Playmobil - to make or not to make?

[LucyBorgia]

It's going to be a playmobil Christmas round here. Mil and fil have bought the ferry and harbour cafe, Santa has gotten the school (half price in Argos clever Santa) and the pirate ship. there could be more if I can't control my obsessiveness so do I put them together before they open then them? Maybe put santas together? Or leave them all boxed and intact? What would you do?

[TwllBach]

Oh pleeeeeease put them all together! Some of my best Christmas memories are of when I had playmobil sets and my parents set them up for me. The ones I remember are the Victorian house, the island and the two ships but I know we had the circus and something else as well. It was wonderful, but my mum would set all the little people up to make it real, so the house had people walking past with a pram, a man delivering milk etc.

You have to set it up and post pictures I'm 25 and I desperately want the Victorian house in with me and DP now. I would set it up in the spare bedroom and I wouldn't play with it, you understand, I would just display it

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

Put it together first. I remember DS being given the pirate ship by a family member still boxed at Xmas tea time and I finished the sodding thing at about 11pm!

[melodyangel]

Does it really take that long to put modern playmobil together? We gave DS1 the castle and all the extras and did it all within the hour BUT this was with the old stuff not system X.

Do you tell the little ones that Santa did it all?

How do you wrap it?

[peachypips]

Def put them together. The first time we bought playmobil the kids got really fed up waiting as they really wanted to play and it took us a couple of hours! For birthdays this year they had the castle- we set it up on the table with the men in place, then draped paper over it and sellotaped the edges to the table edge. LOVE playmobil!!!

[LucyBorgia]

Yes maybe I'll put them together I could leave the inlaws pressies as I reckon they might enjoy putting them together (and it will keep grandpa our of my hair for a while) I could set all the rest up with all the characters ready to play with and maybe put a big sheet over it with a now and snore from Santa that he spent ages in their house putting it all together? I used to love the rather random notes Santa left us when we were small.
The old Victorian house is a collectors item and perfectly acceptable for a grown up to buy to display play with set up that spare room!

[LucyBorgia]

*note not snore

[Carpediem2007]

Yes!!
Big Playmobil fans here and please build first unless you are prepared to spend the whole day building them with DC watching you impatiently and trying to open the wrong bag at the wrong time and bringing the tension a notch up.

DS built the police car with my cousin while we all had a lovely meal over 3 hours, DCousin was not hungry and enjoyed the opportunity to get to know DS (we were visiting distant relatives). They were taking their time and explored each time accessory together. DS was 2 1/2y.

DH built the fire station over several hours a couple of years ago (just before Xmas) and I had spend about 4 hours building the fire engine one night the year before (after Xmas). We are big Playmobil fans but they are really hard to build unless DC are a bit older. For younger children the fun is to play with them, not really to build them .

[Angelsus]

I'm going to buck the trend and say don't build it beforehand! My DC's love having the big box to unwrap and they are always happy to plat with other bits while I'm building it.

[LucyBorgia]

What was your favorite angelsus? I really enjoy putting them together actually I find it very satisfying.

[kige]

Put it together. Some playmobil can take hours and when you are trying to do a million other things on Christmas day, you will be so glad you did.

[olibeansmummy]

If all the main presents are playmobil, i'd build at least some of them so she'll/ he'll (you didn't say whether you have a bit or girl) get bored of waiting to play! :)

[BieneMaja]

I usually open the box and build as much as I can before putting it back in the box. Usually you can do most of the fiddly bits and still get it back in the box, leaving just the main bits to click together

It depends what it is though, I had to completely assemble the horse stable thingy and the summer house as they came in a squillion bits. I practically needed a project manager and a team of labourers for those

Having said that, sometimes it can be a really nice thing for relatives to do with the DC and share the experience. Depends on the caos level in your home...

[Hulababy]

Def build at least one set. Couverture it with a big sheet of paper and a bow, maybe a bit of elf dust too :)

[StarsGhostTail]

TOGETHER sorry to shout, but some of them take ages and we have once, and only once had a bit missing.

[fuzzpig]

We've got the big castle and we are planning to build it beforehand... Goodness knows where we will hide it though!

[LucyBorgia]

at elf dust definitely doing elf dust with a boot print on the fireplace. Christmas with littlies is just the best