About the Pudsey Toy Swap
Where it began
In 2022, all we heard on the news was about the Cost of Living Crisis engulfing the UK. With that in mind, and being parents ourselves, we wanted to do something to help people with the cost of Christmas. One thing as a parent you begin to appreciate is the children get bored of their toys, fast! That becomes an expensive habit to continually find and replace with new toys. From that, the idea of the Pudsey Toy Swap was created.
November 2022 - The first Pudsey Toy Swap
On November the 19th 2022 we launched the very first Pudsey Toy Swap at Pudsey House with the help of the MyPudsey team of volunteers and the MyPudsey website. In the weeks leading up to the event, our volunteers found our garages and spare rooms becoming increasingly fuller as each day passed with the amount of support and donations we had. By the time the day arrived, my husband was pleading for 'his' garage back.
The reaction was incredible, and before we'd even opened our doors to our eager swappers Pudsey House was a treasure trove of kids toys just waiting to be swapped ready for little ones to open on Christmas day (some lucky little boys and girls even got their toys on the day!).
We even had some arts and crafts activities for the kids on the day, and our little visitors decorated baubles that were placed on to a MyPudsey christmas tree that featured in the Fulneck Christmas Tree Festival. Truly a wonderfully Christmassy event.
2023 and beyond
2023 saw our very first Summer toy swap which took place on the 10th June 2023 inside Pudsey House and was once again a massive success. The team are now preparing for the influx of donations ahead of our 2023 Christmas Toy Swap which will take place inside Pudsey House on the 18th November. Keep your eyes on our Upcoming Events page to keep in touch!