Cheap chocolate and presents from MIL

Inheritance to charity …..🥳

You sound unpleasant. Describing own brand chocolate as "rotten" is ridiculous. And to throw it straight in the bin seems wasteful and ignorant. Why not make something with it like cornflake cakes?
And two presents for £20 isn't that cheap. I think your in-laws sound sensible. They know kids only play with things for 5 minutes so they're right not to waste money on toys. Even when we've spent £100 on a fancy toy the kids lose interest quickly.

I agree.
Cadbury’s has really gone down but I check the back of a bar and if it has OCO where the manufacturer and best before date is I know it’s made in Coolock in Dublin and is usually very nice - Twirls are made there.

What does your partner/husband/wife - the child of your in-laws think of the gifts @nottheplan.

Oh dear…

How old are the IL's? £20 on toys might seem like a huge amount to them (regardless of whether they have the money!). If they see something that would have been a fiver when they were buying for their kids now costs £15 they probably feel generous.

Maybe they base their gifts on your attitude…

I know people will think you ungrateful OP but it’s just a waste of money and Earth resources at the end of the day.
I know it’s harder for kids, but I just say thank you for the stuff we get and it goes straight to the charity shop or foodbank or something.
What it’s great for is the kids learning that some stuff is just crap and they don’t have to eat it because it’s there.

I think I’d be more annoyed about getting Cadbury or Nestle chocolate than supermarket chocolate! They’re greasy, yet grainy, and generally horrible!

Just say thank you, no need to be a dick about it.

I think YABU wanting the money or vouchers instead.
We can’t pick and chose the gifts we or our kids get from others. It’s their choice.

Id be thankful if my MIL ever even bothered to give a gift or a card. It’s the thought

In my experience, most people give in the way they want to, and not much will change that. This phase is quite short though - soon they'll be old enough that the grandparents will start asking what they want or give vouchers.

Bin it in front of the ILs, saying your DC don't deserve their cheap shite. You'll never see or hear from them again. Problem solved.

No YANBU, it would annoy me too especially as you say they are like the finer things themselves. I suppose not too much yiu can do about the toys but re the chocolate just melt it down perhaps to make things like crispy or cornflake chocolate clusters yum!

I like fancy chocolate but you can't act like cheap chocolate is inedible garbage, makes you sound like a massive twat.

Agree

Why would it be OP's place to decide what constitutes being "unnecessarily" tight though? It's irrelevant how much money they've got, OP doesn't have the right to dictate how they spend it just because she's got kids. It's kind of them to give gifts of toys and chocolate - which, you know, kids like! It's not as if they're being given lampshades and allen keys - and OP has a bad attitude towards these things which she is no doubt passing on to her children. I don't believe for one second that every B&M (or otherwise "cheap") toy breaks after five minutes - my kids have a fair amount of cheap toys that they love - I think they're being treated badly because they're only cheap, so what's the point of looking after them.

Tell her the toys can stay at her house so the kids can enjoy them falling apart when they visit her.

I actually love cheap chocolate! Fancy expensive chocolate sometimes doesn’t suit me. So I’ll have what you don’t want.

Why don’t you suggest ideas to them for gifts? Or tokens, say X is really keen to buy themselves this, could you maybe donate towards it this birthday?

If the kids only play with the toys for half an hour then donate them when they’re done. And donate the cheap chocolate to the food bank.

Whilst I agree that it’s annoying to get crap you don’t want, There are people who would be extremely grateful for the stuff you don’t find good enough.

@Whattodo1610How old were your children when you told them they realised it was “cheap shite?

What kind of chocolate goes in the bin what a waste you could have made rice crispy cakes or something? The buying "cheap toys" that instant break is ask for the receipt you need to return them Imo

Finding something thoughtless is not a bad attitude,

Oh, good. Sorry I read your post incorrectly.

Also, this isn’t a forever issue - they’ll be tweens soon enough and too old for cheap plastic toys. It’s really not worth saying anything over.

I understand. I would rather have nothing than just giving for the sake of giving cheap stuff. It is not hard to ask what the kids would like.

It is a complete waste and just ends up in landfill.

It has nothing to do with your being ungrateful.

Shouldn't your DH be dealing with this? Or is he one of those who leaves it to the women to sort out?

Op - that’s a bad attitude, not something your children should imitate. You’d have something to moan about if they’d ignored your children.I wouldn’t say two toys for £20 was cheap crap either.