Do your families know the cost of / support your dolls?

My family knows of the hobby, and my mom, the price. She doesn't approve, and yet helped me buy nice supplies for doing faceups for my dolls. My dad is real supportive, though he doesn't really get the appeal.

I have a weird family.

 

My husband would have a coronary if he knew how much my dolls actually cost! He is a cyclist, and spends a small fortune on bikes, so I time my doll purchases with his bike purchases, so that I can say “but you spent THIS on a bike!!!”. Lol

 

This is something that always bothers me! For whatever reason, people are super judgmental about the doll community. I know plenty of people who have luxury hobbies like you mentioned, with my own SO into guitars and vinyl records. That stuff can get really expensive too, but when it's a doll it's like... WELL that's just too expensive.

My SO is very supportive, but sometimes I have to remind them that it's the same as their hobby lol. My family and friends don't get the appeal, but they let me spam them with pics when I'm excited.

 

My parents knew I was in the hobby since I showed them my first two dolls (I got them when I lived at home), but I definitely didn’t want the to know the real cost since I would have never heard the end of it. It’s been over a decade since then; I don’t think they even remember the dolls exist. I've since ordered one and am working on another. In my opinion, if they aren’t paying for it it’s not their business how much I spend on hobbies.

 

Support? Yes. I've been obsessed with Barbies and other dolls since I was like 2, and I had always told my parents when I was little that when I grew up I'd be a doll collector and get the "expensive ones".... Although at the time I didn't know what kind of dolls yet. So yeah my parents pretty much expected it.

As for prices? They know they're expensive, like over $100, but don't know exact numbers.... Definitely won't be telling them how much I spend on Ringdoll's Hua Cheng when he's released They also probably wouldn't be able to guess the price differences and range of BJDs. I obviously don't know for sure but I feel like they're kinda under the impression that BJDs range from $100-$300 LMAO

 

My parents don't know the price of the dolls exactly. They know that they're expensive but they are supportive in their own way! My dad is always asking about my dolls backstories and my mom will tell me if she thinks a sculpt is creepy but also say that other ones are cute (mainly the animals lol) but they've never told me to stop collecting or anything like that! They even helped me build my Billy to display them and always come in to check in on them from time to time. My partner on the other hand doesn't like dolls at all lol but they don't say anything hurtful or mean about my dolls because they know I love them! They just find dolls in general to be creepy/scary so our compromise is they stay in my office with me and everyone's happy!

 

My husband doesn't mind my dolls and says he's happy I have something I like. My collection isn't huge but I've been luck to be able to purchase what I have. My DC Bella was an anniversary gift from him and my DC Gladys I pre-ordered and worked a shift every Sunday for a few months to cover the payment. It's easy spend a lot because even though I say I may not buy another I'm already saving for my next

 

My parents are semi-supportive. They call me weird but also ask positive questions so it is interesting. My fiancé completely supports my bjd hobby, especially because he has a collection for some action figures. It nice to have a little support, even if they don't totally get it.

 

When most people ask about BJDs, I tend to go on a short spiel about how they can be expensive but they are made, usually to order, primarily by small companies and independent artists, they're art pieces, they're made of durable but expensive materials, the usual thing, but I don't tell them the exact numbers lol
If any of my friends who have their own expensive and maybe slightly unusual hobbies ever asked though, I think I might tell them, at least if I think they'd understand.

 

I started collecting when I got my first job, but for years before that I begged my mom to buy a doll for me. She never even considered buying one after she found out the prices, though. She saw this hobby as a waste of money at first, but these days she's just happy that I'm happy, since I've stuck with this for years.

My best friend has an idea, I think I've told her a price range before. She collects Bratz dolls and in a way she understands me, but she's still new to the doll collecting hobby and she's mortified at the amount of money she's spent. She follows some BJD owners on Instagram, but she's not interested in spending that much.

My spouse knows that the prices are somewhere in the hundreds and he knows some of my crew were more expensive than others. He has his own hobbies, so while he doesn't get dolls at all, he kind of gets me. There's a duality to him, like when I was trying to decide between two dolls, he immediately suggested I get them both. But sometimes he tries to protest my attempts at filling our already too-small apartment with more "creepy" dolls.

 

That's so sweet though! Them being supportive even though they don't like dolls themselves and even helping you pick things out is awesome.

