How do you store large baby items?

[jrhoads]

Well my dd is now 8 months old and starting to outgrow some of that baby equipment- like her swing, bouncy seat and play mat. Everything is in such great condition and I would like to re-use it for future children. How do you store these larger items so they will still look new when you need them next time? I am wishing now that I would have saved the boxes. TIA!

[Jenny_A]

I just recently put away our swing, bouncy seat, and play mat. I just washed the fabric parts in the washing machine, wiped the other parts down, and put them in trashbags. The swing was more difficult. It folded up and then I slid a trashbag over the top of it to keep the dust off. We have a basement so I put them down there.

Jenny

Mom to Caroline 1/2006

[MarisaSF]

I "stored" them at friend's houses. When my friends had babies, I heaped all the big stuff into their homes. :)
I think several things have been passed around and if/when I need them again, they'll make it back to my house.
ETA: Several of the things were hand-me-downs to begin with. Seems like everyone has the desire to get all that baby gear out of their homes!

[kboyle]

i wash the fabric stuff and then like pp, i just either slid a trash bag over the item, or put it in a trash bag...then when i needed it again for max i just rewashed the fabric stuff & wiped the item down. i figure, no matter how "new" i wanted it to look, it just got puked and spit up on anyway...why bother keeping it pristine? :) but that's just me!

[jgriffin]

That's what we are doing, too! Our friend has our swing and bouncy seat, and she'll probably be getting our bouncer, soon. The swing I made clear that we definitely wanted it back for our next kid (as it was a gift from my mom, and a nice one at that!), the bouncy seat not as big a deal.

Other stuff that we haven't lent out (like the bassinet from the PnP), I cleaned up, put in a large garbage bag, and labeled.

[ShanaMama]

I actually have no storage space in my apt, so everything goes to my parents very dusty basement. I bought some of those MASSIVE Ziploc bags, and I remove all fabric seats, etc. I wash them 7 put htemin the Ziploc bag. Then I put the plastic frame in a garbage bag in the basement.
I might be creating a little more work for myself, but I figure, if things get dusty this way, I can jsut wipe them off & then reattach the fabric, instead of having to detach everything, clean it, and reattach it.
Then again, I'm a bit of a neat freak, so I'll probably rewash & clean everything, even if it looks clean.

[lilycat88]

We use garbage bags for things that will fit in them and we use those big "drum liners" for big things like a swing.