Sarah Bell created the Pop-up Kids Market. Photo / Supplied
It started for selfish reasons. My family had moved from Tāmaki Makaurau to Te Matau a Māui Hawke’s Bay in 2018 with a 2-year-old and a baby of six months.
Children’s stuff is expensive, and with no family nearby to pass on hand-me-downs, our options for accessing affordable children’s clothes and equipment were limited. Local op shops at the time didn’t hold much choice for us. The kids’ markets that popped up every few months in Auckland were non-existent in Hawke’s Bay, so I decided to create the Pop-up Kids Market.
The concept is simple but very effective. For a small fee to cover venue hire, parents sign up for a stall and sell clothes, toys, books and equipment that their tamariki have outgrown.
The shoppers are other whānau, parents and parents-to-be, looking for bargains and to make their money go further. It has grown and matured in the past four years with lots of repeat stallholders and customers – kids grow up and grow out of things fast!
Having children can cost a lot. According to BNZ’s baby calculator, in 2018 a new pēpi cost about $16,000 a year – it’s no doubt more now. Most of it will be childcare expenses but a good chunk is clothes and the other big-ticket items such as cots, strollers, baby carriers and so on. Buying things new makes the bills rack up fast.
And at the other end, what happens to all that stuff? About 180,000 tonnes of clothing and textile waste is dumped in New Zealand landfills every year. That’s a pretty depressing statistic without imagining all the plastic toys and other paraphernalia that gets discarded too.
It makes sense to reuse. Buy less new (save money) and throw less away (reduce waste). Easy to say but not always easy to do. It can take more time, effort and organisation to be thrifty and use resources more mindfully. A good starting point can be to seek out pre-loved versions of big items such as strollers.
For me, what started out as a money-saving exercise has opened my eyes not only to the waste created through the production of new clothes, toys and equipment for children, but also to the sense of community when we come together to pass on and share the things we no longer need. It is also one of my ways of taking action against climate change.
Luckily, life for the second-hand shopping parent is getting easier in Hawke’s Bay with a burgeoning mix of like-minded organisations.
My Walk In Wardrobe now regularly comes to Hawke’s Bay. Pregnancy Help has free clothes, toys and equipment for newborns to 2-year-olds with branches in Hastings/Napier and Waipukurau.
Facebook has pages such as You Made My Day Hawke’s Bay and Free Stuff Hawke’s Bay where people give things away they no longer need (both are private groups and have admin rules). And I haven’t even touched on the awesome local recycling organisations such as Re-Source and the ultimate fixer-uppers like Re-New NZ and Menzshed NZ. There will be so many more I’ve missed here.
Why does visiting Pop-up Kids Market, and others like it, make sense?
Be part of the community who are reusing, repurposing, and recycling more. There’s no better time than now. Kia rite!
The next Pop-up Kids Market is Sunday, April 30, 8.30-10am at the Scout Hall in Havelock North. https://www.facebook.com/hn.popupmarket
Get in touch: climateaction@hbrc.govt.nz
Sarah Bell is strategy and performance team lead at Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.