Hello friends! Oh boy, do I have a treat for you today! The lovely Missy Munday from Boopsie Daisy is here to share one of her vintage collections. About 3 years ago, I started a treasured little collection of squeak dolls by Ruth E. Newman along with some Kewpies and other oddities, so this collection has me smiling like the proverbial Cheshire cat! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
Photo: The big tub of 131 squeak toys / squeakers sitting in front of the tree waiting for their photo shoot. I rounded them up from everywhere. Shelves in my daughter Sadie’s bedroom, the bathroom floor, my work desk, a curio cabinet and my bedroom dresser top.
I started collecting vintage squeakies when my little boy Ashton was just learning how to talk, in 2004. I found a little premade collection of about 5 or so at Value Village & the collection began to snowball from there. They don’t turn up at yard sales or thrift stores very often, so on annual antique adventures with my Mum I will linger in the vintage toy section forever trying to narrow down my purchases to the one or two squeakers I feel like I just can’t live without… (or really wouldn’t want to.) Other than that I’ve obtained most of my squeaks from the vast and glorious etsyverse. I tend to bring home only the cutest of cute or the very reasonably priced. I find the more you have bunched together, the more adorable they look, almost like they feed off one another’s cuteness.
Photo: Most of the 131 gathered by the Christmas saying “cheese!”
Photo: A close up!
With their eye catching colors and big expressive eyes, there is an irresistible sweetness, joy & innocence to these rubber toys that cheers you through life’s hardships. Their positive, smiling faces seem oblivious to the colder, harsher aspects of reality & carry you back to simpler days gone by. They don’t need batteries, buttons or anything gimmicky or flashy to grab your attention. They’re just good wholesome squeaky clean fun & besides being fun to play with & photograph, they make unique, uplifting decor!
Photo: The bunny squeaks. Sadie loves to sneak into Mommy’s photos & knew I wouldn’t be able to say no if she wore her bunny mask.
Photo: The elephant squeaks. I just love them! I had to get a group shot but I also collect elephants in general. I have a bunny collection, too, but that’s another rhyme for another time!
Photo: The Christmas squeaks! Or at least, the ones that seem to represent Christmas in some way.
My favorite pieces tend to be the ice cream colored squeakies with pretty pastels. I’m also a might bit extra smitten with the ones that are ultra silly (like the scooter driving lion or the bunny boy with a plummer’s crack) or anything oversized.
My most favorite favorites of all though are the squeakers that are dolls. A lot of them have synthetic hair you can style, and my favorites ones are my mermaids & hula girls (not pictured.) But that is a whole other collection in and of itself.
The majority of the squeaks live in my daughter Sadie’s room on shelves. I used to be anal about keeping them all together and untouched but I gave up on that recently and now she gets to take them down to bathe with or have for tea. I also have a whole bunch of vintage Disney & Looney Tunes squeaks I share with my 9 year old son. He wasn’t keen on having me disturb them from his shelves to add into my group shot, so maybe we’ll feature those another time.
Photo: A handful of my favorites. I fatally adore the ones that have the pretty pastel ice cream colors. Also, the more loopy the eyes the better. I’m a hopeless romantic for loopy eyed toys.
Photo: Spillage. Actually this was snapped during the chucking of the squeaks back into the bin. You know you’re cute & loveable when you even look good in disarray.
Thank you squeaks from all of us here at the Boopsie house to Indi for inviting us to be featured. My all-time favorite collection is the collection of the lovely people I’ve met online, you included! I really appreciate all the darling digital happiness you provide to people all over the planet! You’re a gem!
A huge thank you to Missy for sharing her collection, it’s truly made my day and inspired me to hit a few ric-rac and retro stores over the holidays in search of some squeaky goodness! If you have a collection you would like to share, please feel free to get in touch!
