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Huggs To Go

The Story Behind Huggs To Go

It started with a promise

In 1995, our founder was 35 years old, the mother of two young boys, and newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Her sons, 7 and 4, cried every time they were apart from her, even when she lay down for a nap. She promised them that when she got better, she would find a way for them not to miss each other so much.

She got better. Years later her youngest was still struggling to sleep on his own. Photos of Mom and Dad calmed him, but you cannot hug a photo. So when his school held an invention contest, they made one together: a soft doll with a pocket for a picture. He called it his Sleeping Buddy. It was handmade and, in her words, not pretty at all, but it worked.

The name came from him too. Whenever she came home he would run to her saying, “Huggee, huggee, I missed you.” So the first dolls were called Huggee Miss You dolls, and the company became Huggs To Go.

She and her family began showing the dolls to stores in the spring of 1999 and shipped the first order that October, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

A doll for families who are apart

The dolls found their most important home with military families. A deployed parent’s photo, and on a recordable doll their voice, gives a child something to hold until they come home. Many military families still call them daddy dolls and mommy dolls.

For a number of years, Huggs To Go also supplied dolls to Operation Give a Hug, a program that gave photo dolls to the children of deployed service members. That program has since closed. Along the way, the story was featured on NBC Nightly News and in The New York Times and Army Times.

Huggs To Go today

In 2024, Huggs To Go came under new ownership. The dolls are made to the same design our founder created, and orders ship from our warehouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

What we make

Every Huggs To Go doll has a clear pocket over its embroidered face that holds a 2 by 3 inch photo, so you can change the picture whenever you like. Recordable dolls, $19.95, also play back a 10 second message in a loved one’s voice. Non recordable dolls are $16.95. All of them are hypoallergenic and safe for all ages, and the non recordable dolls are machine washable.

We also supply schools, family readiness groups, units and nonprofits in quantity, with purchase orders welcome.

Shop the dolls | Bulk and group orders