On Feb. 26, the Campus Activities held their Create-a-Critter event in the Union Building Living Room. Many eager students showed up half an hour before the event to choose their favorite stuffed animal. Kendall Johnson, DePauw Campus Activities coordinator, said, “You could tell people knew what they wanted. The bunnies ran out fast, so I’ll probably have to buy a double order next time.” Despite Johnson purchasing over 100 plushies, they were all gone in a matter of 10 minutes upon the start of the event. Johnson said, “I wasn’t going to do this ever again, but it blew up. I’ll probably bring it back around March or April. I’ll also buy twice as many animals. I was sad to tell people waiting in line that there were no more animals. I will do this again, I promise.” She added, “The company Neon Entertainment had over 60 different animals to choose from. Unfortunately, this time the tigers were out of stock, but I’ll try to order them next time for sure.”
The excitement was not unprecedented, considering the wide selection of adorable options such as tan bears, goats, whales, siamese cats, bunnies, orangutans and pterodactyls. All the different critters came with a custom T-shirt, which Johnson designed herself on Canva, and an adoption certificate to write the critter’s name, birthdate, adopter’s name and stuffer’s name. Participants could also put a little heart with a thoughtful message inside their stuffed animal as a blessing for good wishes to the recipient. Looking around the packed living room, students and staff happily stuffed their critters while conversing with their friends.
Johnson shared, “I remember doing this event my freshman and junior year and really enjoying it. I knew I had to bring it back, so I found a website around January of Winter Term. I picked out animals that were trendy and cute because I knew students would love them. I placed the order, and soon, they were shipped here.” Lastly, Johnson added that she anticipates future events such as food trucks, a park event, bingo night, trivia night and paint and sip coming soon.
