The toy donation world splits cleanly in two, and knowing which side you are on saves a wasted trip. Programs that give toys as gifts, Toys for Tots and children's hospitals above all, take only new toys in their packaging. Programs that resell or redistribute, thrift stores and a few specialist charities, take used toys if they are complete and clean. This page sorts the places near you by that rule, then covers the checks every destination applies.
Charity thrift stores are the default for used toys. Goodwill accepts clean, gently used children's toys with all pieces intact; the Salvation Army takes toys at its more than 2,500 drop-off locations on the same terms. The toys are priced for the store floor, so what sells is what a parent would buy: complete sets, working electronics, board games with every piece, ride-ons that roll straight.
What they turn away is the same list everywhere: stuffed animals at many locations, anything broken or missing parts, toys with dead batteries, car seats, cribs, and anything on a recall list. Our guides to what Goodwill accepts and what the Salvation Army accepts have the full lists.
Second Chance Toys exists for one category most charities handle badly: the big plastic toys, kitchens, ride-ons, and playsets that outlast the child. It accepts only toys that are completely plastic, no plush and no mixed materials, complete with no broken, small, or missing parts, and with working batteries if the toy takes them. Toys are matched to organizations serving children in need twice a year, in April for Earth Month and in November and December, through drop-off locations announced for each cycle.
It reports 487,771 toys donated and about 1.95 million pounds kept out of landfills. If no drop-off exists near you and you have 50 or more plastic toys, it will find a recipient organization for you. Broken plastic toys have a separate recycling route through the program's TerraCycle partnership.
The Marine Corps program is the largest toy charity in the country and the most misunderstood destination on this list. It requests that all toys be new and unwrapped. It does not accept used or opened toys, clothes, food, liquids such as lotion or body wash, realistic-looking weapons, or gifts containing food. Collection boxes appear at retailers and businesses from roughly October through mid-December, and a used toy dropped in one is discarded, not distributed.
The rule exists because the program gives toys as gifts to children whose families cannot buy them, and a gift arrives new. If you want to support Toys for Tots with what is in your closet, sell the used toys and buy one new one.
Hospital child life programs run on donated toys and books, and their rules are the strictest of all because of infection control. Every major children's hospital publishes some version of the same list: new, unused, in original packaging, latex-free, and at several hospitals purchased within the last six months. No plush, because it cannot be sanitized between patients. No latex balloons, because of allergy precautions; Mylar is allowed. Most hospitals post a wish list and take deliveries by appointment at a specific entrance rather than at the front desk.
The most useful gifts are the ones a bored eight-year-old in a bed can use alone: card games, craft kits, coloring supplies, handheld puzzles, and books. Infant items and teen gifts are the perennially short categories.
Family shelters, domestic violence shelters, Ronald McDonald Houses, Head Start classrooms, and church nurseries take used toys that are clean and complete, and they use them on site rather than reselling. Each has its own list, and most cannot take large ride-ons for lack of space. Call before you go, ask what ages they serve, and bring toys for those ages. A shelter serving mostly toddlers has no use for a chess set, however nice.
For a specific good toy, a dollhouse or a train set, a neighborhood gift group often finds it a home in an hour, and the family who takes it will actually use it. This route has no organization behind it and no receipt, but nothing you give this way is sorted, priced, or discarded. It is also the only practical outlet for large outdoor toys that no charity has room to store.
Last updated September 2026. Errors: [email protected]
Toys for Tots and hospital programs are not being precious. A gift program hands each toy to one child as a present, and there is no way to inspect, sanitize, and repackage thousands of used items to that standard on volunteer time. A thrift store solves the same problem by pricing the toy and letting the parent decide. Once you see the two models, the rules stop being arbitrary: used toys go where someone chooses them, new toys go where someone receives them.
Demand for toys peaks in November and December and so does supply, which means a used toy dropped at a thrift store in early December competes with everyone else's clear-out. Shelters and daycares need toys in February as much as in December and get far fewer. If the toys are not tied to a holiday drive, donating in the off-season puts them to use faster. For new toys destined for Toys for Tots, the collection window is October to mid-December and nothing else works.