How Old is TOO Old?

When I first introduced my BJD's to my mom she looked at me askance and said, "isn't doll collecting sort of an old lady hobby?"

I was tripped up for a bit because I was totally prepared to defend the "dolls are for babies" argument but not at all the other way around.

The image of dusty old porcelain dolls wearing Victorian lace and sitting on doilies popped up in my mind and I thought, "Well hell, I guess it can be..."

So as usual, potato/potato. What one person's "baby" hobby is another person's "old lady" hobby. I prefer to think of myself as an art snob, but instead of fabric stretched over a wooden frame, then globbed over with colored goop, it's a realistic resin figure, customized to my vision.

Yeah, something like that.

 

As a 38 year old who just got into the hobby this year, I can say that I will never get too old to have dolls. I just have a great job so I can afford them. And I know people who have 20+ years on me that still collect BJD's.

 

There are 2 ways to consider your question. ... that bjd collecting is OK for adults, but not OLD adults?

I can tell you from my experience anyway, that the age numbers seem much less old as I personally reach them.

Old age is a social construct. The definitions and experiences of aging [old or too old] vary across cultures and throughout history. What people consider to be "old" has changed significantly just within the past 100 years in the U.S. as people live longer and healthier. It is not uncommon to hear someone say, "Grandmas aren't what they used to be"...Being identified as "old" is related not only to chronological age, but also health, functional ability, social roles, and self perception. There is calendar age = the number of times you've been around the sun, and "real age" based on all that stuff plus genetics. In the US the baby boomer generation began to turn 65 in 2011. To some degree self-perception regarding age will develop based on how the people you grew up with are behaving and perceiving themselves. [Do I sound like Bones, i.e. Dr. Brennan--renowned anthropologist ]



I'm not trying to.

The second way to look at bjd collecting is to say it is just playing with dolls
and should be limited to children.

I don't think so.

​

 

Your never too old for any type hobby. If it brings a smile to your face keep collecting.

 

I don't normally tend to display my fondness for many things, doll collecting included, but usually when I do people just give me uncomfortable looks. I've always wondered if it was because of my age (seeing as I'm 16) or something else about me. When I finally convinced my parents that this was a legitimate hobby of mine and not just some phase I was going through, the one thing my dad comment about was how I still liked dolls.
Personally, and I feel like those in the hobby would agree, there is no age limit for a hobby. It's what you do in your personal time, it shouldn't matter what others say. In terms of BJD I actually feel like the older you are, the more almost accepted it is. I don't know, that's just something I've noticed! C:

 

you're never to old for dolls my grandma had some i never thought anything about it. just like the saying:
YOLO: you only live once so do what you want with your own life.

 

I seem to recall hearing 'age is just a state of mind' somewhere, and I think it's pretty accurate. You are only too old for something when you, unbiased, feel like you are.

I've heard the line 'aren't you too old for ___' or 'a grown woman, still doing/playing/reading/watching ___' way too often, and judgmental comments sort of just lost it's effect on me. I could understand it if I had, say, wasted all my money on video games and dolls and had to borrow money to cover my living expenses. But as long as my interests does not interfere with my economy I feel like everyone else ought to butt out and mind their own beeswax. I'm going to keep playing games, collect dolls, watch cartoons/anime until they no longer appeal to me, and only then have I reached 'too old'.

 

I don't think it matters how old or young you are. So long as you enjoy yourself that's what counts. No matter what you do there will always be people who judge others negatively but that's their problem not yours. Maybe they are just jealous or not very open minded. Meeting and talking to others with similar interests is the fun part and who cares about age?

 

I am 25, and I never really pay attention to what other people think about my hobbies, I have always been odd or weird. My friends and family know that. I have never gotten the 'to old ' comments, I am more likely to get the 'those are weird' or 'creepy' (I have a friend with doll issues, he is the only one of my friends who can get away with it). The only people who's opinions matter (friends and family) are all okay with it, as long as I am financially responsible (I admit I am not great with money).

Although I will say that it isn't a matter of being to old it really is that awkward middle ground between 10-40ish, once you hit middle school most people thing you are too old for dolls, but doll collecting is an 'old lady hobby' (not that forty is old, my grandma is 75 and that lady is not old yet) so a teenager or twenty something who collects expensive dolls is 'odd' because that is not what people that age do.

I say its best not to worry about social convention. I would much rather be the odd 25 year old who collects weird expensive dolls then the 25 year old that partied to much as a teenager and ended up with kids they can't feed and a a bad liver (sad story for some people I went to high school with).

 

The old vs. young is more out in the open in dk, at least around me.
When my class mates back in highschool-college (don't know what's it's closest to in other countries) found out i collected dolls they all gave me a blank stare, then laughed and said that they knew i was weird, but not that weird!

Later when they found out i also enjoyed heavy metal, and loads of alternate music, likes Lolita-clothing (japanese street fashion for hte few who doesn't know) games and anime and manga they took quite the distance to me. Few, very few loved that i was different and became my friends.

