The Christmas Toy Edit

As I sit here and plan what I need to get done for Christmas I realize that it has been a few years since I have had to do our Christmas toy edit. The toy edit was one of the ways that I kept the enormous amount of toys that my daughter would obtain as birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, or just because she has loving relatives who get joy from spoiling her. To be truthful my husband and I also enjoyed buying her toys, I mean, to be honest, it is fun to buy toys for kids.

I began the toy edit right after her first Christmas. She received so many gifts that it was just not possible for a child to play and enjoy that many toys at one time. So my strategy was to let her open the gifts and then watch to see which toys she was really interested in. I would only open 3 or 4 toys for her to play with and enjoy. The rest of the toys would stay in their packaging and would be stored in the playroom closet. If she received a toy that she already had or got duplicates of the same toy the second toy was just not opened and would also be stored in the closet. As she would outgrow or just lose interest in a certain toy then that toy would go to a large shopping bag that was kept in the playroom closet when the bag was full it was taken to a donation drop off. As one toy would go out one new toy from the closet would be introduced for play. This strategy went along with my house rule; one object comes into the house one object has to go out. This is one of the rules that helps me control clutter and stay organized. The toys that were duplicates I held on to them until next Christmas holiday, when I would donate them to Toys For Tots. With this system in place, I was able to keep the playroom neat and organized while she was a toddler.

As time goes by and kids get older the lifespan of toys also grows. So by the time she was five she was aware that the toys we would donate went to kids that just didn’t have as much as she did and that a toy that she didn’t find interesting any longer would be a toy that another child would love to have and play with. At this point, we began what we called the toy edit.  I would set aside a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon and together we would go through the playroom and fill up one or two large shopping bags with whatever toys she no longer cared for. We had a toy edit twice a year the first one was in the spring. The spring’s edit would clear the playing field and make room for the birthday gifts to come. The second toy edit was done on the weekend after Thanksgiving. This edit was in time to donate not only the used toys but also new toys for Toys for Tots or Holiday toy drives. This edit would make space in the room for the new toys that would be coming for Christmas. These toy edits are a good way to keep the number of toys under control and help make it more manageable to stay organized. But most importantly it helps to teach kids how to be charitable.