Joint presents for siblings - recipe for disaster ?!

[Tillyscoutsmum]

DSD is 7. DD is 3.5. They drive me insane with bickering over toys etc.

We want to try and buy things for Xmas that will encourage them to play together. At the moment, they will play really well if there are no "things" involved (i.e. lots of playing "schools", hide & seek, hairdressers etc.).

So - do you think it would be a good idea to buy joint presents they can play with together or is that likely to cause more arguments ? Or would we be better off buying two of the same things that they can still play with together iyswim ?

Any ideas of the sort of things which might be appropriate ?

[polkadottytotty]

My DS's aged 6 and 4 have had several joint presents and we have never had any problems with them fighting over them.

Last year they got the Playmobil pyramid which is big enough for them to play with together plus there are plenty of accessories for them to share.

Have also considered the Playmobil Castle/Police station etc.

My two also play together better when they are role-playing or playing hide-and-seek games so I've been trying to think of presents for them that might fit in with that - dressing up stuff maybe.

[MackerelOfFact]

I think if the present is something that can be played with by more than one person at a time (eg. a board game, play equipment, Wii, etc) then it's fine to make it a joint gift. I would be reluctant to give joint gifts that are for one player only though - that way madness lies!

[MummyDoIt]

My DSs get joint presents if it's something big/expensive like Playmobile (Polka - they are desparate for the at Playmobile pyramid!!). Never had any problems as they play together but the age gap is only 14 months so that might help.

[DramaInPyjamas]

I have a DS and a DD (a year apart in age)It's usually arts & crafts and board games that we give as joint presents..

[fruitful]

Ds1 (5.5) and ds2 (will be just 3) are getting a joint pressie this year. Its a huge box of toy action figures and vehicles that I got on ebay.

I was going to divide it all up into two boxes, one lot each. Then I realised that that would be setting myself up for endless arguments (that plane is MINE! no that one is MINE!).

So they're getting the lot to share. There are enough bits that they can play separately if they want.

[plonker]

We give board games as joint gifts for our 3 girls every year. It works fine.

My sister gave her children a wii between them - that was really well recieved too.

No problems with sharing, but I agree with Mackerel - single player toys would be a nightmare!

[Tillyscoutsmum]

Thanks all.

They have both mentioned Sylvanian Family stuff so we're thinking of getting some of that (good job it'll be joint otherwise it'd be too blardy expensive )