I kept all the Playmobil sets and D’s dollhouse, all Legos, Thomas the Tank Engine set, tracks and train table, matchbox cars, a few games, American Girl dolls and accessories, a small stash of favorite stuffed animals, and probably 200 books (which don’t count).
The kids were very insistent on what they wanted to keep and since we currently have plenty of room, that’s what we’re keeping!
We have quite a bit but it all fits tucked away in the “toy room” which is a store room under the roof of our 3/4 upper story.
Care Bears
My Little Pony
Barbies
Build A Bears
Dress up clothes
Play food/dishes
K-nex
American Girls
Baby dolls
Hot Wheels
Duplo
Assorted board games and baby toys and lots of miscellaneous
Nothing but books & D2’s stuffed owl collection. The owlery once numbered at around 60, but I requested that we “re-home” some before I moved to an apartment, so after a group giveaway of selected owls to an excited 8 year old found via Freecycle, now they are down to their best essence at about 30.
Legos, K’nex. The Brio and Playmobile went to younger cousins. I kept a fair number of the books. There’s also a large garbage bag full of stuffed animals my younger son refused to get rid of, but did stuff into the eaves of the attic. I still have two stuffed animals from my childhood down in the basement so I guess we are made of the same stuff.
Oh my, I think we have a little problem here. We have three grown children and I have saved everything you have mentioned here and more–much more. I am really enjoying getting out all the old toys and cleaning them up, finding missing pieces, etc. We have a 3 year old granddaughter and babysit 2 days a week so that is my justification for keeping all this stuff. A whole village of Fisher Price sets is in my family room. I even have my dads 1930s wooden barn and animals, my 1960 metal barn and animals, equipment and my kids’ 1980s Fisher Price farm and accessories. Most of it really does spark joy but there is so much. Two of the kids are almost to the point where I can send things to their houses. They don’t even want to give up stuffed animals but may change their minds when they have to find room for them in their own houses. “You would get rid of Sammy? !” I probably have at least a dozen for each kid. My kids took good care of their stuff. I’m almost glad when I find a broken toy I can get rid of. With stuffed animals I wash and dry them and if they survive the granddaughter can have them to play with here. And yes, books are a whole 'nother story!
All the fisher price toys were passed along to nieces and nephews. I forgot about the dinosaurs and the Lord of the Rings figures- I couldn’t part with those, either.
Y’all must have tons of room.
I sold two huge totes of Thomas stuff a few years ago, and gifted some sons of a friend another two totes of mixed Lego bits. We do have the Death Star looming over us in the living room (on a high dust shelf), and that’s not going anywhere.
And, because my daughter never played with dolls and my grandmother would never accept that fact, I have one pristine, now-retired American Girl doll - NRFB (never-removed-from-box) in collector lingo - and at some point it might pay for a grandchild’s tuition.
We have the same attic! Sons are 26 and 29. Our inventory includes Brio (both trains and mec), Lego, Playmobil for the keepers, and absolutely everything else to be sorted and reduced . . . someday. My not-safe-for-children crib is set up and filled with stuffed animals, mostly Steiff, many of them DS2’s mice. He insisted on sleeping with them and doing a headcount in the morning when he got up. That hovered between 17 and 21. A couple of months ago I mailed him his first toy mouse in a package I sent him and DIL. That should go in the Bag A Week thread, right?
We downsized, so had to donate alot of the toys that were too large for us to move and store, or that S1 and S2 didn’t want. We gave each of them some of their favorites, but we kept some games (including Chutes and Ladders, which was S1’s first board game), some Little tykes toys, Legos, and a few stuffed animals. S2 requested and recieved his favorite Matchbox cars, select Beanie Babies, and his Pokemon card collection.
along with the Brio/Thomas, Lego, FP phone and mailbox, American Girl doll and outfits…we have also held onto the Little Tykes wagon. That wagon took us thru the toddler years, the years hauling beach stuff. Kids are long gone, but we’ve used it to haul firewood, and various other things. An out of town neighbor recently asked us to grab packages from her house…wagon very helpful as I could hardly lift some of them. That wagon was made to last!
We would have a lot more toys but S donated many of them when he was leaving for college. He gifted them to a neighbor who was going on a mission to Tahiti and so happy to take all his educational games on the mission to equip their school. (Many of the games had never been opened and all the ones which were opened had all parts and were in excellent condition.
A teddy bear that the kid made. Not from that chain in all the malls. And a bunch of Star Wars Legos. And when he comes back from college for break, he still gets the latest Star Wars Lego set to build.
I knew I couldn’t be the only one who had a tough time parting with this stuff. I’ve donated a ton, because we had several tons back in the day. It was easy to get rid of the pink plastic - not so much the high play value toys like Playmobil, Duplos, Fisher Price, Little Tikes, etc.
I’ve kept 3 classic Fisher Price playsets - the house, castle, and farm. I still have a Duplo 123 playhouse, a Waffle Blocks space set with rocket ship and aliens, a bin of baby toys from a German maker whose name I can’t remember, a crate of dinosaurs and other animals, three American Girl dolls with beds (one for each kid), and so much Playmobil.
My decluttering task for the rest of the month is going to be organizing 5 bins of Playmobil and figuring out what I can donate, what my kids would like to have, and how much has to be tossed because it’s either broken or doesn’t go with anything else.
The 3-story Playmobil dollhouse, 10 American girls and many outfits (one discontinued doll still mint in the box), enough Brio trains, tracks, and bridges to fill a room, Polly Pocket dolls and play sets, Groovy Girl dolls and their play sets, puzzles, books, every Wee Sing video made, wooden blocks, classic board games.
D2 played with her dolls for many years. We finally put them away at 14, after years of creating towns and adventures. I think she can hardly wait until her new niece is old enough to enjoy the same experiences she had.
I also have a mint in the box Dentist Barbie just for me.
Adding - Though I kept 3 of the Fisher Price Little People sets from back when the people really were too little (1985-95?), I donated several to our senior center tag sale. The coordinator sold 2 of them on eBay for a total of $125: the swimming pool set and a hairdressing salon (lol). So if you decide to part with some treasures, you might want to see what eBay thinks.
The Little Tykes wagon: my daughters and I used one five years ago to transport the body of our dear dog to the spot in our backyard where we laid her to rest.