All about stuffies! | Golden Skate

All about stuffies!

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie
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Mar 14, 2007
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As many people know, stuffies are one of my favorite parts of figure skating and something that is as far as I know unique to figure skating. I vaguely remember flowers, particularly roses, being thrown when I was very young, but it seems to have somehow migrated mostly to stuffed animals, i'm guessing for safety reasons. What does everyone here know about this unique tradition - for example, does anyone know what the first stuffie ever thrown was? (I don't and am dying to know).
 

Winnie_20

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
Sorry, got no answer, but my favorite things to throw on the ice are stuffed flowers; the best of both worlds! :laugh:
 

Arriba627

TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION 🔥
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Jun 2, 2014
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Winnie are you bringing some of your cool flowers to IdF?
 

lappo

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 12, 2016
As many people know, stuffies are one of my favorite parts of figure skating and something that is as far as I know unique to figure skating. I vaguely remember flowers, particularly roses, being thrown when I was very young, but it seems to have somehow migrated mostly to stuffed animals, i'm guessing for safety reasons. What does everyone here know about this unique tradition - for example, does anyone know what the first stuffie ever thrown was? (I don't and am dying to know).

Here is an article about this topic: http://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2015/11/from-carnations-to-kale-curious-history.html
 

Seven Sisters

Medalist
Joined
Jul 17, 2018
Sorry, got no answer, but my favorite things to throw on the ice are stuffed flowers; the best of both worlds! :laugh:

I have always wondered where folks find those, because I’ve never seen them for sale anywhere. Care to share your source? Thanks!
 

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie
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Mar 14, 2007
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United-States
I have always wondered where folks find those, because I’ve never seen them for sale anywhere. Care to share your source? Thanks!

I would like to know this as well. Also, when bouquets of flowers are offered to skaters - typically from what I have seen by the skaters exit - is this typically prearranged? If not and the skater does not come over, does one throw them onto the ice anyway?
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
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Jan 9, 2017
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Olympics
I would like to know this as well. Also, when bouquets of flowers are offered to skaters - typically from what I have seen by the skaters exit - is this typically prearranged? If not and the skater does not come over, does one throw them onto the ice anyway?

No, they are given to staff at the rink if the skater does not come over to collect them. Flowers are not permitted to be thrown on the ice unless they are sealed shut completely. And some venues do not allow them at all.

It's not fun running over flower pieces (that cannot be seen well) with your skate blade.
 

Arriba627

TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION 🔥
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Don't know if anyone is interested in plush flowers, but if you do a search on Amazon, you'll find that they sell all different kinds, and they are much cheaper than when you buy them at the competition. I remember paying $5 for a single plush flower at the competition. Ebay has them too. I saw 16 flowers for $13.99.

I'll be on the hunt for more animals, as I probably just used about half of my "menagerie" for Sk Amer. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2b/9b/66/2b9b6636169738178ff877c5b84449b7.jpg
In fact one of the monkeys and the purple bears made it to Jason's delivery to Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas. https://twitter.com/luglio/status/1187066526966272000?s=20
 

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie
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Mar 14, 2007
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No, they are given to staff at the rink if the skater does not come over to collect them. Flowers are not permitted to be thrown on the ice unless they are sealed shut completely. And some venues do not allow them at all.

It's not fun running over flower pieces (that cannot be seen well) with your skate blade.

Oh I know they have to be covered completely. They announce that over and over.
 

Winnie_20

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
Winnie are you bringing some of your cool flowers to IdF?
No, only a stuffed flower this time, no other flower thingies. I kind of forgot...

I have always wondered where folks find those, because I’ve never seen them for sale anywhere. Care to share your source? Thanks!
My source is actually a Dutch open air market called the Vrijmarkt (Free market) on King’s Day. Wikipedia calls it a jumble sale, a free-for-all market, and no taxes are collected. It is not organized by charities or churches or anything like that, though.

King’s Day vrijmarkt means everybody goes outside and tries to sell as much as their old stuff as possible. You need to be willing to get little money for it, though. ;-) Last April I wasn’t really on the lookout for goodies, but more or less by accident found a cute stuffed flower. The year before then, though, they were everywhere at the market.
Most of these things look like new, probably most of them are, too, because people just use those things for decoration in children’s rooms etc. I just pick out the good ones and put them in the washing machine et voila.
As for price, if you play it well, you can usually buy them for anywhere between 0.10 to 0.50 eurocents. I simply don’t pay more than that.

Edit: of course, in the absence of a freemarkwt and the presence of the internet, you can also just go to a Chinese site like aliexpress and buy them new in batches of ten or so and pay about 7-8 dollars total, shipping included. ;-) ;-) ;-)
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Stupid question about holiday-themed plush animals:

I purchased some on clearance after Halloween. Luckily, several are at least somewhat generic-looking and do not scream "Halloween."

But one of them is a cute black cat with orange ears and a witch's hat.
Should I feel ridiculous :hopelessness: if I were to throw the cat/witch for a skater at U.S. Nats in January -- many months after Halloween?

