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Since it came up what to do with Lego sets after kids are grown


lynn
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Baby boy has a bookshelf full of Legos sets, bionicles,  and Hess trucks. He's going in th Navy, we plan to downsize. What to do with this?  He also kept all boxes.  How do you package up Lego sets?  He also has a few years of Lego magazines.  Ideas, suggestions?

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We kept some of the favorites for each kid to pass down to their own kids, though not a lot.  The magazines we tossed. We sold some sets on eBay and at yard sales.  The big bins of mixed blocks went to our grandkids and to some other families who had little kids. 

ETA: I took pics of the built models ds had on display and made a Shutterfly book of them. 

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My Aspie son hasn't tossed any of his Lego stuff, not spare bricks which are in bins sorted by color, nor completed sets, nor magazines. When he was ready to let go of having them around him, we put the completed sets in big ziploc bags with the instructions. Most of it is in the attic but the bins are in the library. I figure at some point in his life he'll finally decide to get rid of them. In the meantime they aren't in our way. Our library looks crowded but it's not bad.

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The completed sets should be disassembled and sorted back into their original boxes prior to packing. As to what to keep or donate, Navy boy should decide....and then make storage arrangements as necessary. 

As to the figurines, if they are pristine collector’s items, they should be individually wrapped in sheets of paper as part of the packing technique.

 

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I really appreciate that my husband was able to save a couple of his LEGO sets for our kids to play with themselves. Of course if you don’t have storage that isn’t an option. I agree that you should allow your son to decide which sets to keep and which to sell. If you don’t have storage space maybe trusted family member would be willing to store them until he has a bit more permanent housing. 

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This sounds like a decision that your son needs to make.

Legos and Hess trucks generally sell well on ebay.

We are keeping most of our Legos, although we may end up selling some of the sets.

And I wish we had Hess Trucks.  :)  Those I wouldn't sell.

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I just spent about a month organizing my kid's legos into freezer bags with their instruction booklets.  The back of the book tells which pieces go with the set.  I had to download a couple of the instruction booklets from the internet, because ours were lost.  I will be giving the sets to younger nieces.

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My son's godfather's mother gave birth to 4 sons between 1978 and 1989.  At some point when they were grown, she assembled every single set they had ever purchased and then disassembled them and placed those pieces and the instructions in one ziplock. This was over a 100 sets that started loose in bins, it must have taken her forever. The boxes were loooooong gone.  Anyways, she did this for her then non-existent grandkids.  My sons have benefited as their godfather has gifted them some of these awesome vintage sets.  

I had designs on having all of the instructions for our sets but my nephew and younger son managed to destroy the binder of instructions.  Oh well. 

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18 hours ago, SKL said:

I just spent about a month organizing my kid's legos into freezer bags with their instruction booklets.  The back of the book tells which pieces go with the set.  I had to download a couple of the instruction booklets from the internet, because ours were lost.  I will be giving the sets to younger nieces.

 

29 minutes ago, LucyStoner said:

My son's godfather's mother gave birth to 4 sons between 1978 and 1989.  At some point when they were grown, she assembled every single set they had ever purchased and then disassembled them and placed those pieces and the instructions in one ziplock. This was over a 100 sets that started loose in bins, it must have taken her forever. The boxes were loooooong gone.  Anyways, she did this for her then non-existent grandkids.  My sons have benefited as their godfather has gifted them some of these awesome vintage sets.  

I had designs on having all of the instructions for our sets but my nephew and younger son managed to destroy the binder of instructions.  Oh well. 

 

Wow, that's incredible!  We have three sons who all loved Legos while growing up (one still does) and our basement is filled with them.  I could see DH doing this after he retires but I never could.  

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We had all three boys sort out several gallon size baggies with instructions to keep for themselves or maybe for future kids. All of the rest were bagged up and given to my great nieces, or saved for our grandson.

 

One option is to definitely look at donating to summer camps. In our area, they are often utilized when weather doesn't cooperate for the planned outdoor activities. Usually the staff can drum up some fun prizes, and they have build competitions in order to get everyone excited about staying indoors while it is awful outside.

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My older DS kept a file folder of the instruction manuals so when he grew up he sorted them into sets and sold them for ALOT on ebay. Some of the Legos sold for more just by selling individual mini figures so in some cases he did that and passed on the remaining loose pieces to his siblings collection. 

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23 hours ago, Patty Joanna said:

If you don’t have them all together as sets, you can sell them by the pound.   I have been offered sight unseen multiple thousands of dollars for about 25 gallons of Lego pieces.   Also if the minifigs are in VERY good shape, sell them separately.  One of my young friends turned his childhood legos into his first DSLR and good lens.  

 

Seriously?  I have over 30 gallons of random Lego pieces I bought for $50 at a rummage sale.  (There's a lot of instruction books tossed on top, but I've never gone through the bins to see exactly what there was - the kids just build whatever.  I have thought about attempting to organize them by part and color, though, but that would be a pretty massive undertaking.)

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We had taken most of them apart and put them in ziplocks with their instructions but Dh and Dd decided to see exactly what we have and have reassembled them all this spring.  They have even purchased a missing set or two from eBay. They are pretty pleased with their display so it can stay for now.  Our LEGO isn’t going anyplace!

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My son is keeping his in the hope that he'll someday have a child who likes Lego. My niece's husband saved his and ended up with twins who both like Lego (a boy and a girl). When she was still dating him and they would come over to visit, he would always build with ds. He talked to ds about his old Lego and I think that's where ds got the idea to save his. 

 

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