Yep, over half of them!

Yes! I went into clean out mode the day after Christmas - donated a lot of my son's toys and found a specific place for all the new things (a lot hidden behind closed doors) So far we've only gotten to 2 or 3 of his presents. I'm all for anything that keeps the toys novel and him interested!

We have stored probably the majority of his gifts. Especially the things he isn't quite ready for age wise. It'll be Christmas year round!

Yes! We gave our 1.5-yr-old daughter ONE present, but aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents didn't shop with the same restraint. We put lots of new (and old) toys away and will rotate them in and out.

My almost two year old had a bonanza with all the new toys out at once when we got home from traveling. I kept out the few toys he was playing with and put the rest away. His birthday is this month so we have more coming.

This is a nice idea, but we have four kids in a small space and no where, really, for more stashing! This year, we left some of our old toys under the tree for Santa to bring to poor children. It still didn't cover the influx of new things, but it did help a bit.

so glad to know i am not the only grinch that does this!! i totally stashed a big bag of things and plan on sneaking away more when my kids tire of them. i usually keep toys in rotation though with only a third out of what we have. it makes it easier for them to play and easier for me to pick up!! love LOVE this blog!

We did this since my daughter's first birthday was just 8 days before Christmas. She recieved SO MUCH STUFF! We packed most away for later, and sent other stuff to either grandparent's house so she has things to play with there. We still have a room full of toys. She's only one now, but I'm not sure how to manage all of this as she gets older.

Yes! Glad to hear we are not the only ones. A few extra annoying ones will be returned but the surplus went into the closet after a couple days of play. We still have plenty out and you know what? My kids still prefer to play with my pots and pans, the water in the sink and the cat's food (yuck) over any toys. sigh.

Oh hell yes. Since the boys' birthday is three weeks before Christmas, about half of their birthday loot (and some of the Christmas stuff) goes right into the closet, not to be seen again until the summer, or later.

We try to limit the influx, but this year both sets of grandparents went a bit overboard. Even with a thorough purge prior to the holiday, there were more toys than our space can accommodate. So, as with her birthday in July, many new toys are stashed away and will appear later in the year as her interests change.

Yeah, we took away the toy train we got him and are giving it to him again for his birthday at the end of the month :-) I like toys that serve double duty lol

I do this almost every year! This year when toys for tots came to my sons school I dug out one of his toys from 2 Christmas's ago and asked him who he thought could use it more and he agreed that it would be best to bring it for children that don't have an absurd amount of transformers already. I have even re-gifted some of the duplicates that did not come with gift receipts, whoops!

Pre Thanksgiving we do a large scale toy evaluation and purge. Broken toys are trashed/recycled. Good toys are donated to charity.

Post Christmas, we stash at least half of the toys in the space saved by the purge. New toys are rotated in about once a week.

We repeat the purge and stash process for birthdays.

Through out the year we try (try!) to stay on top of it and have done a few informal toy swaps with two families with kids of similar age. I hope to do more this year.

We stay on the look out for family/friends with kids a few years behind ours and pay if forward with timely, age appropriate hand me downs, as we've been blessed to receive from our family and friends with older kids.

Child related clutter is rampant. Hoarding is a family curse and I work diligently to prevent my kids from falling into the habit.

This is what we do too! I usually give the kids a day or two with their gifts, but things like craft supplies go into the craft box for the future, and the presents receiving less "airplay" than the others get shelved for a later date, when they can be fully appreciated.
The only thing I make sure I do is take a photo of the kids opening or playing with their gifts from OS/Interstate friends and family to send to the gift-givers along with a thank you note from each kid.

oh heaven's yes! the kid is two. plus she has a birthday just one week after christmas. there is no way i'm letting her load up on all those gifts at once. i put them in a closet and strategically dole them out throughout the year. this is especially true for toys that aren't quite yet age appropriate.

We stashed a lot of them for our fourteen-month-old. We do this throughout the year, too...switching things out so he doesn't get bored.

Our son at least was SO excited by every toy that he refused to open any more gifts. It took us two weeks to open everything!
I am right now trying to figure out how to hide and purge. I knew it'd be cool and not at all crazy parenting to "hide" some of the toys for later - esp those out of age bracket (like the totally awesome kid GUITAR which says 5+ for our barely 2 yr old) Thanks for getting my back Ohdeedoh!

I found donating a lot of doys before Christmas ( so there are other kids that also enjoy getting gifts ) helps a lot. Most of our families lives far away, so majority of gifts tend to trickle in over time, which also helps.

Yeah most go straight into the Goodwill bag. This was the first year (he's 4) that we didn't hide them and had to have a talk about it. We opened them and called everyone and thanked them. Then we had a talk about what is age appropriate and why it's important to be happy with less. He mostly got it and he was totally over it in about 5 min.

My kids didn't get a lot from us, the boys each got an ipod touch plus a few other things like new shoes, cases for the ipods, and a couple small toys. They got to keep all of those in their room. My daughter got a my first kenmore wooden washer & dryer, then a sets of wood play food for her kitchen. Those all got put in her kitchen and she uses them and the washer/dryer when she's playing house. I asked family to get mostly crafty things so they got a lot of those types of things which are put away to pull out on a rainy day. They also got a couple of movies, and a few other toys & books that they also got to keep since it really wasn't an overload. I cleaned out their rooms prior to Christmas so everything fit pretty well.

I've stashed so much toys it's unbelievable. Now with two kids, I was hoping with the holiday season, people would attach gift receipts so I could just save the money for something that they really "needed." Only a few did and the rest, well, storage of course. Well, actually some might be re-gifted for a later time. With 2 boys, I have tons and tons of toys. On top of a husband that is a kid himself, that means an overload of toys stashed away.

Yes, new presents and old presents are hidden in closets and his room. He isn't using his room right now, he sleeps with me and has toys in the bedroom, so it works.

I'll bring out toys and exchange them for others as the winter passes, he'll be excited and I'll stay sane. It works great.