Oddly enough, the amount of gear you need for your child seems to decrease with age. Sure, there are times when I wish I had an extra pair of shorts for my eldest, now 6, but it pales in comparison with his wardrobe at age 1.
Never mind the plastic toy kitchen my little guy has outgrown, the outgrown car seats and the high chairs that have seen their share of food experiments. What to do with the strollers and the plastic push car that was the godsend of toddlerhood?
I’ve found some great places around the city that will accept your used kid stuff. Because one person’s castoffs are another one’s treasures, right?
1 Babies, Tots N' More babiestotsconsignment.com
You can become a consignor or donate your gently used kids items to this seasonal consignment sale that sells everything from strollers to clothes to everything in between.
“After having my second son I became claustrophobic with `stuff,’ and I knew this would be a great way for families to recycle their old gear,” says Kristin Myers, the founder and organizer of this thrice-yearly event. Babies, Tots N’ More also sells boutique overstock supply. Crowds come in droves.
2 Moxie Jean moxiejean.com
Easily rid your closets of old kids’ clothes with Moxie Jean. Founder Sharon Schneider, a philanthropist and mom of three, always felt challenged by keeping her kids in right-sized, high-quality clothes, so Moxie Jean was born. The idea is simple genius-Moxie Jean helps you clean your closets of old baby clothes, then packages them up for sale or donation to needy families. They even buy them back when the kids have outgrown them. “Our core mission is to help moms reduce their consumption and reclaim time with their kids,” Schneider says. Indeed, this solution is paying it forward at its best.
3 Share Our Spare shareourspare.org
This not-for-profit organization is dedicated to sharing resources to help low-income families cut the cost of raising a child. Share Our Spare collects new and gently used items through donation drives with local corporations, school classrooms or birthday party gift collections and meets first-hand with local service agencies to identify families in need.
4 Zealous Good zealousgood.com
Zealous Good helps connect people with items to donate with the local charities that need them. This way, you can hand select the charity that has the biggest need for the items you’re looking to unload and Zealous Good even arranges the pick-up and/or drop-off details to make it easy. It even has a section of its website specifically for “Toys and Games.”
