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?

Well that’s it. My kids have thousands of toys. They really don’t need £200 a head spent on them every birthday and Christmas. One gift is really fine. Maybe take them on a day out or something.

When we are asked we tell them to reign it in but no one listens

Large cheap stuff/kits. Cheapest easel on the market broke 30 seconds it was out of the box, those cheap 'magic' sets, science kits etc which never work properly,need loads of supervision and the pieces don't fit together. SIL, please just stop it.

Toys that match the decor?! Seriously

Magazines with 5 pieces of plastic tat on each one! DD is 3, she can't read but damn the plastic tat is multiplying around my house every damn week!

Haribo. Fuck off with your Haribo. Stop bringing a giant sack of this artificial glue-and-chemical crap every time you visit. If the kids actually ate all that they wouldn't fit through the doorway any more.

God yes, bubbles! Absolutely genius idea ^^ to use them in the bath instead, thank you!

Also, lollies. Sticky, disgusting, choking hazards.

Also shit toys/games from pound shops that don't fit together or work properly and just make my kids cry because they get so frustrated.

Slush puppies, candy floss and other things that are pure sugar. My kids don’t even like them that much and then I feel guilty because they’re not finished and wasted.

A fucking guitar and three lessons each! I mean I get the thought, it was lovely, but now I'm paying an extra £9 a week each for 20 min lessons at school that I don't think are even very good.

Who honestly thinks these things through!

Moonsand

Flexoset I kept all the haribo in the cupboard for so long that it all melted in to one gelatinous lump inside the wrapper and then I had to throw it because it was off. Kids were gutted but it passes the buck!

Oh and while we're at it: stop decluttering your old broken costume jewellery and giving it to my dayughter. No, it can't be mended, it just falls apart again and makes her sad.

My other one is really lovely but completely impractical clothing. DD is regularly inundated with beautiful pink frilly dresses. Lovely. But she’s in nursery three days a week. She needs tops and leggings! So many of these dresses etc go unworn because when am I going to put her in a frilly dress? I’ve started exchanging them now

We bought our granddaughter a drum kit then a toy but working keyboard with a mini karaoke microphone, we were very popular!

My sister has alweays intentionally bought the noisiest, most annoying toys she can find for my sons. She thinks this is a light hearted, hilarious joke. Some of them are quite funny, like the truck with whirling flashing lights that sang a cheesy 'Barbie Girl' style song in Japanese, over and over... But I did have to ask her to stop eventually!

Kinetic Sand is something people love buying for DS2. He loves it but I despise the stuff! Sick of hoovering glittery purple sand out of everywhere. Also Play Doh, DS is determined to grind it into every fabric in the house.

And pop up tents that refuse to go back into the bag! I know there's a 'knack' to twisting and folding them back up again, but I cannot fathom it for the life of me.

IamPickleRick - good call! I suspect Haribo have a shelf life of approx 200 years (because they don't contain any actual natural food) but I'm trying to convince the kids that they're extremely perishable...

No spill bubble tip ! I cable tie mine to drain pipe or gatepost !

Bubbles. I recently fractured my coccyx on those floating devils and they are now banned in our household.

Bloody sodding shitting SLIME!

I now have a pink patch on my carpet that won't come out, a green patch on my home made crochet cushion cover (which took me forever to make and I was all proud of it) and I can't tell you how many times I have had to wash the blasted stuff out of DDs hair.

Just.stop.

Toddler DS goes to nursery 4 days a week, wears lots of bright colours (hides the strains) comfy t shirts and shorts. SIL insists on buying him shirts (white 😱) and chinos... not sure where she thinks he will wear them!

100 ball pit balls. 8 years later I still find the fuckers.
A 6ft inflatable dinosaur. Each.
A drum.

All from my childfree no chance to get him back brother. Naturally the kids bloody love him. Git .

TBF they are great presents, just not for the parent. And I do get on well with my bro.

Oh my god Trumpton that’s a game changer

See I don't mind kinetic sand or play doh because I got lucky with ds1 and he's naturally very tidy. Don't think I'll be so lucky with ds2

I also don't mind plastic toys. Thought I would pre-dc, but plastic stuff is always played with over wooden stuff in our house, so I've jumped on board 😂