Where do your Tonies live? 10 creative storage ideas

Tonies have taken up residence in thousands of children’s bedrooms – and they’re great wee things. You pop them on top of the Toniebox and a kid’s audiobook begins to play. Any child can work it.

The only downside is Tonies aren’t conveniently stackable like the cassettes or CDs of yesteryear. They’re compact, but awkward. And as a large family, they do need a fair bit of space. My kids stored their figurines in the Tonie Transporter right up until the zip threatened to burst. And due to the lack of space, I was regularly finding our little additions to the family scattered across the house. So, we recently bought ourselves an inexpensive gold wall shelf to store them. We’ll be putting it up soon.

There are a bunch of other ways to give your Tonies a convenient, stylish home. Let me show you a few of them here.

1. Readymade: the Tonie wall shelf

Storing children’s book figurines is evidently a well-known problem – wall shelves designed especially for Tonies have been available to buy for a while now. But they’re not cheap. Depending on the size, they’ll set you back between 80 and 200 francs.

This’ll get you shelves in all kinds of colours and shapes. They look suitably pretty and are specially tailored to match the figurines as well as the Toniebox and charging station.

2. Cheap but tricky: the house

If you want to fork out less, build your Tonies a house. Or buy them one. Wall-mounted houses are cheap and can be knocked into a mini shelving unit using glue and small wooden slats. They also come in edgier wicker versions without the back panel. And you can scale up the housing project, too – with a doll’s house.

There are countless online DIY tutorials ranging from easy to complex, which demonstrate how you can repurpose a doll’s house into a colourful Tonie shelf, complete with night lights. The end result can be set up on the floor of the children’s bedroom or mounted on the wall.

3. Calling time on the tough-to-store: the wall clock

Tonie figures are magnetic – a characteristic you can use to your advantage when tidying them away. Although they’re probably not much use on the fridge, they might be well placed on the rim of a wall clock. If the clock isn’t magnetic, just wind some magnetic tape around it.

While we’re on the topic of round objects: old cake tins can step up to the plate here, too.

4. From uninspired to practical: the display cabinet

To me, the display cabinet is the embodiment of Swiss conservatism. Thanks to home-seeking Tonie figures, however, it’s finally got its raison d’être.

With randomly assorted slots and diverse shapes, they’re no longer called display cabinets – they’re just wall shelves. And that immediately makes them a touch cooler.

5. Put them in the picture: the photo frame

Why not use the animals, fairy tale figures and cartoon characters as subjects for pictures? The frames can be jazzed up with wooden strips – and a little effort. Magnetic metal disks can be used in lieu of screws to ensure that the Tonies don’t topple over. Alternatively, you could buy magnetic adhesive pads with iron foil or simply stick on a coin.

The only thing to bear in mind is that the frame needs to be deep enough for the Tonies to stand on.

6. Out of sight: the drawer organiser

If you’d rather have the Tonies hidden away instead of centre stage, you can pop them into a drawer with a divider. In doing so, you basically create a in-drawer imitation of the display cabinet. What’s more, they suddenly no longer need dusting.

7. Line ‘em up: the picture ledge

You can normally use picture ledges to arrange your photos, vases, candle or other accessories. In a kid’s bedroom, however, they can play host to Tonies.

Here too, it’s beneficial to use a metallic one. That way, the figurines will stick to either the top or bottom of the ledge (or coin).

8. Dangling from the door: the hanging organiser

A door’s a door. Or is it? With the right hanging organiser attached, a door can also serve as a storage space. Of course, the hanger doesn’t necessarily have to go on the door. It also cuts a fine figure on a bunk bed, cupboard or simply on the wall.

9. Not just for travelling: the Tonie bag

This storage idea also involves giving the Tonies a place to hang out. If you’ve got a camera bag lying around at home, you can repurpose is as a storage solution for the figurines, charging station and box.

If you’re not exactly nifty with a needle and thread, specially designed Tonie bags are also available to buy. You can get them from various different manufacturers in loads of shapes and colours.

10. Nice and simple: the box or the basket

If that’s all a bit too fancy for you, I’ll finish off by recommending the simplest option of all: store the Tonies just as you would any other toy. Shove them in a box – put a lid on it if need be – and that’s it.