How We Play

Get new toys when you want them and get rid of the ones you don’t all in one easy-to-use platform.

How it Works

Step 1

Join Unless Kids and build your kids' digital toy chest.

How it Works

Step 2

Browse and buy toys at a serious discount.

How it Works

Step 3

We deliver a real toy chest filled with toys.

How it Works

Step 4

When it's time for new toys, buy the toys you need, give back the ones you don't, and we'll pick up and deliver at the same time.

How it Works

Step 5

The toys you give back find a new home, spreading joy to another kid.

Rules of the Game

Now that you see how it works, here are the Rules of the Game. Just like it’s no fun to play basketball when you can foul or checkers when you can cheat, we set up rules to our game at Unless Kids so as many families as possible can join in the fun. We’re excited to play it with you!

Game Set Up

Step 1: Create your account and set up a toy chest for your child or children. You don’t have to use their real names and can use nicknames instead. But we do ask for their birth month and year so we can ensure that we offer age appropriate toys and have them in stock when those birthdays come about. Anyone can shop with Unless Kids if they make an account and build a toy chest. But by becoming a Member, you get access to free shipping and even better discounts.

Step 2: Browse our toys by age, category and brand. Also, please take note of the conditions as we have new, gently loved and well loved toys. But no matter what you select, every toy is discounted in relation to its condition, even new toys.

Game Play

  • 1

    Once you’ve filled up your digital toy chest with all the toys your child wants, just check out and the Unless Kids team coordinates a time to drop off the toys. We’re quite aware of those pesky porch pirates and want to make sure you get your toy chest.

  • 2

    Make sure those kids have the time of their lives with those toys. But as we all know, that timeframe can be short, especially when it comes to kids’ interests and development. So when they’re over the toys you bought and want new ones, go back to our site and put new toys in your chest.

  • 3

    But before you check out, be sure to look in your digital toy chest for the toys your kid no longer needs. Hit the ‘cycle’ button on each of those toys and check out.

  • 4

    On the day of your new toy chest delivery, please gather all of the toys you are swapping and take care to ensure that all pieces are put back in any Unless Kids bags you received. Put everything in your old toy chest and have it ready.

  • 5

    When the Unless Kids driver gets to your door, we’ll drop off your new toy chest and pick up your old one.

  • 6

    Start the process all over again with a new set of toys. Remember, if you keep the toy for over a year or just love it and want to hang on to it, you lose the “cycling discount” and just pay the difference. But in reality, you never lose because our pre-loved prices are better than what you’ll find in most stores and your kid loves their toy!

How to Win

  • Get your kids the toys they want at a discount thus increasing their joy and decreasing your budget.
  • Get rid of the toys your kid no longer wants and reduce that toy clutter chaos in the playroom.
  • Feel great that you’re supporting a fun and sustainable business that is keeping toys out of the landfill and feel great today about getting rid of yesterday’s toys.

To learn more about how the platform works, please check out our FAQ.

Sharing Built from the Kid Up

Feel great today about giving away yesterday’s toys, and don’t feel guilty about buying new ones. At Unless Kids there’s always space for more.

The heart of every community isn’t just the playground, community center, or school. It’s the kids — the next generation of playful wanderers who are in search of fun ways to share. At Unless Kids, we have a bold vision to change the way we sustain our communities through rethinking the way kids play. And if the tools for play are toys, we want to make them more available in our communities, more meaningful through shared play, and less wasteful through circularity.

Unless Kids was started by parents who experienced the stress of the chaotic clutter of the playroom and the anxiety of having to throw a toy away. Luckily, these parents had also discovered the circular economy — a system for reducing waste and increasing joy. Unlike the take, make and trash model of how we’re used to buying toys, Unless Kids was built to maintain the value of a toy for as long as possible so more kids can enjoy them for longer while protecting the planet.

Our name was inspired by the famous line at the end of Dr. Seuss’s classic, The Lorax, when before the Lorax is spirited away, he leaves the word Unless on the stump of the very last Truffula Tree. As the Oncler reflects on what that word means, it becomes clear, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

We are people who deeply care, and we’re proud to bring parents and kids who also deeply care a toy platform with a footprint as small as the kids who play with them.