Suffice to say, my near family found my newly aquired hobby riddiculous. (my dad never minded what i liked, aslong as i stayed the same, bless him..) So at a point i seriously considered to get rid of my Mich. I never could though, but i hid him from everyone and kept him to myself in fear of what others thought of me. I already knew my mom found them too expensive and it was riddicoulous that a 18-year old would want dolls. Others found me too old to collect dolls, mostly because they saw dolls as a childrens toy, when i told them the price of this 'childrens toy' they got all: that's insane!
I originally always loved dolls and inherited a lot of antiques from my grandmother. Here it was quite normal for an old lady to want antiques, and little girls to want pretty barbies. But i wanted the antiques, i wanted different and so i hated the barbies i always got

Now i don't care who knows, and i think that came with the age. After leaving school and all the prejudice among young barbies who want to be like everyone else i feel more free. My mother can think what she wants and so can everyone else. I no longer hide them, on the contrary, i openly talk about them if people ask about them. But i think getting friends who love you like you are, helps alot

So you should find the ones that matters and let the barbies and butches think what they want in the age between barbies and antiques.
But so to say, i don't think theres an age requirement for these dolls i think there's prejudice, and that can affect what the majority thinks of you and your hobby. But they shoudl really wake up and get out of the little box they stuffed themselves into.
Even Barbies have made into collectibles, with special outfits and hair not for playing with!

 

I rather see it as "how young is to young", haha, like a few of you have said, doll collecting feels more like a old lady thing ^^
I can totally see my self sitting in my house when i'm 60 years old, making wigs, sewing clothes and knitting things to them
That's kind of how i see my life, I'll take a step back from the bjd hobby when I get a family, children and that stuff. But when they've moved out, I'll be back!
Then I have all the time in the world to spend on my dolls

 

I think I have to agree with Noxis, really.
I can see me forever doing everything ever. Sculpting dolls, making stuff for them, maybe one day opening shops if I find that I can do well enough and learn enough.

Generally, if I sit down and watch every tutorial ever that generally tells me, I'm in it for life haha xD.

But yes, I don't think there's a too old.
I think there's a "Grow out of" for everything for some people (again I don't see me growing out of it) but never a too old.

Excellent debate topic and the answers I read were really kind of thrilling to hear the difference in opinion even in the slightest ranges sometimes.

 

I think that as long as you enjoy something and it is not harming anyone that you should continue to do it for as long as you want. If we always catered to everyone else's ideas then nothing would ever get done. You should just do what makes you happy.

 

As with Saishi, above, I'm also into my 30s and lucky enough to have a job that means I can afford them... I also care much less about what other people think of my hobbies than I would have done 10 / 15 years ago! Having said that, I still haven't taken the dolls anywhere public for a photoshoot... And getting them does seem to have been misinterpreted by some people as me feeling 'broody'. Meh. Though most of my friends are generally impressed that I'm still (at my advanced age!) doing something creative!

 

That's beautiful! I also can see myself like that when I get older they will remind of old times and that I've never been alone.

 

What wonderful and different view points have been expressed in this thread. I would like to thank the person who introduced the HFC acronym, I had not heard that one before, and at age 49, I find it oh, SO descriptive! I learned to sew for my dolls at age 6 and I am not giving it up any time soon. My theory about doll collecting is, to borrow an old Wiccan phrase," And it harm none, do as thou wilt.."

 

I used to collect Barbie and I frequented a couple of Barbie-specific forums. At the time, I was probably late 30s/early 40s (I'm 47 now) and I was, by far, one of the youngest people participating. Doll collecting is definitely a playground for older women. In fact, given the luxury price of BJDs, I was a bit surprised at how many younger collectors there are here. When Barbie Bazaar and Haute Doll were still in publication, they would often have photo spreads of doll events, and it seemed like the average age was, maybe 40-50 years old.

Being able to interact with collectors of all ages is what makes BJDs so rewarding. I'm an old fart and while I love knowing that there are other fans my age, I also enjoy the younger ones, too. I'm continually amazed at the creativity and fearlessness younger fans seem to have when it comes to creating the doll of their dreams.

My paternal grandmother died when I was very young, but I remember her extensive porcelain doll collection and wish I had at least one of them to remember her by. I think, if she was still alive, she would have loved BJDs!

 

this is honestly a totally moot question to me. that others might see me as being too old or too young just seems so irrelevant as to be laughable.

also - it's women (and men) in their late 20s and onwards who are most likely to have the income to support this hobby. all the people struggling to buy/save for their dream dolls that i know of, are in high school or college, or around that age. if anything, doll collecting becomes far more practical as people get older, graduate college, and get a career to fund it.

(of course, the irony of this is that i don't have a career due to having to drop out of college because of my poor health... but i'm pretty much an exception to my observational rule which i still hold to be true for the majority of people)

 

I want to thank Wishingfor Reality for sharing this quote from her Grandpa:

"Madison, don't ever stop doing the things that made you happy when you were little. Don't ever be too old for anything you love."

I read it yesterday and kept thinking about it today. It made me realize that maybe I wasn't rebelling against a practical frugal lifestyle so much as reclaiming joy by becoming involved in this often misunderstood hooby of ours - after qualifying for the 1/2 century club, which is when I could finally afford it

 

I think hobby if more of adults, mainly because of the cost of the dolls and accessories,etc. It would be virtually impossible for a kid ( 4 - 12 years of age) to get a BJD unless someone gave it to them as a present. The dolls themselves require maintenance as well and in my opinion, it isnt something a 7 year old can do.

So... Too old for the hobby ? No way!! if anything, the older you are, the better because you are financially stable and for those who have retired, you have more time to spend on the hobby :P