Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Thrifting for Children's Books

I've had fun over the last several weeks thrifting for items to use for my birthday party and for photography props. Most recently, I've started thrifting for children's books. It has been so much fun for me!

I have a lot of children's books from my childhood, including 6 books from the Raggedy Ann and Andy Grow and Learn series that was published in 1988. My mom purchased one for me each time she went to the grocery store - so sweet. There are 18 books in the series, plus a parents' guide. I actually found the parents' guide at Miracle Hill today (25 cents!), and that gave me hope that I can find the other 12 books. I could purchase them online, but they're a minimum of $4 each, plus shipping. I'd prefer not to pay more than $1 each for them.

Because of my love for these particular Raggedy Ann and Andy books, I decided to start collecting any Raggedy Ann and Andy books I could find. I've already purchased several. Even the covers of them make me smile! They're tempting me to decorate our nursery some day (in the distant future) in a Raggedy Ann and Andy theme, but I think that may be too much red, white, and blue for me. Maybe I could incorporate them into a generic "vintage" theme. We'll see. I have time to decide, haha.

I've also started purchasing Berenstein Bears, Little Critter, Sweet Pickles (Do you remember those? They had a special carrying case!), Clifford the Big Red Dog (for Joseph!), Cabbage Patch Kids, and Ameleia Bedelia books. I would really love to have a great collection of "classic/vintage" books for our kids when the time comes.

My trick for purchasing books without duplicating any is a small notebook I keep in my purse. I have a page for each series (or character) of books. As I purchase a book, I make a note of it in my notebook. This came in handy today when I was scratching my head and thinking, "Hmmm, do I already have this one?"

Do you like collecting children's books? Do you have a favorite place to purchase them? I'd love to hear from you!

1 comment:

Steph W said...

Ahh!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Sweet Pickles! For some unknown reason (read: God) my Sweet Pickles "bus" and all the cards/activities/stories (read: complete set) was in a closet in my grandma's house in SC. It was discovered about 3 months ago as she was cleaning out closets. I was ridiculously excited because, since it hadn't been seen in several years, I had resigned myself to accepting that it was in my bedroom in my parent's house when Hurricane Katrina flooded it. I am "giving" it to Sam for part of his 3rd birthday and I can't wait to start going through it with him. I keep meaning to thrift for a few books myself since I definitely know of several that were in my room when Katrina hit. :( Thanks for the reminder!!