To buy my baby toys from charity shops and vinted for his first Christmas?

[bargainlove]

I love charity shops & vinted & bootsales, always have. I get most of my own clothes and household stuff from there - I love searching for a bargain! My sons first Christmas is coming up and he will be 11 months old, we have got him a couple of new things (miss rachel teddy, vtech tv) but I’m buying the majority of things second hand. I just got a bundle on vinted for a wooden stacking toy, a wooden toy train, 2 wooden puzzles, 2 books and 2 pram toys for … £5!! With delivery that’s a grand total of £8, I seen a stacker toy in a shop today for £10 and it was plastic! I got a vtech driving wheel in a charity shop yesterday for £3. I got a fisher price learning chair for £3 (£35 new!!) in a charity shop and a toy ice cream cart on fb marketplace for £15 (60 new!!!) I will obviously giving everything a wipe down and clean. Is it wrong to wrap these up and give to him for Christmas? A friend of mine thinks it’s terrible and will only buy new for her dc for Christmas/birthdays, but I’ve always done this but now she’s made me feel bad

It's a great idea, i don't know why anyone would think it wasn't

I sell pre owned jewellery on Ebay and a few other places. Your friend has some very old fashioned ideas. Doesnt she care about sustainability? There was more craftsmanship in a Victorian ring than there is in the modern moter car. A lot of modern stuff is tat and I would not give it house room. Your baby will not know or care where the toys came from.

My Nanna loved car boots and charity shops and got all of our birthday and Christmas presents from them. We loved it. We didn't get loads of toys generally, so we were delighted wherever they came from.

It is better for the planet and also for the charity... I do hope you are buying from The Cats Protection.

Of course that is ok to do, I’d say it’s more than ok but actually the right,responsible thing to do - which we should all try and do where we can.

i kept toys from my first child after they had grown out of them and hid them. And I had enough of an age gap that I gave them to my second child.
I think I had the first 5 years worth of gifts.

i’d buy new things that particularly suited their interests in addition.

You’re son won’t know it’s Christmas. You are certainly caring more for the environment than your friend

My DD’s first Christmas cost £3 for 3 gifts from a nearly new sale and we still have one nearly 9 Christmases later. Christmases will likely become more expensive as they get older, make the most of those early years where they don’t have to be

Almost everything I get for my kids is second hand! It's not like they care and it's so much cheaper and better for the environment.

I wouldn't even bother with a stocking for the baby this year but I think DS might notice!

My daughter bought almost everything from Facebook marketplace for her baby, she has a very well paid job but being aware how some baby things are not used for long, she objected to paying full price. It got to the point where there was nothing ‘big’ left for me to buy! Pram - lent one by friends, next to me - second hand with new mattress and came with a huge bag of baby clothes, play pen - second hand etc etc. I finally prised a list of a few things me and my family could buy but only small things like a bouncer and Shaun the Sheep!

She then resells them as soon as they are done with as she’s not planning any more children and they don’t really have room to store things even though I offered to keep things here.

I kind of demanded to buy a Cozy Coupe car for her birthday month before to stop her looking for something second hand.

DS is three now & I've been doing "secondhand stockings" since his first Christmas. I figured stuff from Father Christmas' workshop wouldn't come in the same packaging as toys from Argos anyway
I do get some things new - last year Father Christmas brought him a (preloved) balance bike & a new helmet, for example - but it meant he could have a much better quality bike than if we'd bought new.

It’s a great thing to do @bargainlove 😊 I still do the same now - DS is almost 5.

He loves his Brio train sets, hot wheels cars, Lego - all of which I’ve bought piles of second hand on Vinted etc 😊
He knows no different - if anything he gets far more than he would have got if it were brand new 🤷🏻‍♀️

Mine are older. Last Christmas my then 17 year old wanted clothes. At that age it’s all about the label. So from about August I went on vinted every payday and bought “brand new with tags” clothes. I save hundreds of pounds!

My DC are 6 and 3 and I still get them stuff second hand. Nearly all their clothes and often toys at XMas. They don't care about things being new - it's new to them.

you are being really sensible! I bought second hand for my dc for as long as possible.

Great idea, and bugger all to do with your friend. Check out books too, get a big box together. Hours of fun.

We are so lucky to have Vinted now, so many bargains and much more variety than shops. Save your money to make memories, Christmas will be so special with your little one regardless where from or how much things cost.

