This past week I hosted a play date for my workout group. It was supposed to be held at my house, but workouts were moved to the indoor soccer arena because of rain, so we held the play date there after our workout. I planned a toy swap for the event. It was a success, as kids all got “new to them” toys and we collected a bunch to take to a charity for foster children in our area.

How it works- you invite fellow Moms to come and bring three gently used toys for the swap. In return they will go home with two different (“new”) toys they select. Because we were collecting toys for charity as well, most Moms brought more than three toys. I loaded the back of my SUV with bags of toys for the local foster kids following our toy swap.

Once the guests arrive you set out all the toys on a table and then each guest draws a number. You go in order for selection of toys. If you are lucky enough to draw #1 you get to pick first! Typically, because everyone gets to chose two toys they go through the selection rounds twic,  in the order of the numbers they chose. We had so many Moms and kids at the soccer arena and the fact that it was so loud I decided to have the Moms (and their kiddos) select their two toys their first time through, so we just went through the round of numbers once.

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The kids were happy with their “new” toys and we collected a lot for charity. Thank you especially to Ana for bringing so many to donate! They will be given to foster kids in our area through the Chosen Ones organization and their “Just For You Closet” http://mychosenones.org/just-4-u-closets/