Second hand toys for Xmas?

We buy everything we can preloved. To save money but mostly for sustainability, to reduce waste. We actually enjoy buying things knowing that we are giving them a new life and/or saving them from landfill. So if you ask me, not only is this nothing to be ashamed of but it’s also a great thing to teach your kids.

Birthday’s and Christmas mine all got new, throughout the year they got second hand

2nd hand is a win win. Kids get lots of surprises, you are not left skint and you're helping the environment.

Absolutely fine, they won't care or probably even notice the box they are in they will just be thrilled to have the toys.

I get alot off vinted, this year so far ive brought lego bionicle which is discontinued but my dc is desperate for and a xbox game. Last year i brought a xbox console off cash converters and just wrapped the brown box it came in my 7yr old wasn't bothered at all!

Yes this is absolutely ok.

My children know that so much of their items are second hand but if yours don’t then set up for play. If they ask say mummy and daddy/Santa wanted them to be able to play straight away.

Set it all up ready to play with.
I've got loads of bits second hand from Vinted this year, nothing wrong with it.

I always try to buy second hand/ pre-loved/ used/whatever’s the best way to present it 😂 My little one is three and will be taught that Father Christmas takes unused toys and does a swap around for all the boys and girls to make sure the elves aren’t too busy in the toy shop. Santa ain’t a target chaser 😂😂😂

I always try to buy second hand/ pre-loved/ used/whatever’s the best way to present it 😂 My little one is three and will be taught that Father Christmas takes unused toys and does a swap around for all the boys and girls to make sure the elves aren’t too busy in the toy shop! 😁

Errrr no you're not tight! You're a thoroughly modern, environmentally conscious and savvy mummy!

Duplo and Lego can be cleaned by running it through the sani dishwasher cycle in bra bags. I have a friend who does this fortnightly.

I always did, they never minded

You might be able to buy some of the boxes on eBay! You'd be surprised at the kind of stuff people sell.

I once bought Molton and Brown hand soap as a gift from an outlet and it didn't come with a gift bag so I bought a M&B one on eBay for £2.

Even if you have the spare cash to buy new - reuse where possible. We have too much plastic on this earth. I’ve always been a snob until I had kids and realised I could buy almost new items for almost 5% of the cost of new at times. I regularly buy second hand - even great quality clothes now and we get more and help the planet along the way.

Put them on the tree as ornaments. They will be so cute. Hopefully your kids aren't watching unboxing videos and expect all the packaging.
I have explained to my kids (expense and plastic/resource waste) and they don't mind second hand. Everyone is different with it, however!

But new.

Tissue paper round them then pop inside a box which is in wrapping paper. They’ll not bat an eyelid as looks like a present and they. An ‘unwrap’ it too.

I sell a lot of of sons stuff on FB and it’s usually for parents regifting as it’s in such good condition. Why wouldn’t more people do this? Equally I buy my son secondhand stuff if on good quality. For his 6th birthday my mum got him loads of imaginex stuff for £20 which brand new would have been well over £100 so she also got figurines etc to go with it. He loved it so much. She wrapped it but wasn’t in a box. He didn’t even notice, wasn’t a thing.

You're not being a tight mum at all. Toys are so so unreasonably expensive! There's nothing wrong with 2nd hand toys. You can buy some lovely toys in charity shops or FB marketplace that are in great condition 😊 I've only got my 4 year a handful Xmas presents & all except on is 2nd hand.

DS wanted “more train track” for Christmas last year to go with his Brio starter set he’d got bit his birthday.

Brio is around £30 for 14-16 small pieces of track.

I got this whole box full plus multiple bridges and tunnels for £20 on Vinted 😍 Some Brio, some just other compatible tracks but it all does the same job! There was about 150 pieces in total. DSs head nearly exploded when he saw how much there was 😂

It’s a no-brainer for me. Saved a fortune, he got more than I’d have been able to buy otherwise, and it’s better for the environment 👏🏼

I'm sure they will never know, you're doing absolutely no harm! Places like tkmaxx and flying tiger do lovely gift boxes or small sturdy, decorative storage boxes which could help!

Is it the type of dolls that often ride a (pink) sportscar? Then maybe add said car (bought pre-loved) and present the doll in it?

Boxes get broken and lost, the dolls remain.

If you can get stickers/ a decal of the dolls, you could put that on an IKEA box, maybe daughters‘ names, and wrap each doll individually and place in box.

If they‘re small dolls, ‚wrap‘ in an IKEA dolls‘ house unit?

Buy a doll branded gym bag and ‚wrap‘ them in that?

In short, you can make the lack of packaging a feature :-)

My son knows I buy things second hand, and will look second hand himself if hankering after a particular toy. We‘ve had the discussions of how you get more for less that way.

Nothing wrong with second hand toys!! Saves a fortune. Not sure what sort of dolls you’ve bought but could you set them up in a dolls house with a big bow around it? Something that makes it look like you intentionally took them out of the boxes rather than they never had boxes. Or even just say we took these ones out of the box so you could play as soon as you unwrapped them. I don’t think 6 or 8 year olds would question that too much xx

As a kid I often had 2nd hand stuff. My bike one year belonged previously to a friend who had outgrown it. I obviously knew what was new and what was 2nd hand. It didn't bother me, I knew a brand new bike was too expensive. I was just happy to have one

I get stressed at Christmas and forget that actually I can buy second hand. I'm always buying second hand books. Do people just go on facebook market place for the toys?

I would say that if kids have a problem with second hand it's because the adults in their life do too.

What I would do is buy a smallish box and a few fake flowers (assuming they are age appropriate) and make like a Barbie bouquet so their feet are placed in the box but they are vertical.

With a bit of cellophane over the top your kids could end up thinking it’s quite unique and be glad they didn’t come in boxes.