And baby makes spree

Michelle Rascon fervently wanted to free herself from all that plastic.

So it was time for the multicolored ExerSaucer to clutter some other parents' floor. So too the bouncy seat and the play mat that her two children don't need anymore.

That's how she came to be parked outside a Van Nuys warehouse on a muggy spring morning, unloading her children's leftovers. But the large purple tulip atop the double-deck ExerSaucer had wedged itself between the door frame and the back seat, and she had to tug mightily to remove it from her gray Nissan Sentra -- and her life.

Across the street at Babies 'R Us, the 23-pound saucer -- with a hammock-like seat where parents can plop Junior to play with various gizmos while they get a cup of coffee -- retails for $119.95. Rascon, a part-time legal secretary, was hoping that it would fetch $55 at a biannual kids' used-clothing and equipment sale that's half coffee klatch and half bargain hunter's delight.

"My husband's, like, 'Just get rid of it already,' " said Rascon, 32, describing the major spring cleaning that preceded her trip to the LA Kids Consignment Sale.

The Los Angeles mother was one of 275 people who hauled boxes full of used toy trucks, dolls, clothes, breast pumps, games, highchairs, cribs and other items to the warehouse.

The 25,000 items offered for sale make it the largest such event in the Western United States and one of hundreds that have sprung up nationwide in the last five years to help parents divest themselves of the expensive doodads and knickknacks that seem to be absolutely indispensable to raising a child in the 21st century.

And there are plenty of buyers, eager to acquire the castoffs at a fraction of their original price.

In just the first year of a child's life, it costs $6,655 to outfit him and his room with brand-name products purchased at retail prices, according to a survey of 1,000 parents conducted by Denise and Alan Fields, who co-wrote "Baby Bargains," a shopping guide now in its seventh edition. Four years ago, the prices began to irritate Kristin Nelson, a stay-at-home mother of two who couldn't find an affordable ExerSaucer for her 5-month-old son. Scouring garage sales with an infant in tow was out. So was dealing with strangers on the Internet. So the former marketing executive started her own baby bazaar.