Toylend USA – first toy renting service in the Twin Cities

Renting toys! Think of all the advantages: no toys to clutter your home, once your kids are done playing with certain toys, you can take them back and choose new ones. We had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth, the founder of Toylend USA – a toy renting company, the first in the Twin Cities – and she was very nice to take the time and present her business to our readers.

My name is Elizabeth Wilcox. I came to the Twin Cities from China more than 12 years ago and have stayed here ever since! I went to the University of Minnesota and spent a decade there before I got my doctorate in Evaluation Studies from the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. During those 10 years, I took a 3 year sabbatical from study and worked as a founding first grade Chinese immersion teacher in Minnetonka Public Schools. I have been teaching for my entire professional life. I joke that my career is “going down” because I started teaching college students, then middle school and high school students, and later elementary students. Now I am running this toys and baby gear rental business for little kids from birth to five years old! I love to interact with my students. I love to communicate and stay connected with their parents. I love my career. I will always, first and foremost, be a teacher, or “Laoshi” as it is called in Chinese.

I started this toys and baby gear rental service while raising my own daughter. She is now 2 years old. When I was a new mom, I kept buying brand-new toys and baby gear for her. I soon learned how quickly she outgrew her toys. She always needed something new to keep her interested. As she has grown I have found that she needs toys and gear that are age and developmentally appropriate: from colors and sounds, to singing and moving, to riding and building, and so on. I didn’t think that it made sense for me to keep buying her new toys and gear when she would outgrow them so quickly. I thought about how many items I had bought that were no longer being used and could be shared. I realized many families have been down on the same path. I thought “why don’t we rent from each other?” That is how the Toylend idea came to me. At Toylend USA, we want to use the toys and baby gear that are not currently being used and could be shared among families, so that young children can access a variety of toys and baby gear at a fraction of the cost.

We have also recently added a “Toyscription” option to our services. Toyscription is a monthly toy subscription service. For $25.00 each month, your child will receive 2-4 new rental toys each month, which have retail value up to $250.00. Toyscription subscribers enjoy free delivery and pick up. Upon signing up, you will be asked to provide your child’s birthday. Your child will receive developmentally appropriate, high quality toys that encourage creativity and physical activity. For those who have 2 or more children under 5 who need different toys, we will work out an individual package for them.