’ve never seen the point in collectibles.

My son was into basketball cards for a while, but that was his passion, his money and his time and effort going to the store, selling and buying on eBay, etc. He was a young teenager but had his own account and debit card, etc. I think he learned a lot about financial responsibility through that activity.

I don’t really see the point. It seems like a investment and there are better ones to make.

As a kid I read literally any book that was lying around, whether it was age-appropriate or not. It led to a lot of random discoveries. My book collection nowadays is pretty good, but I plan on cultivating a really healthy one for my hypothetical future kids. Not, like, pushing it on them (because they would probably hate reading then), but having an abundance of really great books just all over the place.

I might also stash away some fine wines that they can enjoy as adults, if they end up being interested in that kind of thing. There are certain things, like vintage Port, vintage Champagne, Barolo, and really good Bordeaux, that will age anywhere from 15 years to a couple decades. There are a lot of everyday wines that I love, but aged fine wine tastes so different. Drinking something like that can lead to one of those rare “a-ha!” moments- a wine epiphany. A lot of people try to buy wine from their kids’ birth years, but I think that’s kind of precious and gimmicky. Better to just get some excellent wines when they’re kids, that they can enjoy as adults.

But, like, a collection of objects? No way. What’s the point of having a bunch of things?

I would not do it. Instead, you might buy one for the year the child was born or the car you were driving when you came home from the hospital.
Don’t start a whole collection.

Please watch this short video. Bankrupt by Beanies

Typical nerd thing to do, the kid will probably have moved on by that age, waste of time.

No. Face it, such a collection would be for yourself, not the kid.
The kid is just the excuse that allows you to start the collection for yourself.

No, even if he loves hot wheels now there’s a good chance he won’t care at 18. Let him play with them while he’s young enough to think it’s awesome.

And you know, if you like collecting something, you can do it. There’s no rule that says only kids collect items.

When the Beanie Baby thing hit, I had those friends that thought it would be the kid’s college fund. Whenever they told me that a Beanie they owned was worth $50, $100, $500, I would tell them, “Sell! I know collectables and this market will never last.” They didn’t listen. Now the only way we can sell them at auction is by the box.

I can’t begin to tell you how many doll collections we’ve sold off. $125 dolls that we’re pleased to get $5 for. We always end up with a pile that we have to sell in the $5—$15 range. 100’s of Barbies, Hot Wheels (new on the card), Precious Moments. Oh, and those highly collectable blue and white plates from Holland? B&G? $5 a stack, and glad to get it.

By and large everything made for the “collectables” market has lost its value, entirely. None of the crap ever gets used up.

”When the Beanie Baby thing hit, I had those friends that thought it would be the kid’s college fund.”
Mother of god.

Exactly, @ragingloli. Did you watch @LuckyGuy‘s video?

Brand new stuffed animals filled with beans are going to make you rich??

A person might be lucky enough to stash away a collectible that will be worth thousands in the future, but we can’t know at this time which collectible that will be. If we could, everyone would stash one away, right? And then none of them would be worth anything.

When I was about 10, I got the Beatle dolls, with the hard body and shaggy hair. I wish I would have kept them, but if I really want another set, I can pick one up on Ebay for about $200, new in the box and lovingly stored (by someone else) for 50 years. And if I got them, would I keep them in the box for another 50 years? NO. I would just have to take them out and touch them, display them, enjoy them.

It just seems to me that if you keep something in the box or on the original blister card, then you are really keeping it for someone else to enjoy. If I paid the money for it, I want to be the one to enjoy it.

On top of that, @Skaggfacemutt, that New in the Package stuff is really hard to store. The bubbles crush and release from the board. None of it can be in the daylight for long, nor can it get really dusty or damp. Best not to stack the boxes. 50 years of that kind of maintenance for $200?? No thanks!