Sara and Tom are parents to seven year old Ava and in May this year were forced to remortgage their house in order to fund Ava’s new-found hobby of collecting Sylvanian Families.
‘The problems started around her birthday’ explains Sara between sobs ‘she wanted the Adventure Treehouse and Walnut Squirrel Family…we agreed before we even checked the price – what idiots we were – but there was no going back, we couldn’t disappoint her on her birthday. So we ordered them from the Argos catalogue after securing a small bank loan. It all just escalated from there…before we knew it, she wanted the Log Cabin, the Caravan Playset with working oven and air con – then the Red Roof Country House with it’s its own lighting, plumbing and central heating system. By this point, we had maxed-out on all the payday loans we could get our hands on and fell into crippling debt. That’s when we knew we would have to remortgage the house’.
It is estimated that raising a child to 18 costs £150,000 with around £110,000 of that going on Sylvanian Families sets. A Deluxe Three Story Otter’s Town House will set parents back in the region of £100k. This is a large outlay for a single item, especially when you consider Otters don’t need a house, so you are roped into also buying a Canal Boat for their added comfort which they also don’t need because they are inanimate objects.
Seven year old Ava has a level headed approach to the situation: ‘Sylvanian Families were ok but I’m nearly eight now, so to be honest, I think Sylvanian Families are a bit babyish for me. I’m going to start collecting rare, vintage Barbies instead. So I need to let Mum and Dad know they will need to put the car on eBay and sell my younger brother on the dark web’.