St. Louis toy rental company Swap the Playroom eyes expansion in 2026

Swap the Playroom started as a simple idea between two friends and educators to solve the “stuff” dilemma of parenthood.

A savvy business plan to anyone who has ever been overwhelmed by kid clutter, Swap the Playroom allows families to rent toys on a weekly basis that normally break the bank or fill the living room—and then give them back when kids are tired of them.

Tiffany Boothe and Emily Coke founded the toy rental company in May 2024. This year, it will be bigger than ever, with summer 2026 plans for a membership model, new events, and expanded toy options, which the duo ultimately hopes will lead to a brick-and-mortar.

Their main query for local parents: Are you rotating yet? 

“When you rotate, you see a substantial difference in your kids and how they play,” Coke says. “Empty the shelves, and start now… This is how you get your kids to excel at independent play because they are getting that excited factor. And then you’re getting more of that break. We always joke, If you rent this toy, you get to drink your coffee hot that day.”

A New Kind of Play

The exhaustion of daily toddler mess and the speed with which their young children lost interest in new toys was both the inspiration and the purpose behind Swap the Playroom. “I was like, Why are we buying these toys to only use for short period of time?” Boothe says. “They’re only into it for a little bit, or they only need it for a little bit developmentally. Why are we are we doing this over and over again?”

She went to her best friend, Coke, with her dream. “Emily immediately said, ‘This is a good idea; we need to run with that,’” Boothe says. “So we started with 10 toys, and now we have more than 60 that we rent out.”

The operation is run out of Boothe’s garage and allows families to rent toys—anything from bounce houses to Air Toobz to the Nex Playground to block sets—on a weekly basis. “It’s a storage problem for us now and not other people,” Boothe says with a laugh.

The team runs surveys on social media and opens preorders before making big internal purchases to be smart about investments based on community interest. The team says they are definitively not a party rental business, focusing instead on the proven importance of providing variety in experience and creativity in childhood play.

Rental rates are $5–$45 per week, depending on the toy, and delivery is an option. Pickup/drop-off has always been available in O’Fallon, Missouri, but Clayton’s TotSpot Social will also offer a designated pickup point one week per month in 2026.

In order to keep their prices affordable, the duo finds many of its toys on Facebook Marketplace or at the St. Charles Just Between Friends Sale. “We like that they’re really well-kept toys, and something like 60 percent of the purchases at Just Between Friends goes back to the family, so it’s also supporting the community,” Boothe says.

Swap the Playroom also offers trade-in programs. “So if families donate toys, we give them a free rental,” Boothe says. “Because some parents just want to get rid of it.”

The target age range for Swap the Playroom is 0—8, with a bulk of the business’ clients being busy and second-time moms. “Some people rotate their toys with us routinely, and some people are randomly like, Oh, my God, my kid is driving me nuts right now, and I need something new,” Coke says. “Or when you bring home that new baby and your kid’s not feeling like they’re getting as much attention, you can give them a new toy. You could buy something, but after a week, let’s be honest, they’re gonna be bored anyways. So why buy it when you can just rent it for a week or two?”

Adding to the Fun

A monthly, tiered membership program is next on the horizon for Swap the Playroom, allowing parents a one-stop shop to continually rotate their toy selections, starting in summer 2026, when Coke—still a teacher by school year—is on break.

Boothe and Coke also anticipate soon adding restaurant and travel backpack kits, full of rotating fidgets that add up expense-wise over time. “We’re in the Midwest; everyone loves road-tripping here,” Boothe explains.

Swap the Playroom has gained traction by popping up at community events throughout the year and allowing parents to see their kids engaging with the new toys. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, my kid would love this at home,” Boothe adds.

In springtime, Swap the Playroom will be hosting its first Parent Resource Fair where parents can interact with helpful vendors and kids can engage with the business’ toys. “In the center of it all, we’ll have a play space so these parents can go around and talk to these vendors and have their child entertained,” Coke says. “And then you’ll get a discount if you book a toy today.” 

Managing the cleaning process of all of the toys has ended up being one of the heavier lifts of the business, so they hope to hire a cleaning staff at some point. Some toys have also been removed from the website because of the challenge of cleaning certain material. 

The Women at Work

The two moms run their company during nap times and in between wake windows, and business developments are often discussed at what the two call their “CEO meetings,” during which they meet kid-free to plan.

In the span between meetings, however, the text chain is constant and ebbs and flows as they simultaneously navigate snow days, sick days, and everything else involved in raising their active kids. Multitasking like only mothers know how, they divide and conquer customer orders, messaging, community partnerships, and more.

“She just went on a vacation with her husband, and then her family got sick. And that was the longest I think I’ve ever gone without seeing her face-to-face,” Boothe says. “I think we went 10 days, and I don’t think I’ve ever gone more than, like, three days without seeing her, even through holidays.”

Boothe and Coke agree that it’s the craziness of motherhood, and the village they’ve built around it, that bonded them in the first place. “We now have what we call Thursdays With the Crew. We have 10 families part of this crew and 18 kids,” Coke says. “Our village is crucial. It’s make or break. It helps everybody involved. And now we just want to help more moms.”