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Original poster

Dd wants a (in my opinion) rubbish present for Christmas.

367 replies

Florencenotflo · 21/10/2021 09:02

Dd is only 5 and already doing her Christmas list. She asks for the (attached) present every time we go into the toy shop and has even asked to buy it from her own money.

I am usually quite happy for let her spend her money on things she chooses, but I think this is really rubbish! And I know it will be top of her list again this year. Our budget this year for Dd is around £100 on presents for Christmas so to spend £40 of that on one present seems daft. The reviews of it are terrible, the case is pretty flimsy (not really usable as a suitcase) and the contents are mainly paper.

But at the end of the day, she's 5, it will make her happy, do I just suck it up?

(Plus, I can now see why my parents never bought me a Mr Frosty for Christmas when I was a child, although I'm still salty about it 😂)

OP posts:
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LittleDandelionClock · 21/10/2021 12:09

@merrygoround51

If it’s within budget then get it for her, it’s obviously in her head and she really wants it

I long for the days of £40 presents . It’s all iPads and iPhones now

Agree. I didn't want to say 'meh, £40 is cheap,' as it seems disrespectful towards people with no/very little money, but in the scheme of things, £40 is quite low for a main Christmas present for a child. (Or for anyone really!)
minisoksmakehardwork · 21/10/2021 12:10

In our house Father Christmas has always brought the thing that parents really won't buy but the kids really, really want. So for dd2 one year, she was utterly thrilled to get the massive pot of slime that mum said she wasn't having under any circumstances. It's how it stays magical for them.

So yes, it might be tat and not worth the money you're spending on it. But unless you can gently suggest that X or Y are better options, I would go with what her heart desires.

And yes, I'm another who requested and never got Mr Frosty. DH has bought me a slush puppy slushy maker though so I'm good now.

ScreamingBeans · 21/10/2021 12:12

Get it.

One of the lessons kids need to learn, is that things are often much shitter than we think they are.

Knowing that stops you spending loads of money on brilliantly marketed shit like Dyson vacuum cleaners.

Look at it as a learning opportunity.

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IncyWincyGrownUp · 21/10/2021 12:13

When I was younger I was often given things for Christmas that my grandmother decided were more appropriate for a girl to have. When my mum stopped listening to other people, and started listening to me, I began enjoying gifts.

I will never forgive the horrid woman for refusing to allow my mum to pass my older brother’s Lego to me. She took it and gave it to my male cousins instead.

speakout · 21/10/2021 12:13

I would buy it.

I have just spent £78 on a bottle of Gucci perfume for my DD- in my view complete rubbish and a waste of money.
But it's something she really wants- and I want to make her happy so I will happily oblige.

00100001 · 21/10/2021 12:13

I'd let her buy it with her own money - and I'd encourage her to buy it second hand, or find an offer etc.

I would not buy it - £40 on a piece of shitty plastic? not a chance.

KrispyKale · 21/10/2021 12:14

Ah yes Dyson "add a zero" as I call them. I was nearly tempted by a hairdryer but my youthful training held fast.

AliceinBorderland · 21/10/2021 12:18

@ScreamingBeans

Get it.

One of the lessons kids need to learn, is that things are often much shitter than we think they are.

Knowing that stops you spending loads of money on brilliantly marketed shit like Dyson vacuum cleaners.

Look at it as a learning opportunity.

It's strange how many people are saying spend £40 on a piece of plastic tat to teach the lesson that it is rubbish.

With that attitude surely the child will just say NEXT and move on to the next want.

She will also learn if she pesters enough she gets what she wants and goes full throttle next time she wants an expensive piece of junk as a present.

The best lesson to teach here is you cannot have everything you want and on this occasion you're not having it.

TwinsandTrifle · 21/10/2021 12:18

@Glitterybug

It wouldn't be my top choice but don't you remember how gutted you were at the time to not get a mr frosty? This is her mr frosty.
Honestly. This.

DH and I bought each other a Mr Frosty for our first Christmas. Because we'd both been refused one as children.

There's that one thing you really wanted. And it wouldn't have mattered that it was crap. Just like Mr Frosty.

She'll be our age, remembering how she was never allowed her suitcase.

Please buy it for her, on behalf of all the Mr Frosty generation Flowers

InFrontBy · 21/10/2021 12:24

I'd get her the case she wants Op.
All those suggesting getting an alternative ('worthier') case and filling it with similar items - it's not the same - the pink plastic tat Ops DD wants has individual compartments that each item fits into. Some random case just won't cut it.

