Hey C.! I don't think all of this will help because I have 3 girls and you have boys!
We used the girls little baby clothes as doll clothes. Bibs, baby toys, like rattles, and blankets are good for this, too. When kids outgrew diapers(like if there were a few size ones and we needed two's next) I saved them for the dollies. My oldest is 8 and her (unused!!) newborn diapers are still being used on the dollies. Since they have velcro, they have held up for that long! Diaper bags can also be recycled in this way. Basically, any baby item can be used for dollies. You can still do this with boys, though most people probably don't. If there are any little girls in your life, a diaper bag filled with baby clothes makes a great birthday or Christmas gift. You can also spend a dollar on a travel wipe container and remove the wipes (my Mom kept the wipes and let them dry out and then put them back in the container so I could use them for cleaning the dollies). You could cut little pieces of blankies and pass them off as wipes. Also...buy a set of doll bottles just to get the point across that this is for play.
We also keep all stained clothing. I sew, so I can use that fabric to make doll clothes. I got quite a few doll clothes patterns at Hobby Lobby (on sale for 99 cents!!!) and old clothes are perfect for that. The clothes don't supply enough fabric for anything else and they don't really do anyone very much good, so recycling the fabric works for the doll clothes perfectly. It's just enough fabric and you can avoid using the stained part. Also, it's neat because the kids end up with doll clothes that look just like their old clothes that they can't wear anymore!
I turn worn jeans into capris...sometimes the knees in the girls pants are so worn that patching them might not be an option. So they wearthe pants during the winter and as long as they will still fit someone in the house, I cut them and hem them into shorts or capris, depending on how far down the holes are. I am also stealing my husbands pants (that are torn and have holes)and I am turning them in to purses. In our case, the girls need something to hold their Bibles and "Bible Bucks" (pretend money they earn at church to purchase items from a store)so I am making purses big enough to hold all of that stuff. I will use ribbon remnants and sew those on to make them more fun. So even Dad's pants have a place!!
I keep birthday party things, too. Hats,gift bags(the little ones for the kids, the biggest ones to reuse for real gifts), small gift boxes, tissue, wrapping paper. My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE to play "birthday party". We keep the things in a box and they use everything as props for pretend play. There's always the problem with not having a cake (we don't have one in the pretend food) so I am going to make them a cake for Christmas using felt. For now they use pretend cupcakes. When things get worn out in the box, never fear, another birthday is on it's way!!! Just throw out the old and replace it with the new!
One more thing I can think of...we keep all baby cups, plates, bowls, and spoons. They make great, durable, and safe pretend place settings. My kids and play "kitchen" or "restaurant". That way you save money and don't have to purchase the "dinner ware" for a play kitchen. Just make sure that they are things you'd want the kids to play with...we don't use anything metal...just the plastic things.
I'm sure I have more things that I have used and reused! Maybe if I get another cup of coffee in me I can think of some more!!
Hope this gives someone some ideas! I usually just look at everything before I get rid of it and say, "can I use this is ANY way for anyone in this house now or in the near future".
Have a happy day!!