For years I've wondered why there aren't places that will accept used toys at Christmastime. I know, of course, you can donate toys and other items to D.I. year-round, but I always wanted to give my "nicer" used toys to another cause. Like a Toys for Tots of sorts. None of those places existed as far as I knew, so I figured I would give it a shot in our community (stake). I put the word out simply through our neighborhood facebook pages and by emailing the various RS presidents in our stake. It was a slow start, but we ended up collecting quite a bit of used toys. Now that we have a house, we could store it all in the basement. Every time a box of toys were dropped off at our house, it became a bit of a problem. My kids loved all the new playthings (I tried to prevent it at first, but then it was impossible to avoid), but they fought over them like crazy! Even the baby toy ball popper (below)- all 3 kids were fighting over taking turns. It was insane.
Twice prior to the actual toy swap, a few friends came over and we cleaned all the toys. I was so luck y to have so many people willing to help out. I had people clean, help load up toys and deliver the toys to the church, and then others who helped set up and clean up afterwards and sit with me during the swap. It's amazing what can be done by some able bodied women!
The night of the toy swap went pretty well. We had a rush in the first 30 minutes and then it got pretty slow. I would say we got rid of more than half the toys (and all of the big toys). So I thought it was a big success! I'm thinking of doing it again next year, because I know a few things I would have done differently.
The toy swap was for anyone and everyone, but I was really hoping it would be helpful to some people, especially for Christmas. We had a lot of people come up and thank us. And my neighbor relayed a message to me from her friend who thanked us, because she would not have had a Christmas for her son otherwise. That made it all worth it.
The funniest part about the whole night was this...Reed, Taryn, and Corbin all showed up with my mom at one point. They were browsing the toys and the stuffed animal table, in particular. Well I had donated a few of our own toys to the cause but hadn't told the kids. Mind you , they were toys they hadn't played with for a long time. Within a few minutes, Reed had found his old stuffed frog that he NEVER slept or played with, but he was begging to take it back (3 weeks later, and he has slept with it every night). Taryn was also browsing and came across that stuffed dog from above. About 12 months ago, I did some clearing out of toys and that one ended up in the basement. I sometimes will put them in a box and see if they ask about it and, if not, it gets donated. Well I forgot about donating it and a few months ago, Taryn started talking about that dog. She was sad she didn't have it anymore, but she had convinced herself that it had died and gone to heaven. So now I wasn't sure what to do?? Should I still just donate it or do I "bring it back from the dead?" I decided to donate it to the toy swap. Needless to say, she spotted that dog and in much excitement, realized that it was her dog. I told her it must have run away to the toy swap because it wasn't being played with (I know, mean mom right?) I told her she could bring it back home ONLY if it wasn't neglected again, or else it could run away again. We got a good laugh out of it.
