A toy drive flyer works against a calendar: gifts have to arrive, get sorted by age and reach families before the holiday. It hangs on school doors, church bulletin boards, office break rooms and the collection bin itself. One sheet has to tell donors what to buy, for which ages and by when, so the gift rules sit at the top of the checklist, ahead of wording for toy, coat, clothing and blanket drives. Canned goods and school supplies have their own pages: food drive wording and item lists and donation drive flyers.
What to put on a toy drive flyer
Work down this list, and the flyer answers what donors ask at the store:
- "New, unwrapped toys." Use those exact words. Sorting volunteers need to see every gift, and a wrapped one has to be opened first.
- The ages you collect for. "Ages 0 to 14" or "Babies to teens", so donors shop across the whole range.
- Drop-off spots and hours. "Front lobby bins, Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 7 PM."
- The deadline, with its weekday. "Friday, December 11", a week or more before distribution day.
- Where the toys go. "Families at Oxhollow Elementary" or "Kids staying at the Oxhollow Family Shelter".
- What you can't take. Ask the group that hands out the gifts, then print its rules in a short line: "No toy weapons, no food gifts, no used toys."
- Gift ideas for teens. Books, board games, sports balls, backpacks and headphones give donors a starting point for ages 12 to 17.
- A baby and toddler bin. CPSC rules ban small parts in products meant for children under 3, so sort by the age printed on the box and keep "3+" toys out of the youngest bin.
- Gift cards, if you take them. Say whether you accept them and who will shop with them.
- Volunteer shifts. Sorting night, a wrapping table, distribution day.
- Who to ask. One name with a phone number, for big drop-offs and questions.
To print the gift rules in English and Spanish on one sheet, see these bilingual flyer layouts.
Toy drive flyer ideas and wording
Headlines and supporting lines for nine kinds of drives. Copy any row as a toy drive flyer template, then put in your own dates and places.
| Drive | Headline | Supporting line |
|---|---|---|
| Community holiday toy drive | "Give a Kid a Holiday Morning" | "New, unwrapped toys for ages 0 to 14. Lobby bins through Friday, December 11." |
| School toy drive | "Toys for Our Neighbors" | "Bring a toy to your classroom by Friday, December 4. Every class that fills its box earns extra recess." |
| Church giving tree | "Gifts Under Our Tree" | "Place new, unwrapped toys under the lobby tree after any service through December 13." |
| Office toy drive | "Fill the Sleigh" | "Toy bin in the 4th floor break room until Thursday, December 10." |
| Toy drive at a holiday party | "Bring a Toy to the Party" | "Every guest with a new, unwrapped toy gets a free hot cocoa." |
| Teen gift drive | "Gifts for Teens, Too" | "Books, sports balls, board games and headphones for ages 12 to 17." |
| Coat drive | "Bring a Coat, Warm a Kid" | "Clean, wearable coats in every size through November 13." |
| Clothing drive | "Clean Out Your Closet" | "Clean, folded clothes in bags. Kids' jeans and men's work boots needed." |
| Blanket drive | "Wrap Someone in Warmth" | "New or freshly washed blankets, twin size or larger." |
A church collecting toys alongside its holiday services can match the look of its Christmas service flyers. When the drive is the entry ticket to a holiday party, borrow invitation and RSVP lines from the Christmas party flyer wording.
Coat drive flyer ideas
Coat drives start earlier than toy drives. One Warm Coat, which helps groups run coat drives, says the agencies it works with want coats before cold weather arrives, and its Share the Warmth Day falls on October 20 in 2026. Its organizer guide asks hosts to check that every coat is clean, wearable and freshly washed, and to send coats with rips, holes, missing buttons or broken zippers to textile recycling instead.
- Headlines: "Give a Coat, Warm a Neighbor", "Coats for the Cold Months", "Kids' Coat Drive"
- Supporting line: "Freshly washed coats in all sizes, especially kids' sizes. Gym lobby through Friday, November 13."
- Call to action: "Clean out one closet this weekend and bring what you find."
Clothing drive and blanket drive flyers
A clothing drive flyer needs a narrower ask than "clothes": name the sizes and items the closet or shelter is short on, ask for clean items folded in bags, and say whether you take shoes, coats or accessories. A blanket drive flyer should say "new or freshly washed", give a minimum size such as twin, and name the shelter. Ask the receiving agency what it needs and has room to store before you print.
- Clothing drive headline: "Clean Out Your Closet for the Family Shelter"
- Blanket drive headline: "One Blanket, One Warm Night"
- Call to action for both: "Drive-through drop-off Saturday, 9 AM to 1 PM. Volunteers unload."
