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Hi! I am Kim Vallee, a Lifestyle and Entertaining Expert who runs the daily blog At Home with Kim Vallee. My blog focuses on the finer things in life by talking about entertaining, home decor, dining, gift ideas, travel and all things trendy and stylish.
I am happy that Lisa invited me to talk about a party idea with you. I hope you will like the experience as much as I had fun preparing it. Let’s talk about how to organize a toy exchange party.
The concept: I got this idea because kids outgrow their toys pretty quickly. It makes sense economically and for the sake of the Earth to reuse, recycle and repurpose toys as much as possible.
Here are some tips on how to organize the best ever top exchange party in your neighborhood.
Help needed: You will need a committee to host a toy exchange party. Think about it as organizing a fun bazaar. You wish the families to stay a while, after all they may have to wait to find a toy they like. Thus, you need to plan for fun kid activities, refreshments and an area for moms to mingle.
Have plenty of volunteers as you need people to receive the toys, to manage the exchange tables, take care of the refreshment sections and to perform the activities. Always book additional help; some people may have to cancel at the last minute or the attendance can be higher than you predict.
The venue: Book the gymnasium at an elementary school or a room at a community center. Set up long tables to display the toys. Each toy needs to be visible.
Promotion: You wish to attract as many people from your community as possible. Print flyers and promote the event whenever you can. Contact your local papers and TV stations. Tell them about your event. Make your story interesting so the media will talk about it. Create a blog for the event so you can let people know about what is going on before, during and after the event.
Rules of engagement: I have a girlfriend who organises semi-annual Clothing exchange parties for the fashionista type. I learned from her that it is essential to establish clear and precise rules about what is an acceptable and not acceptable item to exchange.
Make it clear on the invite that the toy should be in good condition and that it will be inspected at arrival to assess its conditions. For each acceptable toy that a parent brings, the kid gets to choose one toy, without regard of value.
It is simpler to manage the toy exchange if you establish 5 or 7 categories of toys that parents can bring. These could be dolls, baby toys, puzzles, stuffed animals, educational toys, outdoor toys plus board and video games.
Toy Reception: Next at the entrance, set up a toy reception for inspection. Give one exchange coupon per qualifying toy. If you wish to make it a recurrent event, you can decide that any unused coupon can be kept for a future event. But it is like a store credit note, if you lost you coupon too bad for you.
Kid activities: Plan for some puppet shows and performers to entertain the kids. You do not have to book professionals. Ask talented people in your community and high school students if they are willing to give their time.
Refreshments: You should ask a contribution at the door to cover the expenses. Five dollars per adult and three dollars per child is reasonable and should cover the costs if you are frugal. Take the fees at the door by making it an admission fee.
For kids, you can serve milk and cookies. To lower the cost, you can organise three baking contests: a cookie contest, a cupcake contest and a pie contest. Every baker would be required to bake a certain amount of food to be consumed right away. Ask a local merchant to donate the prices.
To avoid miscommunications, decide and tell in advance which charity will receive any remaining gifts at the end of the event.
Toys I Like: I cannot create a post without showing you beautiful pictures. Land Of Nod is an enchanting store with charming vintage style toys. The Tabletop Puppet Theater is adorable.
I have a thing for wooden toys since they work both for display and play. The wood version of the Roller, The Sorter, The Stacking Ring Maker are a better buy than their plastic counterparts. For the nostalgic, you can still buy the classic Slinky; I got so much fun playing with mine as a child.
A toy exchange party helps mothers stay connected and it prolongs the life of good condition toys. Have you ever been to one?
+ image from Cupcakes with three locations in Vancouver, Canada
