Several years ago, when my daughter was a toddler, we rented a beach house on Cape Cod. In typical newbie parent fashion we packed the car with more beach toys and equipment than we would ever use. In fact, we didn't use most of them, because she became enamored with all the other kids' toys—particularly a swimmie in the shape of a duck. The little boy who owned the duck wasn't interested in it any more and his parents happily passed it along to us. "Keep it," they said, to our astonishment. As the week was coming to a close and the duck joined the collection of other beach toys she was no longer interested in, we realized the wisdom of the duck's previous owners. Rather than shlepping all the toys back to our New York City apartment to be shoved to the back of a closet, we would pay it forward. And thus started a vacation ritual: The toys and equipment that didn't get played with will get passed along to another family on the beach. This has worked very well for us. We still have the same favorite red pail that we bought five years ago, but we've given away various floaties, shovels, sieves, and sand molds that fell from favor. Packing the car at the end of the week has gotten easier—except for the bike, scooter, roller skates, and safety gear she has now started bringing.
What do you do with your kids' beach toys at the end of vacation?