...(gasp) too much Playmobil?
I really do believe in less is more as far as toys are concerned, but have never applied this to Playmobil and Lego, where it seems that more options rather add to the play value and longevity. But looking at my dd's substantial collection, with Christmas coming up, I am wondering how to gage whether there might be a point where I should stop indulging my own desire to acquire buying her more Playmobil.... So, anyway, I am a playmoholic and have my dd (6) loves Playmobil and has acquired the following over the past few years:
- Egyptian temple, camels, loads of Egyptian people & accessories (LOVES)
- royal furniture and loads of figures and every conceivable fantasy accessory (uses all the time)
- various babies, (uses a lot)
- lots of dollhouse furniture (uses a lot)
- loads of forest animals, trees, landscape pieces (uses often together with above)
- pirate dungeon (likes and uses now and then)
- huge play park and car (close to zero interest)
(In addition to this we have a lot of Roman figures and her older brother's dragon tower with dragon and various knights, used by dd occasionally.)
For this upcoming Christmas, I have already bought (but obviously need to hold back some of it):
- Pool (this is the one item she has asked for year after year, but considering her preference for fantasy/animals over eg the play park, I am not sure she would actually play with it.)
- Harbour café (would add to the pool & go with the park)
- African safari sets (discontinued, have picked up gigantic waterhole set & three smaller sets, I know she would love and use these)
- Monkey climbing tree (this I know she would love!)
So, Playmobil veterans, what would you do? Have you happily continued to expand your dc's collections, or found that eventually there is a law of diminishing returns here too? I see three options:
A. Give her the monkey climbing tree and the pool that she always points out in the catalogue, knowing that it will make her very happy but that she will probably not use it much in her usual eclectic scenarios. (And keep the African safari sets for another year.)
B. Give the pool to my MIL who never knows what to buy, enabling me to give dd the whole humongous series of African safari sets that I can't wait to openand the monkey tree - at the risk of overwhelming dd...
C. Just give her the monkey climbing tree and a few smaller safari sets that she will use alot and probably appreciate all the more for not getting so much...
(Other than Playmobil, she will be getting some lego, a board game or two and books.)
Sorry for long post, but as you will appreciate these are very important decisions and my DH is sick of hearing me talk about Playmobil.
!