I always imagined I would have a large family, even here in New York, while pursuing a full time career. But after having my second daughter, it gradually solidified that we were probably done expanding our family further. Our lives and hearts were very full with gratitude for our two incredible kiddos, but I still privately mourned being at the end of the baby phase.

Through gifts, hand-me-downs, and overthought purchases, we had SO much baby stuff from our first daughter. I took meticulous care of all of it in order to pass it down to our second daughter. But each time my youngest outgrew one of the items, I felt a creep of sadness of tucking away the memories I had imparted in each. Some items I was able to pass on to friends and family as they had children, but most items went into storage boxes. I couldn’t bring myself to drop beloved items into the questionable commercial donation bins, or get lost in NFP’s overwhelming volumes.

But what if I could find a way to give new homes and life to the items? What if I could do it in a way with a social purpose that would support families in my community? What if there was a different type of up-cycling experience for users that want more curation and ease than the typical hunt of thrifting.

And thus Play was born. It’s a way for me to do something meaningful (creatively, commercially, and community-wise) with the small gains of time I have with increasingly older kids. It’s a bit of a test to see if there’s market for curated gently used, quality kids clothes that would improve the experience of either donations or upcycled clothes.

Thanks for reading, perusing, and hopefully, playing forward new life, purpose, and memories into the items featured here.

With love from my family to yours,

Carin