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?

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 sad

No way on earth is that your DS’s wish list 😂🤣😂

It’s YOURS.

My SIL, who is utterly lovely, has started to buy 'family days out' for Christmas. She means well, I'm sure, but both of the recent days out have cost us an absolute fortune- she buys tickets to a venue miles away, so for a family of 5 we're spending more on train fare and food thanit costs to get in!

Magic fucking kinetic sand. It's in the carpets, it's in their hair, it's stained clothes, it's trekked up the stairs, it's in the washing machine filter.

Stuff far to old for them. Ds had an awesome mechanic set this b day, 700 pieces to build a cool crane. He's 3 with some development delay. It's on top for the cupboard for poosibly 5 years.
Previous Christmas he got there transformer dinosaurs. DH reckoned he loved his when he was 6ish, DS was 18 months.
Dress up outfit for 3rd birthday was aged 5-6 years.

The presents are great but it's like there's a momentary lack of concentration!! Other toys person brought are amongst most played with so they do make good calls just ugh, age appropriate please

The family days out thing looks like it could be a good thing for regifting to someone...!

I bought a carpentry set one Christmas for a little boy (extended family). I heard later he loved it - used it to take the coffee table to bits!

Moonsand.

SIL buying DD build a bear vouchers that don’t actually cover the cost so ends up costing me. Also nearest one is 70 miles away. And they’re shit.

MIL kept buying DD handbags because she thought little girls should carry handbags about. So DD would fill one with shit, walk out the door and immediately hand it to me. All went to charity.

Fucking Swirling Glitterstorm. An utter abomination that I need to lose asap. Also a knitting set, for a 6 year old! I hate knitting, I have no inclination to try it and no way can a child of that age do it alone. That swiftly went missing. Unfortunately DD noticed!

My pet hate is certain relatives buying random cheap tat because it's cheap and they can get a million toys for the price of one that my kids actually want. They can't withstand two boisterous kids playing with them before they break. It's such false economy. I know I sound like snob but my experience is the cheaper toys break first. I'd sooner they spent less on one good quality thing.

I also have wish lists set up for my kids. Mainly cos they're at the age now they have their own strong likes and dislikes. I add stuff they've pointed out they like so it's easier to remember what they wanted come Christmas and birthdays. Everyone else always buys something from or similar to what's on the list. Except one relative who always gets something random that the kids don't like or want.

Sweets. And I agree with OP about bubbles!

1kg tubs of Haribo. What the hell does a child need a kg of sugar and food colouring for?

And my ex’s new woman has taken to sending toys to our ds in the post, which she has opened and packed the inside of the box with sweets, and then resealed.

Honestly, I’m starting to feel like customs & excise every time the post arrives. She is REALLY annoying.

Too much shit, especially after you've promised to stop buying presents except for birthdays and vital religious festivals but then change your religion once a fortnight to ensure you carry on giving them shit whenever you sneak it into the house.
Lots of it is actually decent stuff, the books mainly get donated to the children's school, but my pet hate is the various kits that don't just get unwrapped but opened by rellie and the bits scattered everywhere (by rellie and children) before rellie buggers off again.
If they didn't insist on opening all the kits I'd have a steady supply to use as presents and I'd be quite happy.

Glitter. Tbf the girls love craft glitter but it get EVERYWHERE. Forever. And play doh, again they love it but I find little hard crusty bit ground into carpet etc.

Handwash-only clothes. I do not do handwashing, except the sort that's necessary after going to the loo. The gift givers knew this. Then I got accused of not wanting DD to like girly things, as said dresses would be worn once, shoved in the washing basket and then promptly grown out of.

DD did have some nice, more practical dresses that she did wear often, including one that lasted so long and was such a favourite that MIL hemmed it into a tunic top when it got too short.

Oh I have another one! Clothes which are beautiful but never the same after they are washed only once. Eg little flowers on a top that curl up after a wash but can’t be ironed down

Nerf guns my dh woke up on boxing day with one pointed in his face 😔 Nightmare they now living in the shed. Hate playdough work of the devil 👿

Clothes that are Dry only.

DPs family like to buy large gifts, but on a low budget so rather than it being something DC love and can use it will be a giant play tent that goes dusty in the shed, or a giant plastic toy which is played with for one day then goes unused but taking up masses of space.

Every year I will politely say (when they ask what to get) that we are limited on space and they have lots of toys, but yet they arm to compete and think bigger is better. Then its awkward selling/passing on items in the months after receiving them!

Sweets
Chocolate
Guns
Stickers for furniture
Temporary tattoos
Glittery pink tat

Oh yes, the pretty party dresses. My husband's awful stepmother sends loads of them and I have nowhere near enough occasions to use them - it's one of the reasons I'm glad number two is going to be another girl, so some of these things might get a bit of use. The other thing the woman does is send us loads of home knitted clothes - thick woollen cardigans and things for our daughter's birthday. In May. We live in Spain. I have massive piles of hideously coloured home knitted stuff which has never been worn.

Chewy sweets - I have a choking phobia and my DD isn't the best with them! Teddies - literally hate them! They are just useless dust collectors.

Not other people but I hate the school bring and buy sale, everything is cheap so they buy loads but it often looks like something a decent charity shop would reject. Soft toys seem to be my dc favourite. They go straight in the wash. At least it is all for a good cause.

Board games. Especially with complicated rules or a lot of set up required. My DDs are too far apart in age to play them together so it always ended up with DH or I stuck sitting at the kitchen table for hours. I used to lose on purpose just to get it over with.

Oh no, we LOVE board games! Also like those colouring houses you can put up, play and throw away!!!