Things other people buy your kids that you really wish they wouldn’t...

[TallTilly]

Yes yes I know it’s so ungrateful but I’m going to vent anyway. I really do appreciate that people want to spoil my girls but sometimes....😬😬

Top of my list is bubbles. I fucking hate bubbles. Stain the washing. Kids are obsessed with them and yet too young to do them by themselves and just spill the mixture so I need to stand there blowing bubbles with a soaking wet hand. Yet my mum seems to buy them bubbles every time she enters a shop. Rage. I sneak them into the bin.

In laws are terrible for buying large and lavish (usually expensive) gifts which stress me out as to where to put them. Our house is tiny and in desperately trying to rid it of clutter. We do not need an easel/pop tent/ball pit/bean bag etc etc.

Anyone else?

Whistles. Who buys a kid a fucking whistle? Ffs.

Play-doh. Trodden into carpets, and guaranteed upset when colours are mixed (the kids, not me).

Slime. GTF with that toxic mess! The children don't even bother trying to sneak it in anymore.

Your H needs to have a word with his family about physically large gifts.

I dislike any gifts that require adult set up or supervision.

Those horrible sticky things which "climb" down walls and cover the wallpaper in grease marks or anything made of this material to get trodden into the floor and go disgusting and hairy.

Purple glittery recorder.

Stuff that breaks. If you have a small bugdet buy something small and sturdy not big and easily broken. Little stuff can be lots of fun.

Certain family members would delight in getting our kids the noisiest most irritating Vtech abomination they could find. Why in gods name do they have to be so loud? Got my own back when they had their DC though!

Clothes that are too small!! I am also trying to declutter. I don't need extra piles of clothes, some of which don't fit. I'm very grateful of course, but think it would be nice to ask what they need and to actually get stuff that fits!

Anything made of plastic. DS has a wish list of tasteful wooden toys in pastel colours that match our interior decor, but his gran still insists on buying him garish coloured plastic

@BigBlueBubble

Recorders. Any whistle type thing.
A few years ago DD had a recorder which mysteriously —got thrown in the bin — disappeared one day. Bloody MIL went and bought her another one! Ex-mil now thankfully.

That drives me nuts Brutus.

Also, just one big present per child please, not 30 little ones that they never play with.

BBB tasteful wooden toys in pastel colours that match your decor? Wtf! Hahaha! Best laugh so far today!

Anything that comes in pieces. Puzzles, Lego etc. It just gets fucking everywhere and you inevitably lose a piece eventually. Nothing goes back in it's box or set unless you want to spend half an hour everyday organising toys so it all gets jumbled together.

Moon sand. And annoying toy that danced and played music (it's been 10 years and I still find myself doing the dance and humming).

Best was a robot that had a very thick accent. 'OK Shit!'

Bubbles are a toy for bath time. Takes all the stress away.

Aaaargh, my mother keeps buying pop up tents for my daughter, which get used and abused by the dogs, are broken in no time and I have to keep throwing away. Ditto plasticine. I keep finding multicoloured shit in the garden.

Soft toys, fricking soft toys that the kids adore and then never play with. We must have about 60 and we can NEVER get rid of them because the kids love them.
I second massive toys. When kids were little we lived in a very small cottage and were given an easel (very rarely played with), a dolls double buggy and 2 space hoppers amongst other things.
Squeezy Bath toys that get that black mould inside and when they are squeezed, the gunk came out in the bath, bleurgh

Shoes (the kind that will never ever stay on) for newborns. I have an unused collection.

Kingsize mars bar and 500ml bottle of Coke to buy their affection. Try spending some time with them.

DD isn’t born yet but I’m already dreading receiving loads of hideous, plastic, primary coloured toys. I hate them.

I ask my ddil what to buy for the dgc at Christmas and birthdays. She never knows. They've got everything anyway.

Hot wheels with those tracks that don’t fit in to any box