Maybe you’ve done some spring cleaning or it’s after the Christmas holidays and you’ve gone through the kids’ bedrooms and the toy room and have amassed a nice pile of toys to give away.
Now all you need to do is find a new home for them. Check out the following ideas for selling and donating old toys.
Selling Old Toys
Have a garage sale and put the toys out there with the rest of your household items you want to sell. You can also post toys up on free online sales sites like OLX. Sometimes there are Facebook groups and pages for buying and selling kids toys and clothes for your town or city as well.
Pricing Used Toys for Sale
Before you sell your toy, it’s a good idea to search that specific used item out online and see how it is being priced in your area so you can put out a competitive price.
Many towns and cities also have baby swap meets and kids swap meets where you can rent out a table and bring everything from clothes to toys to sell. Split a table with a friend or two to cut the cost of the table.
You may want to check out a kids swap meet ahead of time to get a feel for how much things are selling for as well.
Swap Toys at Secondhand Shops
There are also some toy trader stores, and they will accept gently used toys that kids then can trade in for other gently used toys. Some secondhand shops that specialize in baby and kids clothing also take kids toys and related products, the toys should be in good condition.
Check the store policy, some will let you have a cut of the sales, others will only give you credit to buy something else from their shop.
Donate Toys to Friends and Family
Sometimes it’s easier for kids to give up their toys, especially certain ones they are very attached to, if they know they’re going to someone they know. If there are younger siblings, relatives or friends, then have the child think about which toys he could pass on to his loved ones.
Be careful with this for very young kids, they might be upset to see their toy in the hands of another, in this case these toys may be best to ‘disappear into the night.’ If the kids visit their grandparents quite a lot, another idea is to take some of these toys to grandma’s or grandpa’s so they can have toys to play with on their visits there.
Where to Donate Toys
There are a lot of places that will gladly accept toy donations. Talk to places where you and your child regularly go to such as schools, day cares, playgroups and community centers. If they don’t need the toys, they might know of a needy family or organization that could use them.
You can also call your doctor’s or dentist’s office to see if they could use some used toys.
Another idea is to look into charities or organizations that take used toys .
Gently Used Toys for Sale and Donation
Remember when you are donating or selling used toys to make sure they are in good shape, in working condition and clean.
Give them a good wipe down or stick them in the washing machine if they are machine washable. Some plastic toys, like plastic tea sets and bath toys, can be put in the dishwasher to be cleaned. If the toys are in bad shape, look at recycling, re-purposing or throwing away the toys.
If you have toys that aren’t played with any more, you could try selling them at kid swaps or on OLX for a little extra cash. You can also donate them to local charity groups or friends and family.