Design tips for toy drive flyers
Show unwrapped toys in the picture. A pile of wrapped presents quietly tells donors to wrap. An illustration of loose toys, such as a wooden train, a ball and a stack of books, matches the ask.
Put the age range in a badge. A circle reading "Ages 0 to 14" next to the headline keeps the range visible from across a room.
Make a bin label as well as a flyer. A Wide version taped to the long side of the collection box, with the headline and "new, unwrapped" in large type, tells donors they found the right box.
Say "Coat Drive" or "Blanket Drive" in the headline itself. A pun-only headline like "Warm Fuzzies" doesn't tell anyone what to bring. Keep the wordplay for the second line.
Leave national program logos off unless you have permission. Name the partner in plain text and keep the artwork original, with no characters from films, shows or toy brands.
Toy drive flyer sizes and printing
A toy drive usually needs a door copy, a bin label and a phone version.
| Copy | Paper and orientation | Print pixels (300 per inch) | Choose in Flyer Maker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Door or bulletin board | Upright letter sheet | 2550 x 3300 | Tall, Quality 4K |
| Label on the collection bin | Sideways letter sheet (11 x 8.5 in) | 3300 x 2550 | Wide, Quality 4K (3200 x 2560) |
| Facebook posts and texts | Phone only | No print | Portrait, Quality 1K |
Wide is a 5:4 shape, a bit squarer than a landscape letter page, so at 4K it fills the page's height at about 300 pixels per inch and leaves a slim margin at each end. Slide the bin label into a sheet protector before you tape it to a cardboard box. For printing, choose 2K or 4K. Other paper sizes are in the guide to flyer sizes.
More toy drive flyer prompts
Two more toy drive flyer examples: an office toy drive and a shelter clothing drive. Both spell out the art (loose toys, folded clothes) so the picture matches what you're asking for. Paste either one into Flyer Maker and change the details.
Fill the Sleigh Toy Drive at Quillowby Dental, 88 Wellness Parkway, Suite 200. Bring a new, unwrapped toy for ages 0 to 14 to the front desk by Thursday, December 10. Gifts for teens especially welcome: books, board games and sports balls. Toys go to families at Oxhollow Elementary. Questions: frontdesk@example.com. Red and green with an original illustrated sleigh full of loose, unwrapped toys, cheerful.Clothing Drive for the Oxhollow Family Shelter. Saturday, November 7, 9 AM to 1 PM, drive-through drop-off in the parking lot of Oxhollow Public Library, 300 Park Avenue. Clean clothes in good condition, folded in bags. Most needed: kids' jeans in sizes 6 to 14, men's work boots, and new socks in packages. No stained or torn items. Volunteers will unload your car. Questions: 555-0186. Clean white background with illustrated folded clothes in soft blue and gray.Common toy drive flyer mistakes
- "During December" instead of a deadline. Without a date, gifts can arrive after sorting night. Print the weekday and date.
- Only little-kid pictures. A flyer showing only teddy bears and trucks gives nothing to someone shopping for a 14-year-old. Add a line of teen gift ideas.
- Silence on used toys. If you only take new toys, say so, or you'll spend sorting night setting aside used ones.
How to make a toy drive flyer in Flyer Maker
Flyer Maker, in Toybox AI, reads your description of the art from the same box as your wording, so you can ask for loose, original toys instead of wrapped boxes or familiar characters. There's nothing to download: open it in a phone or laptop browser and sign in with a free account.
- Start in Flyer Maker by writing the flyer in "Describe your flyer": headline, "new, unwrapped toys", ages, drop-off spots and hours, the cutoff date, where the toys go, what you can't take, and who to ask.
- Describe the art in that same box. Ask for loose, unwrapped toys and name them ("an original wooden train, a soccer ball and a stack of books") so nothing resembles a famous character.
- Make the door copy in Tall and a second version in Wide for the bin label.
- Open "More options" and choose Announcement as the flyer type. Playful style fits a kids' drive, Elegant fits a church giving tree, and a Friendly tone works for both.
- Set Quality to 4K for both printed versions.
- Flip on "Leave a blank square for your QR code" when donors can also buy from an online wish list, then add the real code for that list to the empty square.
- Create the flyer and compare it with your notes. Look at the ages, the cutoff date and its weekday, the addresses and the phone number. One wrong line can go through "Want to change something?" (currently 60 credits, 70 for 2K, 90 for 4K). Anything larger is quicker to fix in the description before you run it again.