I...hide from everyone. I just don't necessarily want to be judged since I don't think people around me would get it, or refrain from giving me their unsolicited opinion. I've mentioned it to a friend who said he once spent a lot of money on some other collector item, so I was like "Oh...well me too!" I don't care what people think, especially since most people do spend crazy amounts of money on whatever it is that interests them, but I do try to not actively talk about it to make my life easier, and avoid arguments most of the time. That's just me most of the time though, so it's not necessarily a doll-specific thing. I do like that some of you are way more open about it, even if people aren't so supportive!

 

My family does not really care, as for my mom she is iffy about it.
She is not scared of dolls but she does think they are kind of creepy, so that plus me trying to scare her sometimes with my dolls, telling her I will put them in her bedroom at night to spook her , does not help.
As for the price, I do not tell her how much they are because I know she will tell me something.
I am not sure if she thinks they are around the same price as my anime figures or if she know they are more expensive, but I do not plan to ask her how much she thinks they are because she will try to pry it out of me haha.

 

My family have always supported me being into dolls in general but I generally play fast and loose with the total cost of some of my BJDs…but I justify it as everyone has hobbies and overall I try not to spend too much to the point that it’s detrimental and limit myself that way

 

My parents supported me for my hobby.

 

I feel really lucky, my husband was surprisingly supportive when I got Hana. I'd had some big-head/eye, off-topic dolls that he found super creepy lol so he didn't love those, but he actually commented on how cool BJD's seemed (he liked how possible they are and how I could use them for posing/drawing reference for work) and encouraged me to keep sewing for them and asks how my writing for their stories is going. It's really cute.

And growing up my mom always had dolls in a curio cabinet and really encouraged me being into dolls, even as an adult. She'd made some comments about how much money I was spending on them, but like, I have a full time well paying job and get all my bills paid soooo, I'll do what I want! Lol. But with other people it isn't something I bring up, except with super close friends. A few have expressed being creeped out by dolls though so I don't really share unless people seem genuinely curious/interested.

 

Only my partner really knows about my dolls, and they are in the hobby as well. No one else I'm related to has any idea about them, and I couldn't care less what they'd think if they did.

 

My husbond buy me all dolls and accessories when I ask him since 5 years now. He never sais no. But I havent bought the most expensive. I think he likes them, or more he likes me to be happy. I got a own studio-room for sewing and creating 6 month ago. My son moved out. Dolls is not my husbonds thing. He have other hobbies. All my friends know about my dolls, but never ask. My sister knows a bit, but aren't interested. She have other hobbies too. But I bought a Nakana head to make a minimee of her. She know the cost, and was happy I bought it.
My last buy was 4 Dollshes. Still waiting. Most of mine is second handed.

 

My mom does not know how expensive my dolls are, so I am safe haha. I live alone so she has never seen my BJDs in real life. I have showed her many photos of my darling boys and she always likes them since she knows their characters quite well. Mom has, however, always know about my doll hobby since I have collected Pullip dolls for 11 years. So it's not a new thing to her that I buy expensive dolls. :'D Buuut I will never tell her how expensive BJDs are, she would never get it.

My partner is a doll collector herself so she obviously gets me. My closest friends also collect different types of dolls so there's not really anything new under the sun with this. I consider myself quite lucky since people in my life have taken my doll hobby pretty well.

 

My family did not like my interest in dolls and did not fully approve of it until I started to make my own money. Even though I could only spent my allowance on food and only received dolls as gifts (and the price was up to the person buying it) they viewed the interest itself as an overly childish one. I was sewing and making miniatures, doing all kinds of creative stuff, meeting new people, but they did not understand how a teenager and soon to be adult can be enjoying it so much. When I bought my first doll with my own money as a Christmas present for myself, I was hesitant of whether I should show it to my family at first, but their reaction was different this time. They were surprised that my interest was still there, but I had my own money and they could not complain anymore Also my mom shows some interest in my dolls herself. Her reaction was always mixed, kind of going from excitement to annoyance and back. Now she is just curious and I love it

 

I think my parents would not have been supportive of the price when I was a teenager, but my mom was really supportive when I mentioned wanting to sew for dolls. And now my dad knows I'm an adult and it's my money, so he never gets onto me. I recently talked to him about the big purchase I hope to make for the new DoD pre-order (and even mentioned the amount), and he didn't try to steer me away from the purchase. Ironically, the person who tells me I should save my money/should watch what I buy is a friend of mine in the hobby, lmao.