I've heard intermittently over the past few months of the Toy Rental Club, of the playgroups and parties held there and the free (but paid) play. For LO's birthday we'd rented some toys from Rent-A-Toy and we've rented car seats from Babytown who also do toys.

Suddenly, however, toy rentals are popping up like undergrowth in a tropical forest.

Now, there's Rent That Toy, GoGoMummy, Little Fairyland, online toyshops who are doing rentals, even blogging mums have gotten into the act. They're obviously taking cues from the pioneers. They parrot similar arguments - toys are too expensive in Singapore, kids outgrow them quickly - why, the GoGoMummy website even uses the same FreeCSSTemplates as Toy Rental Club.

I'd blogged earlier about a similar wave of indoor playgrounds. Perhaps those late to the party should have rather looked elsewhere for inspiration. In the US, for example, toy library subscription services seem to be the flavour of the month.