Or should I save the cat/witch for next October and 2020 Skate America? Although I'm sure I won't decide whether I am going to Skate America again until well after Nats.

If it would not be ridiculous to throw the cat/witch at Nats, I actually might buy a couple more (b/c of the reduced price :devil:).

(Even if I were to cut off the witch's hat, the black-and-orange cat still would look very Halloween-ish.)​

My question is not just about Halloween. Would it be ridiculous to throw a red Valentine bear at Skate America? etc., etc.
 

TallyT

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Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Country
Australia
Stupid question about holiday-themed plush animals:

I purchased some on clearance after Halloween. Luckily, several are at least somewhat generic-looking and do not scream "Halloween.

But one of them is a cute black cat with orange ears and a witch's hat.
Should I feel ridiculous :hopelessness: if I were to throw the cat/witch for a skater at U.S. Nats in January -- many months after Halloween?



The ears are okay I guess... could you carefully unpick the hat?

(I can't talk, my own beloved toy collection includes this...
https://www.giantmicrobes.com/au/products/braincell.html

... which I adore but wouldn't dream of throwing at someone who might think it was saying something unkind...)​
 

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie
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Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Country
United-States
Stupid question about holiday-themed plush animals:

I purchased some on clearance after Halloween. Luckily, several are at least somewhat generic-looking and do not scream "Halloween.

But one of them is a cute black cat with orange ears and a witch's hat.
Should I feel ridiculous :hopelessness: if I were to throw the cat/witch for a skater at U.S. Nats in January -- many months after Halloween?

Or should I save the cat/witch for next October and 2020 Skate America? Although I'm sure I won't decide whether I am going to Skate America again until well after Nats.

If it would not be ridiculous to throw the cat/witch at Nats, I actually might buy a couple more (b/c of the reduced price :devil:).

(Even if I were to cut off the witch's hat, the black-and-orange cat still would look very Halloween-ish.)​

My question is not just about Halloween. Would it be ridiculous to throw a red Valentine bear at Skate America? etc., etc.

I go out after every holiday (midnight at Walmart) and collect all sorts of stuffies. I never found anything decent after this Halloween;(. I got a bunch of rabbits and chucks and things after Easter. I threw a pink bunny to a skater in Philly, which was well received, and Donovan a stuffed chicken (hey! He took it with him! Not sure how long he kept it but it left with him!). For the most part I don’t worry about it too much. I might throw the witch cat around Halloween. I would throw a red bear probably anytime. I love people who obsess about this stuff as much as I do!

My secret weapon is Savers, where I can often get 3 beanie babies for like a dollar. And I got some beautiful ones on clearance after New Years.,.a multicolored owl and a unicorn. The owl went to Oona Brown who seemed pleased. The unicorn went to my poor Alexa, who was having none of it.
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Feb 27, 2012
Come on guys - I'm tellin' ya, Valentine's Day is the key!!!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2b/9b/66/2b9b6636169738178ff877c5b84449b7.jpg

Thanks for the great photo, Arriba.
I knew that in another thread you had discussed and shown your adorable (and large) menagerie :luv17:, but I could not remember which thread. And I had forgotten that it originated from Valentine's Day.

Thanks also to TallyT and moonvine for your helpful replies.
So … I will not go back and buy a bigger stash of cat/witches, which would not be suitable until my next Skate America.


… The owl went to Oona Brown who seemed pleased. ...

Happy to hear that Oona is among the many to whom you have shown love.


… (I can't talk, my own beloved toy collection includes this...
https://www.giantmicrobes.com/au/products/braincell.html ...

... which I adore but wouldn't dream of throwing at someone who might think it was saying something unkind...)

Never dreamed that I would see a plush neuron. :laugh:

I agree about the risk of it being misunderstood if thrown to a skater … although I seem to recall reading about more than one current skater -- can't remember which ones -- who is studying neuroscience and might love such a thing. :)
 

Arriba627

TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION 🔥
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Joined
Jun 2, 2014
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United-States
^^^You're welcome ice coverage! Also these were all from Walgreen's or Walmart at greatly reduced prices, post Valentine's Day. Some were as much as 80% off.
 

moonvine

All Hail Queen Gracie
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Joined
Mar 14, 2007
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United-States
Never dreamed that I would see a plush neuron. :laugh:

I agree about the risk of it being misunderstood if thrown to a skater … although I seem to recall reading about more than one current skater -- can't remember which ones -- who is studying neuroscience and might love such a thing. :)

Some of them are adorable..like this one..though I would not want to throw a skater e.coli...https://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/ecoli.html
 

Seven Sisters

Medalist
Joined
Jul 17, 2018
Someone threw a rat stuffie on the ice for Deniss Vasiljevs in the men’s short at Rostelecom earlier today. Now, it was a cute stuffie, mind you, dressed in shades and trenchcoat, but it was still a rat. I wasn’t sure that this was the kind of message you would want to send to your favorite skater :)

Deniss and Stephane seemed amused by it, though, and had it sitting up in the KnC with them.
 
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