Looking for easy ways to get free kids toys?
You may be on budget or searching for freebies to kit out your organisation. Whatever the reason, there are a ton of great ways to pick up free toys!
Families fork out hundreds of pounds a year on toys, which is no surprise given how expensive a trip to the toy shop is!
A quick glance at John Lewis’s best toys for Christmas 2023 shows the cheapest toy is £14.99, but most things on the list retail at over £40. That can be a lot if you’re trying to cut back on spending.
It’s important for kids to have toys – they stimulate creative, encourage them to learn new skills and give them something to do that doesn’t involve staring at a screen.
But you don’t have to spend a fortune to get your kids kitted out with new fun things to play with.
This ultimate list will show you creative ways to get free or cheap toys.
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Ways to get free toys
These are simple ways you get get your hands on free toys!
Don’t forget to get creative and always keep an eye out on your favourite toy brands’ social media channels as there are always giveaways and deals cropping up.
Have a toy swap
One of the best ways to get free toys is to find them secondhand from fellow parents who are having a clear out of toys their kids are bored with.
You could arrange this with one other parent or have a group of people.
Figure out what you are getting rid of and then provide the group with a list, so that you can figure out which toy is best placed with which family.
This is a very low maintenance way to get your hands on new toys, and you could keep switching every few months or so!
Facebook Marketplace
When people have a declutter they often look to Facebook Marketplace to pass on their unwanted stuff.
A lot of items of Facebook Marketplace are sold for a fee, but some people also reduce items to free if they are keen to get rid of it or struggling to sell. You can always make an offer to someone trying to sell an item too if it’s been on the market for a long time.
Look for local Facebook buy and sell groups for your area. There are usually some that specialise in children’s items.
There’s a huge variety of stuff being sold, including children’s books, bikes, playsets, Sylvanian Families, LEGO and dressing up clothes.
I sold my children’s Micro Scooters on Facebook Marketplace – we paid around £90 for them each and I think I sold them for £30 as a pair. So that was a great bargain for the person who took them off our hands!
Freecycle
This is another place where people looking to get rid of unwanted stuff will turn to in order to avoid chucking it into landfill.
When you download the Freecycle app you will specify where in the country you are, so you can search specifically for free stuff on offer in your area.
You’ll need to collect items, so having a car is useful especially if you’re looking to pick up larger toys.
Become a toy tester
If you can take great product photos and provide insightful feedback on toys then becoming a toy tester is a great way to get your hands on free kids stuff!
Various toy and big online shops employ a panel of testers to try out their products at home.
You receive the toys for free and in exchange need to provide the feedback the company requests. This may involve taking photos of the product in use, filling out and form or writing a review online.
You’ll need to set aside some of your time to fulfil the requirements, but it’s a great and easy way to get your hands on the latest new toys!
Here’s a range of examples of companies looking for toy testers:
Made for Mums product tester
The website runs an annual children’s toys awards that needs testers to provide honest feedback.
You can apply to be a Made for Mums Product Tester here.
Kidly
This online kids store has an amazing range of innovative and cool toys. It likes to put all of its products through a parent test using real families.
Find out more about becoming a Kidly parent tester here.
Argos
Along with a huge range of homeware and furniture, Argos also sells a lot of toys.
Argos Testers test out products for free at home and then provide an honest review.
Find out more about being an Argos Tester here.
Car boot sales
Many sellers at car boot sales expect to make at least some money on the things they are selling.
However you may well find some people who are at a car boot sales to have a good clear out of their home.
By visiting sales towards the end of the day, you may find some sellers knocking prices down to pretty low to zero, or who are prepared to let you have items for nothing at all just to take it off their hands.
Amazon Vine
There’s a longer process to getting on boarded with the Amazon free than the other examples in this list.
Amazon Vine is an invitation-only programme that selects the website’s most insightful reviewers to receive free items in exchange for sharing their product experiences with Amazon customers.
So you’ll need to be a regular reviewers of Amazon products already, and make sure your reviews are thorough with great photos of the products to illustrate your points.
Find out more about Amazon Vine here.
Preloved
Many unwanted toys on Preloved are put up for free because the seller is having a clear out.
You’ll have to wade through a lot of items that do cost money, but there are certainly a lot of free options to choose from.
Because you will be getting the item for free it’s likely you will need to collect rather than have the item posted to you.
Gumtree
This is another online marketplace for advertising unwanted stuff such as toys.
A lot of items on Gumtree will be sold for a fee, but there’s also stuff being offered for free on there!
Keep checking back to see what else pops up.
Check out Young Planet
This cool app encourages parents to declutter and give their unwanted kids’ items away for free in order to save on waste.
The app connects parents wanting to get rid of stuff their kids no longer use with fellow parents looking for new toys for their kids.
Stuff available on the app includes toys, dressing up clothes and accessories such as Halloween baskets. https://www.youngplanet.com
Enter competitions
There’s no shortage of competitions offering amazing kids toys as prizes!
Sign up to notifications from your favourite toy brands to be the latest to find out when they have a giveaway.
And follow them on social media too to see if they run any online giveaways.
You can also join Facebook groups that regularly flag up giveaways to followers.
And it’s worth following the #giveawayUK on Twitter (now known as X) to see whether any companies or bloggers are running giveaways.
Blogger giveaways are a great one to look out for because, depending on their audience size, they may get fewer entries than a giveaway run directly by the brand. That increases your chance of winning.
Follow Smyths Toys
The huge toy store regularly runs giveaways and promotional events that involve giving out free toys to kids who attend.
Check out what’s coming up in their stores here. https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/in-store-events
The Toy Project
This amazing charity provides toys to children and organisations in need.
For individual families it is a referral-only organisation, so you’ll need to be recommended by a professional such as a teacher or youth worker. https://thetoyproject.co.uk/need-toys/
Sell old toys for cash
Finally if you can’t find toys through the above ideas, then why not sell your old toys for cash so you can buy some new ones?
Having a good clear out of cluttered toy drawers and your loft could yield enough money to buy some nice new or secondhand toys.
Great places to sell old toys include:
- Vinted – no fees to list and the buyer pays postage. Check out my article about selling on Vinted
- Facebook Marketplace – a great option as there are no fees and if you advertise to local buyers for collection only you don’t have to worry about postage
- eBay – there are fees here but you have access to a very large marketplace of potential buyers. See my article about eBay alternatives
Final thoughts
I hope you’ve found some great ways for you to get your hands on free toys for your kids!
With many of these methods, particularly the online marketplaces, it can be a case of trial and error if you are looking for a particular type of toy.
Keep searching and I’m sure you will find a great bargain!
