Lynelle James figures she can get all the clothes her two grade school-aged boys are going to need to get through the coming summer months for $80.

That is the average amount spent by moms attending the KidStuff Resale events put on by Moms of McHenry County, James said.

She, along with co-manager Jenni Perz, organizes the semiannual sale for all things child-related. Each spring and fall, up to 145 sellers register to sell, on consignment, items they no longer need – gently used clothing, shoes, strollers, car seats, toys, maternity clothes and everything in between.

“We have an average inventory of 25,000 items per sale,” James said, adding that sizes for boys and girls run from newborn to teenager.

The Spring 2026 sale is set for 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 18. The event is held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 1023 S. McHenry Ave., Crystal Lake. It’s been held there since their first year, in 1998.

Organizers are picky about what they will accept for the sale.

“If we wouldn’t buy it, we wouldn’t want to sell it,” James said.

No registration is required to attend and shop at the event. Sellers, however, register far in advance and are team members for the event, James said. Selling team members must agree to work at least a single two-hour shift between Thursday, the first day of setup, and the end of the event and cleanup on Saturday night.

For taking a shift, sellers receive a pass for the Friday night presale event.

James was pregnant with her first son at her first KidsStuff sale in 2015. She came back as a seller the next year.

Perz first shopped the sale in 2010.

“I shopped the resale and became a volunteer to help ... and to shop the presale to get first pick,” she said.

Perz took over as one of the event managers in 2017 and asked James to join her in 2022.

The event has changed a lot since she got involved, too, Perz said.

“Back in the day, it was all handwritten tags ... and calculators” to come up with the final amount owned, Perz said.

Now, they use the website myconsignmentmanager.com. There, sellers enter each item or grouping of items they will bring to the sale, and price them. The website creates a barcode for each item, and sellers then print tags and attach them to the corresponding items.

Now, the team members working the checkout tables can scan those bar codes and get a total.

The sellers get 70% of the sales back, with the remainder going towards Moms of McHenry County. There is a $1 per transaction fee also added to cover credit card and banking fees.

The entry fee is $1. This year, that entry fee goes directly to the D300 Food Pantry in Carpentersville.

The balance of the funds raised goes back to the club – either for its own events or to the nonprofits it supports.

The group supports a scholarship for moms going to McHenry County College, and donates to all of the food pantries in the county, James said.

Unsold items are either picked up by the sellers or donated to other organizations, including Riddick’s Ride, KIN/Second Bridge, Blessing Barn, The Green Read/The Green Spot and The Giving Closet of McHenry County.

The club meeting where they decide on where to donate is her favorite, Perz said. “We get to give away all of our money.”

For 2025, the club donated just shy of $8,000 to community nonprofits from its two sales.

The group does keep a little aside as seed money for the next event. The second sale of the year, held in August, focuses on fall, winter and back-to-school clothing.

In the meantime, the club offers moms – and often entire families – events to help them connect to their community and have fun.

“We do monthly bunco games, with prizes; outings for kids at a play place; a parents’ night out,” James said.

There is no fee to join the club – members must only agree to attend at least one event a year.

“You will get kicked out if you don’t come,” Perz said.

What club members get, other than access to the events, is connection to their community and other moms.

“As a new mom, I was looking for connections, people to talk to, having our kids have play dates and mom outings and talking to adults and not just baby talk,” Perz said. “It is having that connection with other moms who have already been through that.”