My favorite dollar stretching article this week is The Argument for Secondhand Toys

Buying used is one of the ways I have kept the expense children add down. If you joined us for the Christmas Club, joined the Debt Freeze challenge or just need some tips for spending less on the holidays....it's time to consider how much you might save by using a gently played with toy as a gift this year.

 

I have found (at Goodwill), and am still looking for, good-looking toys, toys still in the box!, and clean stuffed animals for the charity boxes. I have no children to buy for in the family, so this is fun for me. Everything so far looks good, even new, so some kids will be happy.

Jane_b:

good-looking toys, toys still in the box

I have made some good buys with combing through the toy aisles of thrift stores all year. I have also purchased on Ebay but those usually cost a bit more, though less than what I would have paid new for exactly what my child wanted.

 

So many of our toys had a former home. To either receive them free from family or buy discounted is a huge savings for us and allows us to have a variety of nice things for our boys to play with. I always check for safety concerns: broken things that could be a choking hazard, cords and strings, etc. Lead paint is another issue that concerns me and I try to keep up on the literature so I can see if we have any of those items.

Some of our favorite (and cost saving) items that are second-hand: children's bike, tricycle, scooter, wooden building blocks and storage cart, musical-light up LeapFrog type toys, DVDs and videos, sturdy dump trucks for inside and outdoor use, balls (basketball, football, soccer, etc) and wooden puzzles. Pricing these items as new shocked me and made me appreciate our gently used toys.

I was recently in a thrift store that had several of the Disney princess dolls for .50 a piece! If my youngest daughter had not been with me, a doll matched to a corresponding princess story book would have made a great choice for her secondary gift and would have cost me under $4 total.

At another store, I saw a ceramic tea set that is identical to the one she has now and still in the box. It was priced at less than half of what I paid since I bought hers new for her birthday this summer.

A doll, a story book or early reader and a tea set would make a complete gift from a Christms shopper who has decided that less can be more. For me, these items would have been a $10 expense. Maybe others can make great finds and I hope this inspires you to consider how to put discount or used items together to save.

 

When our kids were young, they inherited a big box of Legos from their older cousins on the stipulation that when they outgrew them, they would be passed back to the cousins kids. We added to that box and have since returned it and now a new generation is using them.

Toni B.:

When our kids were young, they inherited a big box of Legos from their older cousins on the stipulation that when they outgrew them, they would be passed back to the cousins kids. We added to that box and have since returned it and now a new generation is using them.

That is how we are using some of our toys. Baby toys are mostly gently used and are cleaned and passed along. Not sure if we will get to another generation, though!

we have legos that on the  third pass down . my older DD toys were played with my DD and now they being played with my Grand daughers.

 

Toni B.:

now a new generation is using them

My Mother passed some of my toys to my cousins but both my husband and I kept several things that we passed to our children. In turn, when I weed out my children's toys, I pass them along. 

One that has gone around is Strawberry Shortcake. My parents purchased the bedding set for me when I was child. When I outgrew it, my Mother passed the set to my Aunt for my cousin. When my daughter was born, my Aunt gave the bedding back to me and I used pieces of it along with some other things I had and picked up at thrift stores for a country doll theme in my daughter's room.

I was visiting one of my other cousins and her daughter complained about her bedroom set. My cousin had used the yellow checkered curtains and matching doll sets she had as a little girl with some Veggie Tale things she bought. Her daughter wanted a pink room. I sent over the Strawberry Shortcake bedding, curtains, framed pictures of country dolls, the large Strawberry Shortcake Dollhouse and some other pieces we had. My cousin used those to blend pink into a more developed country theme in her daughter's room. 

Last I heard, the "set" was still passing around and evolving.

 

I don't have children yet, but I'm very interested in providing them mostly with old-fashioned, non-electronic toys. I've sometimes seen a brand I've been really impressed with which makes wooden toys - I think it's called David and Melissa. They're terribly expensive new; I've seen them price $20 for a chunky toddler's puzzle, for instance. Does anyone come across these kinds of toys second-hand when on the hunt for playthings for their own children? I love them, but $20 for a puzzle is too much.