asking people not to buy my kids toys

I don't think there is a non tacky way to ask for specific gifts, and frankly the gift giver should be able to give what they want. You can mention to close family that you're starting a savings account for the kids and they can contribute to that in lieu of toys if they needed gift ideas.

We usually just say no gifts please for bdays. I've also heard of saying instead of a gift, you're welcome to bring a book that will be donated to the children's hospital.

 We recently attended a birthday party where , on the invitation, it said no gifts. At the bottom it said "Haley's favorite place is the Marine Science Center. Contributions to the Turtle Rescue Foundation are always welcomed." I thought that was a good way to handle it.

IMO it's rude to ask for money. Perhaps indicate the charity of your choice and encourage gifters to donate on the children's behalf. Push come to shove keep the gifts packaged and donate them to a local foster/shelter care and teach your children about giving!! Hope all goes well

I agree, that would work. No matter the occasion I think it's tacky to say, just give me money. I understand wanting to save for your child's education rather than piling up toys that she won't play with, but there's really no good way to ask. 

Quoting SweetLuci:

 We recently attended a birthday party where , on the invitation, it said no gifts. At the bottom it said "Haley's favorite place is the Marine Science Center. Contributions to the Turtle Rescue Foundation are always welcomed." I thought that was a good way to handle it.

Rather than asking for money directly, I'm sure there is some way to set up a 529 where people can give straight into the college account. 

I think if you state it just like this.. I would say it should be well received!

I asked my family to not buy anymore gifts as one was enough when he was born.My mother and one of my sisters was having money problems at the time so i especially didnt want them spending money on my son.  Now my mother and one of my sisters have not spoken to me or seen my son in a year (he is 14 months old) i told them spending family tome together is more important but they still got upset and even resorted to spreading lies about me and my husband to the rest of the family. If your family is crazy about giving gifts and are shopaholics then there is no easy way to tell them but if they are reasonable people then just tell them flat out what you have in mind instead of gifts.

You could talk to a bank about setting up a college fund and, by now, banks probably have ways for ppl to add to the fund and the child gets a card or email or something.

I always went through my kids' toys right around bdays and right before thnxgvng.  I threw out what was broken; I donated what wasn't; if there was anything they wanted to give to someone specific or who had a specific interest, I let them do that (but not much b/c I don't want other ppl's junk, so I don't give our unwanted stuff away much).  That's my opinion.

I usually just add a little wish list of things we could use for ds.

For his second birthday in June i plan to ask for just books or kids DVDs. I also give a clothing size that we need clothes for. He was all set with clothes up until now. We will need to buy him more clothes in bigger sizes but his growth has been so weird lately that we aren't stocking up anymore.
The best you can do is ask for no gifts on the invites, but people are still going to do what they want, especially family.

I think you will deprive your family of the joy of giving and recieving from family members. However, you could then allow your children to choose toys to give away and teach them the joy of giving.

You can alsoe suggestions as to the things they could give- like books, or special trips. Let them know what you would appreciate and that will help. I would feel terrible if I could not give gifts to my grand kids. :(