What Do You Get Kids That Have It All?

If a stranger walked into our house, she would think we spent a fortune on our children's play things. They have more toys than 2 children probably need. But I promise you, my readers, that we haven't spent all that much, even if you include furniture. We have been blessed by generous family, friends, freecycle, and craigslist for hand-me-downs. Except for presents bought by friends and family for holidays and birthdays, everything else is a hand-me-down, even presents bought by us (of which there aren't many) I purchased used.

Ben... oh my sweet little boy. I felt horrible when I declared that our poor second child would never get a new toy because he'd always have his sister's toys. There is not a single toy or book or even crib sheets in his room which were bought by us for him. I think I bought him a shirt he wore last week.... Anyway, it obvously has not damaged him yet. And I am certainly NOT concerned. Here is our most recent find for our dear little boy. This was a freecycle item, which was said to be not in working order. We replaced the batteries and it works fine. It is now residing in his bedroom after we took the rocker out (what a sad day... he's getting so grown up!). He is ticked off in the photo because he didn't want to share with his sister.


Jordan has lots of awesome toys, again, most not bought by us. Even her mattresses are freecycle items. Great condition twin mattress and box spring... can't say no to that!! Here is our most recent find for her room. Little Tikes Winnie the Pooh treehouse. Seriously? Someone just GAVE this away?! We were THRILLED to get this item and it is a huge hit with both children.



This last photo is something I purchased for the kiddos today off of a local website similar to craigslist. It is a blow up Go Diego ball bit. Ben's FAVORITE toys at the moment are balls, any size, doesn't matter to him. He will probably go nuts when he wakes tomorrow morning and sees this!! We got it 1/3 the price... and I plan on selling some toys to make up for the cost, so we'll break even. Totally worth it!


I love my children... and I love to see them happy. I hope that they understand material posessions to not make a person happy, and I will continue to teach them to appreciate what they have. However, I do want them to have fun, and am fortunate enough to find great things for them for free or incredibly inexpensive, things my husband and I did not have, like play houses and train tables (again... GAVE that away?!).

And if you haven't already, I suggest check out your local freecycle community , not just to score awesome finds for yourself, but to give back and maybe help another person find items they wouldn't be able to afford. Also, freecycle helps keep our unwanted stuff out of landfills. You know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure!