I just did a fun thing with my little girls today to reduce the amount of toys in their room.  We played "Keep & Give Away".  I got a big box for the give away stuff and then we went through each tub (we have tubs for baby clothes, barbies, small stuffed animals, dress-up clothes, etc.) and our stuffed animal pile.  We started with one tub at a time and dumped it out.  Then I told the oldest to start and said "find something to keep, and something to give away".  They put the keep item in their pile, and the give-away item in the box.  Then it was the next girl's turn and so on.  They couldn't pick anything that belonged to someone else, only their own stuff and community (shared) items.  When we were done with that tub, I said, "OK if you want to trade one of your KEEP items with something that someone put in the give-away box, you can."  This only happened a couple times.  It was so great to put a MUCH REDUCED pile back into each tub.  Usually when I go through their stuff, I have a hard time deciding because it's hard to remember what they play with.  It was fun to watch them choose things I wouldn't think they would, and give-away things I thought they still liked!  The only things I intercepted were a couple of doll dresses made by my grandma and a special doll bought by my mom for the older girls (that these young ones didn't realize).  The girls actually had a lot of fun with this!  I told them if they wined about it I would do it myself, then they wouldn't have the choices I'm giving them.  It worked great!  This system will work with anything!  Do we REALLY need all this stuff?  I am excited to tackle more areas with this concept.  I can reduce my craft supplies, scrapbooking stuff, book shelves, more toy boxes, school stuff, etc. 

Anyway, I thought this might motivate someone out there who is thinking of decluttering the toys but doesn't know where to begin.  When we're done I'll take the boxes down to the local charity with the girls, then maybe take them out for a treat and make a special event out of it.  I'm thinking this can be one of our special "Christmas Activities" we do every year!! 

I love when God gives me a creative idea.  Does anyone else have a fun yet practical idea to share for the holidays?  I'd love to hear it!!