I have a very clever idea to share with you, though I confess that I've never done it myself. My sister is my inspiration on this one. She's my inspiration on lots of things! Lots!
She has five children and lots of toys. Lots.
She boxes up the toys in totes so the kids only have access to one tote-full at a time. Once those toys seem old, she boxes them up and allows them to play with a whole "new" set of toys -- which aren't really new, of course, but since she has six totes (and counting), it has been several months since the kids have seen them and they sure seem new!
This is so wise for so many reasons, the first of which is that "new-ness" element. Because of this, she feels little-to-no pressure to constantly be getting them new things. Even happy-meal toys don't call out to her and she gets by with just getting enough fries and nuggets for everyone to share and spending half the money.
Second, the children can't make a huge-mongous mess -- though they do make a mess... it's simply always a manageable mess.
Third, if she feels a need to remove a toy from the rotation -- ya know, a beloved-but-broken toy, or the kind of toy that is just too noisy or too violent or too dirt-encrusted -- she can do so without the children hardly even noticing because they forget about it by the time that tote's turn comes around.
She has even extended the idea further by hosting a toy-rotation party with other moms & kids, wherein they invite friends to bring toys that don't get played with at their house and they exchange them with each other's gently-used, no-longer-loved toys. One child's trash is another child's treasure! Once the offerings have been looked over and everyone has picked what they'd like to inherit, the remaining toys are donated to a charity.
Brilliant!
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