Do you want free toys for your kids?
Any time you can save money is a good thing!
And what better way to save money than by getting stuff for free?
Well, there are lots of ways you can get toys without having to pay for them.
In this post, I’ll cover some really easy tips on how to get toys for free near you and online.
I’ll also cover some ways to save money when you do have to buy them.
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Let’s get started on the list.
Table of Contents
How to Get Free Toys from Companies
As with any other way of getting freebies, some of these ways to get free toys may take a bit more legwork than others. Either way, using these options, you’ll get toys at no cost to you.
Once you get them, you can give ’em to your own kids or kids of family and friends. If you don’t have any kids around you, you can always giveaway toys especially during the holidays either directly or through programs like Toys for Tots.
Here are ways you can get totally free toys.
1. Become a toy tester
You may be able to get toys for your child to test out for free.
It sounds too good to be true, but testing out toys is totally possible.
Many toy companies hire kids to be toy testers. They send your child a toy to review, and in exchange for this review, you get to keep the toy.
There are a few ways to find toy testing work:
Become a toy tester for toy companies
Here are a few toy manufacturers that actually have toy testing panels you can join.
- Fisher Price Cast & Play Crew
- Far Out Toys
- Step2 Toy Insiders
- Funovation Panel
- Mattel Imagination Center
- Hasbro FunLab
Follow toy manufacturers on social media
Follow toy companies big and small on social media. Often, companies post on their social media profiles that they’re looking for kids to test toys.
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Sign up for newsletters
Most toy manufacturers send out weekly/monthly newsletter where they give subscribers the latest news as well as exclusive discounts and promo codes. Some will also send you sample toys in the mail for free so you can test out and give feedback.
Here are a few newsletters you can sign up for free:
Get an online presence
A lot of people get product recommendations from blogs and social media.
And companies want to use that to market their products.
So, if a toy company sees that you have an active online presence and a large following, it’s more likely to send you toys to review.
You should set up a blog, YouTube channel and social media accounts if you don’t have them already.
The bigger the online reach you have, the more likely you are to be selected as a toy tester.
It’s a good idea to review the toys you already have and post your reviews to your blog. You can then use your blog as a portfolio to show companies that you can write good reviews and are able to thoroughly review products.
2. Email companies directly
Sometimes all you have to do is ask!
Just email toy companies directly and ask about opportunities. You could email your contact information, as well as your child’s name and interests to Fisher-Price, for example.
Visit the website of your favorite toy companies to get their contact information.
Here are some of the top toy makers:
- LEGO
- Hasbro Gaming
- Mattel
- LeapFrog
- Little Tikes
- Spin Master
- Step2
- Melissa and Doug
- Playskool
- Brio
All you have to do is ask. It won’t cost you anything but a few minutes of your time. If they send you toys for free, great, if not, move on to the next one.
3. Get free toys in exchange for Amazon reviews
This is a little on the gray side. You see, sellers on Amazon can’t directly ask you for feedback in exchange for giving you free stuff. But there are ways to get free stuff in exchange for feedback.
You can sign up with review sites
Join review sites
There are sites that are specifically set up to bring sellers and buyers together where sellers will either giveaway 100% free products or give deep discounts in exchange for your reviews. We have a big list of Amazon review sites here.
Join Amazon Vine
Amazon Vine is Amazon’s own review program where you can get free stuff and exclusive deals and discounts for reviews. You can read “how to get free stuff on Amazon” for details and tips about the program.
Unfortunately, Amazon Vine is an invitation-only program. You can’t just sign up. In order to be invited, you’d have to have a lot of existing reviews (positive or negative) that other customers have found helpful.
So, if you haven’t yet, start leaving detailed and helpful reviews for every item you buy on Amazon. Maybe one day you’ll be invited. And even if you’re not invited to the Vine program, many sellers will actually contact you directly and offer you freebies in exchange for your detailed reviews. It’s a win-win!
Amazon’s own Vine program is a great example. You sign
4. Browse Freecycle
Freecycle is this great website where people can give away stuff for free and get free stuff too.
It’s an awesome website because anyone can use it to get their hands on the stuff they need at no cost.
Freecycle offers items in lots of categories. So, you may be able to find toys that people are giving away on there.
5. Look on Craigslist
The next place I’d recommend looking at is on Craigslist. Sure, a lot of people sell stuff on Craigslist. However, there are also lots of people who give away free toys and other products.
You just need to find the free section for your city.
Lots of cities have a section for free stuff, like:
- Craigslist Bronx
- Craigslist Manhattan
- Craigslist San Francisco Bay Area
- Craigslist Boston
- Craigslist Chicago
- Craigslist Los Angeles
I saw free stuffed animal toys on the LA free section, for example.
Now, you won’t always find people giving away toys at no cost. However, you sometimes will, so having a quick browse of your city’s free section on Craigslist is certainly a good idea.
6. Get free gift cards for toys from Swagbucks
I think that anyone who’s looking to get anything for free should be using Swagbucks.
If you haven’t heard about Swagbucks before it’s a website where you get rewarded for doing really easy tasks.
Yes, you read that right.
Swagbucks will pay you to do tasks that are easy and, in many cases, fun too!
I’d highly recommend using the site.