I bought all my kids toys and clothes off of eBay until they were old enough to start asking for specific things. When they got older and asked for certain clothes we’d look on eBay together. Second hand Lego: eBay collectable comics eBay. If they wanted some toys that you could no longer get in the shops: eBay

Some of my toddlers favourite toys have been random ones I spotted in charity shops, I got a bundle of Thomas trains (including a remote control one that is £24) for £1 recently. I’ve come across things preloved that have been perfect for him. But I’ve also had some poor buys, eg train tracks that were all different brands and didn’t fit together well. Now I tend to do a mix of picking up things I see that I think he will like and making a list of things I really want for him. From that list if I spot anything on it preloved I’ll buy it, otherwise will buy it new.

Everyone has different views on preloved items. Find the people in your life who are on the same page as you and share your best buys with them, and just don’t mention it to the others. At the end of the day, your little one will be shaped by the people around him and the experiences he has, not by whether his toys came straight out of the packaging or not.

We got DD a monkey jellycat for her first Christmas that was new, and some books/second hand bits from a charity shop. That was it, and God on Xmas Day I was so relieved we hadn't bought anything more! I was totally unprepared for how many presents were given to her, not just from grandparents but aunts and uncles, cousins, great aunts, my MIL's neighbours, my FIL's cousin, our lovely cleaning lady, they all sent books, clothes, toys, book tokens, etc. It was so generous and we were very grateful but it was SO much stuff. I had no idea how many people like to buy a little something for a baby/toddler at Christmas.

He will most likely spend the day playing with the wrapping paper and looking at the Christmas tree lights. Your ideas sound perfect. Don't start splashing out now on presents, there will be plenty of those years to come.

YANBU but I am sure you know that. Not quite the point of the thread but older toys, (probably considered vintage now) seem much more robust that brand new ones. The plastic on modern toys just seem very flimsy and easily broken. Toys like Playmobil or Sylvanian families are definitely something to look for second hand.

YANBU

I used to be like your friend, a silly prat. Everything had to be brand new.

Now that I have grown up a bit, I always check to see if there is a good-quality pre-owned option for what I want. MIL is brilliant at finding stuff, too.

Do it. Seriously they get bored of toys so quickly. They don't know if it's brand new or 2nd hand.
Just check battery compartments that there's no corrosion ( yep it's happened to me) and antibac them your dc will love it all.

I picked up some books for dc yesterday in a charity shop for 50p . They are great condition perfect for a stocking filler. They're £6-7 each on amazon.

Nope not terrible we get a selection of new and second hand for DSs.
Their bikes have always been second hand but are top of the range bikes as well.

I also had a friend who commented I pointed out she was paying an extra £30 for a cardboard box or a cardboard tag in many cases. It soon shut her up!
I think as long as your finding stuff which is in good or excellent condition and not damaged it doesn't matter.

YANBU

I thought it silly too spend too much on toys when our kids were that young. They were more interested in a tissue box than any toys that they were bought by other family members. I bought two gifts, a small toy and some themed clothing, think I also bought the clothing on Vinted since they were only going to wear it a few times anyway and no point buying new in store for something they’re not going to only wear for the Christmas season.

My mother thought I was crazy and said we had a lot of new toys for Christmas when we were little and I pointed out that she complained about how much she had to get rid of because of it, some still in their original box never opened. My family is massive and on my maternal side I was the only grandchild nearby for the first six years until my sister was born.

Many people these days sell new stuff on sites like Vinted so not sure why your friend is choosing to turn her nose up. The items are new to you and your child and the child won’t know the difference nor will anyone else unless you tell them, so what does it matter?

After recently doing a car boot and most of it ending up 50p-£1 then the rest of it going to charity shops… I absolutely admire you who do this!
As I was selling my DCs barely touched toys (some even new) remembering that I paid £20 for a squishmallow now someone’s getting it for a quid! I’m the stupid one spending so much!! I said my DCs are only getting stuff from a car boot now 😂
when I then hauled the stuff which didn’t sell to the charity shops, they had loads of baby toys all in great condition £2-3 ish. When I brought this stuff it was £20-£30. Good on you, you can get some great things and it’s less wasteful.

YANBU in any possible way and, kindly, your friend is nuts.

You are treading lighter on the planet, saving money for the more expensive years to come and your baby doesn't know the difference.