Saving Toys for Grandchildren?

[puddingisgood]

Hi, I wonder if any of you have thoughts that might help me with my current dilemma.
I am nearly 60 & having to downsize for financial reasons. (I live alone.)
I have two adult children, in their 20's, one of whom has a child of their own. I have saved the toys that I bought to use at my house with this grandchild. I also still have some of my children's toys, eg the wooden Brio stuff, some books, Happyland etc. It is mostly stuff for children around 6 months to about 4 or 5 years.
The problem is I have too much stuff for the size of my new property, so I have to decide what to take with me, but I'm really struggling. (All tied up with emotional stuff about family etc.)
If either of my DC do have children, I don't really know how much I would see them, and whether I would be responsible for looking after them while their parents work. This isn't feasible for now, as I currently work full-time and don't see myself being able to retire any time soon, sadly. So it is more likely that I would only need toys to entertain a child for 2 or 3 hour visits. I don't earn a lot, so I can't get rid of everything and repurchase in the event of more grandchildren.
Please help me! I am already stressed out by the move, and I really can't seem to work this out.

ask your children if they want any of the toys.

sell or donate it all.

In the future your children can bring toys with them to amuse a child for 2/4 hours.

children don’t need toys. Are other ways to
use them and you can always pick up one or two things at charity shops.

you don’t need to keep hold of this for some ‘possible’ situation in the future.

Keep the small stuff, put it in a storage box. Get rid of the big stuff.

My children don't want any of it. Their response to my decluttering recently has been "just chuck it all away". But they already earn way more money than me, so can repurchase stuff more easily. Also, they don't seem to have the same mentality as me in that they view things as much more disposable than I do. I was brought up to look after things, not get rid of things until they were worn out or broken etc. They have never really had to "go without".
I am struggling with depression and low self-esteem at the moment, so making decisions feels extra hard.

Perhaps select a box of size you're happy to fit in the new house and only keep what will fit in there. The novelty of different toys at the grandparents keeps them interested for much longer than at home in my experience.

Also, unless you're caring for them full time, you're likely to be focused on them for the full visit which keeps them entertained - whereas at home or for a full day you would need to keep them entertained whilst you make lunch for example.

My grandparents lived in a small flat. They kept one small box of toys. We loved going there and playing with the toys simply because they were different to what we had at home.

I think one small container of toys would be enough; kids love the novelty of toys they don't see often.

I've had same dilemma and finally sorted my loft out, box loads of toys in case of grandkids have gone to charity and younger colleagues child had the lego.
My kids are all in their 30s, eldest has said he doesn't want children and others are showing no signs (they'd need a partner first....right😂). Not going to lie I found it quite hard from sentimental point of view. I have kept one fisher price play set that visitors children have enjoyed but the rest has gone😪
I'm older than you @puddingisgood and decided even if they had them I'd be too old for childcare and can afford to buy stuff for visits if they come along later (home bargains sticker books always go down well with visitors and don't cost much) and felt that other children may as well benefit from them rather than gathering dust.

My mum kept a lot of our toys. All her grandchildren have really enjoyed getting the toy box out and exploring! It’s been quite special to see my kids play with my old toys. Can you keep a few bits for each age group (say under 1, toddler and preschooler). And keep anything particularly sentimental but give away the rest…

I've kept the brio and the Lego. Half of the was my husband when he was a child so it's nice to carry it on

Do the toys meet modern safety standards?

PIL kept an old dolls house from the 70s - I had to throw it away as it was covered in flaking lead paint and incredibly dangerous for young DC.

Old plastic toys from 20 years ago are probably full of BPA/ PVC and things that are no longer considered safe for children to put in their mouths.

If you have space, keep it. A box of brio is massively expensive to replace. But if you don't, then there is your answer. But you can sell it for a far bit (see point about cost, buying new).

I would keep 1 box. My kids loved playing with things that were mine of DH but neither GPs had space to keep more than what had been favourites, which is fine for a couple of hours.

I've checked everything for safety, as much as I can, and will look at the duplo tomorrow too. That's quite old. I can still remember my horror when my MIL brought out an ancient metal van filled with dirty animals in it for my PFB to okay with!
Thanks for all the thoughts so far everyone. So far I have been whittling stuff down so that I am getting rid of half of what is in each box. If I need to do another round of this when I am finished, then I will.

Keep the versatile toys that encourage imaginative play (Lego, blocks etc) and sell the rest of it. One box of blocks was all we had at my grandparents and it kept us entertained for ages.

Thanks for the messages, I've made some good steps forward today, thanks to this thread, and feel lighter already.