First Down for Happy Dinosaur

Why seeing a Happy Dinosaur flying across the UConn football field is a good thing...

Jul 6, 2022

There was a pink dinosaur that once lived in the hallways of the fifth floor of Peter J. Werth Tower at UConn. This dinosaur bounced around from dorm to dorm before finding his permanent residence in room 546. I would not be lying if I said this dinosaur had a rough life. Living with two college guys left Happy Dinosaur frequently in awkward positions; for instance, on one occasion, Happy Dinosaur’s limbs and tail were all inverted and on another his head was mushed into a small plastic bag. More often Happy Dinosaur was getting tossed around on the track and field outside the dorm building where he would constantly get thrown around or tossed high above the stadium lighting.

Above: Happy Dinosaur wizzes past Gampel offices while being tossed over the 10 yard line.

I would often see Happy Dinosaur hit the field and bounce yards away after landing from being tossed into the air. (By this time I had made sure Happy Dinosaur was well and paid for, as I would never sell a dirty plushie.) In his accumulated hours on the track, Happy Dinosaur had sustained several critical hits, tumbled through snow and dirt, been punted, and rolled around on boosted boards.

At this point, you may wonder, why does this even matter?

I like to ensure the integrity of Happy Dinosaur to maintain a standard of quality and safety for all ages of consumers. I typically test every dinosaur before sending them out by tugging on their seams and several Happy Dinosaurs have even survived rough play tests with customer’s dogs. But of all those “stress-tests,” there is no better reassurance of the quality of my hand-made plushies than getting punted and mauled by some college guys.

By the end of the semester the pink Happy Dinosaur remained perfectly intact, without a stitch out of place. He remained pretty clean for having been exposed to every kind of weather the New England seasons could offer. Despite having his arms and legs turned inside out his stuffing stayed evenly dispersed (I was surprised, as I was expecting a very lumpy dinosaur post limb relocation).

I was encouraged by Happy Dinosaur’s durability and when recently asked how sturdy the the hand-sewn seams are, I was happy to say: very, very sturdy. The quality of my products is very important to me, especially since some of my Happy Dinosaurs find homes with babies and toddlers. I certainly hope all my Happy Dinosaurs don’t get quite so roughed up as this UConn dinosaur did, but know that they are tough enough to handle it.