Mother Donna Field, who founded the Tiny Tykes market in 2016 out of her own pocket with her sister-in-law, said they “just can’t keep up”. 

What started as two Wagga mothers looking for a convenient way to sell their pre-loved children’s items became a quarterly market with more than 300 people regularly through the gates. 

Now, Ms Field has made an appeal for more parents to buy stalls for the market, which is struggling to sell enough pre-loved stalls to keep them alive. 

“We have stalls with brand new items from businesses and there are plenty of customers walking through more than willing to buy,” Ms Field said. 

With no money left to advertise the market, Ms Field and Cassie Mowbray have been putting up hand-made signs across Wagga and messaging parents on social media to encourage them to sell. 

“Local buy, swap, sell pages are going crazy with parents trying to sell their children’s old stuff,” Ms Field said. 

“We both tried Facebook pages originally and it was so unreliable, this was a much easier way.” 

Ms Field said she believed there was a high demand for the market, given the amount of social media selling and the success of children’s markets in Canberra and Melbourne. 

“You’d wait around for hours for online buyers and half the time they’d never show,” Ms Field said. 

“It takes a lot of effort but we are trying to make things easier for parents.” 

Ms Field said despite the hard work involved, the pair haven’t lost their spirit. 

“Families can come down and have their kids try things out,” Ms Field said. 

“When you see young pregnant mothers walking out with a pram filled with pre-loved items, it’s super satisfying.” 

In an attempt to keep the market as community based as possible, Ms Field is trying to organise high school students to run activities for younger children. 

Tiny Tykes also runs a nappy drive for Angels for the Forgotten, for Wagga’s most vulnerable families. 

“We want to help people who need it but we need a hand,” Ms Field said. 

A pre-loved stall for the June 3 market at Wagga Showgrounds will set you back $20, with a provided indoor trestle table.