Here’s what it will pay you for:
- Shopping online
- Playing games
- Watching videos
- Browsing the internet
- Completing offers
How great is that?
When you do these tasks, you’ll be rewarded with points that are called SB. You can then use your points to get money sent right to your PayPal account, cash on a Visa card, or gift cards.
There are lots of different gift card options available as well.
You can find gift cards for lots of retailers who sell toys, such as:
- Amazon
- Walmart
- Target
So, basically, you get free money or gift cards you can use to get toys at no cost!
7. Share your opinion for free cash to spend on toys
Survey websites will pay you for sharing your opinion.
Simple, right?
Signing up is totally free too. So, this is a great way to make some extra cash that you can use to buy toys.
Most survey sites will give you points that you can exchange for money or gift cards.
Here are some awesome survey sites to sign up to:
You can use this cash you make from surveys to get toys cheaper or completely free!
8. Browse the free section on Letgo
Letgo is a website where people can buy and sell stuff locally. While it is a place where people can buy and sell stuff, Letgo also provides a free section.
You may be able to find free toys on there if you have a browse through.
There’s also an app available too:
9. Get paid for trying new apps
You could make some extra cash and use it to get toys for free by trying out apps.
These apps will pay you when you test out new apps:
- AppBounty: Desktop and Android
- Appdown: Desktop, iOS and Android
- Whaff Rewards: iOS and Android
- AppKarma: Android
- FeaturePoints: Android
All you need to do to get paid is install apps on your phone. You don’t even need to keep these apps on your phone for long to get paid.
Use the money you make to get toys at a discount or even for free.
10. Use coupon sites for money to spend on toys
Buy toys using coupons, and you could get a huge discount. Using coupons in general for shopping is awesome too, as you can put aside the money you save and use it to buy toys for free.
There are lots of coupons available online for Amazon, Walmart, and plenty of other places that sell kid’s stuff.
Here are some coupon sites that we’d recommend:
- Rakuten (Formerly Ebates)
- RetailMeNot
- Coupons.com
11. Get money back when you shop for toys through cashback websites
You can actually make money the next time you shop with cashback websites.
Cashback sites give you back a percentage of what you spend.
You could get anywhere from 1% to 70% or more cashback.
This means if a site offered you 20% cashback, you’d get $4 back if you spent $20.
So, you can get a big discount on toys. Or you can wait for your cashback to add up and use that money to get toys at no cost!
Here are some cashback websites to try:
12. Automatically save money on toys with browser extensions
Did you know that you could automatically save money when you’re shopping for toys online?
How great would that be?
Just download one of these awesome browser extensions:
With these extensions, you can get coupons applied to your order automatically.
I know when shopping online that sometimes coupons don’t work. If you’re in a rush, you don’t really have the time to try loads of different coupons until you find one that works.
What’s great about these extensions is that they will find you coupons that actually work, saving you time and money!
Some also give you cashback!
13. Look on the free section of OfferUp
OfferUp is another website where people can buy and sell stuff locally. You can find stuff in lots of different categories on there.
The site also features a section where people give stuff away for free. You should take a look there to see if you can get free stuff.
OfferUp also has an app:
14. Visit garage & yard sales
Sometimes you can get toys for free at garage sales and yard sales.
And if they’re not free, toys at yard sales and garage sales are usually super cheap anyway. Plus, you can haggle on the price.
If you visit near the end of the day, sellers are often tired, and they just want to get rid of their stock.
So, they may be willing to give you toys for free, as they just want someone to take stuff off their hands!
This doesn’t always work, but if you can’t get a toy for free, you could at least get a great discount on it.
- To find a nearby garage sale or yard sale, use Garage Sale Finder here.
15. Upload your receipts for cash with Ibotta and ReceiptPal
You can get paid for your receipts!
Yes, really.
Get gift cards and money for your receipts from apps like ReceiptPal and Ibotta.
You can then use these to get toys for free!
How great is that?
ReceiptPal will pay you for any itemized receipt.
And Ibotta will give you rebates when you purchase specific items and upload your receipt.
16. Browse the free section of 5miles
Next on our list is 5miles. 5miles is a site where you can buy stuff and sell stuff to people nearby. Much like OfferUp and LetGo, 5miles provides a section just for free stuff.
You may be able to find toys for free there.
There’s also a 5miles app:
17. Use Facebook to look for free toys
Facebook is another awesome place to get toys at no cost. You can ask people in local parenting groups if they have any hand me down toys. Some people’s kids have grown out of toys, so they have ones they’d give to you at no cost.
All you have to do is ask.
Also, there are lots of free groups that are dedicated to offering free stuff, so you may be able to find kid’s stuff. One group to check out is the All Free Stuff Public Group.
It has almost 15,000 members, and it’s updated regularly. On there, people can list and request free stuff, so it’s definitely worth a look.
How to Get Free Toys for Christmas
You may want to know how to get your children free toys for the holidays. I did a full post on how low-income families can get toys and gifts for free at Christmas:
Take a look at that post for more information:
Happy Play!
There are so many ways you can get toys for your kids without having to pay for them. So, give our tips a try.
Do you have any tips on how to get free toys? If so, let us know about it in the comments section below.
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