I remember getting my Petite typewriter, Sindy, Tiny Tears and Jacko the monkey. I've never forgotten those toys and loved them very much (child of the 60's).

68degreesnorth · 21/10/2021 12:26

@AliceinBorderland

Couldn't agree with you more!

00100001 · 21/10/2021 12:32

@Yourstupidityexhaustsme

Oh bless her. Get her the suitcase.

When I was four my sister got a scooter and I got a play dough train engine that you could put play dough through to come out different shapes.

I blocked the nozzle with a fruit pastille by 10am and spent the rest of Christmas Day sobbing on the doorstep because I wasn't allowed a go as my sister whizzed round the drive on her new whip.

My Dad was queuing at toys r us at ten o'clock on boxing day with re-boxed play dough train in hand, unbeknownst to him it was blocked with a fruit pastille and he would return with both.

At this age they so vividly imagine what Father Christmas will bring them. Placate her and get it. If it's shit who cares? Keep the receipt and she'll have lost interest in it by new year if it's awful. You get 30 days to send it back so at least to mid January.

it's a bit much to send back a played with toy like that... unhygienic much? The daughter will have shoved the earphone sin her earl, worn the eye-mask, used the pretend lipstick etc.

She will have likely lost/creased all the paper crap.

youvemademyshitlist · 21/10/2021 12:33

I'm another one who never got a Mr Frosty. In my first year of uni, a bunch of us were discussing our lack of childhood Mr Frosties so we all clubbed together and bought a joint one.
I don't know if they were better in the 80s but the one we bought in the late 90s was shite. We were all gutted.

@Laila747 I really wanted that A la carte kitchen too - especially as I knew I'd make better meals than the girl on the advert with her hideous jam swiss roll and baked beans combo.

I'd get her the case OP and if she's disappointed with it, you can use it as a reminder for the next thing she pesters you for.

AliceinBorderland · 21/10/2021 12:37

All the Mr Frosty wanters...if you'd got it you would have been bored with it within 5 minutes and moved onto the next want.

It doesn't justify £40 on a cheap piece of junk. Honest to God.

KrispyKale · 21/10/2021 12:38

Alice that's not my experience.

Recklesssrocket · 21/10/2021 12:38

@Jujujuly

Do you know what it is about that she likes? Eg is it the suitcase? You could probably get her a nicer suitcase and fill it with equivalent but better quality things for the same money. (My 3 year old loves suitcases and pretending to pack them etc so can imagine her loving this and the Disney Princess element wouldn’t be the main draw).

If it’s genuinely the whole package that she loves then I’d prob just get it for her.

This is what I was going to suggest
KrispyKale · 21/10/2021 12:38

I find it hard to justify buying much at all.
I'm a bit disappointed I'm here via a smart phone tbh.

WeAllHaveWings · 21/10/2021 12:42

[quote Florencenotflo]@Blackmagicqueen she does already have that, I'd forgotten, but she does still play with it and she's had it over a year.

@AliceinBorderland I know! Which is what annoyed me the most, you can't even fill it with other stuff. I might try and have a look at it without Dd and see if I'd be able to remove the plastic trays by taking out the screws? [/quote]
some of the reviewers on the Smyths toys store site removed the plastic bits and said it is unfinished/unusuable as a case.

NaturalBlondeYeahRight · 21/10/2021 12:44

That brief period of time when they believe but old enough to enjoy it is so very, very short. Probably 4 years if that. Buy it (but maybe wait a bit longer in case she changes mind) and ‘lightheartedly’ appreciate the years when her Christmas is made by a £40 gift 😀

Thebookswereherfriends · 21/10/2021 13:02

I had this a couple of years ago with a battery operated dog toy that my dd insisted was “the best toy ever and she would definitely play with it loads”. I was 99% sure she would not play with it much as it was the type of toy she has always been disappointed in. I debated with myself and asked opinions of others and finally I decided that it was her choice, bought the dog. It was literally played with on Christmas Day and then ignored! I occasionally prompted her, but as I guessed she was disappointed because it was not really as fun as the advert made out. It cost £50 and we sold it by February for £30 which dd used to buy a toy she did play with a lot. It’s been useful since because she is more considered in her choices now.
If it’s an amount you would have spent anyway then buy the toy. If she doesn’t play with it you sell it on and maybe she’ll surprise you and play with it loads.

pompomsgalore · 21/10/2021 13:07

@Lollypop701

I would at aged 5, I still remember getting etch a sketch rather than a manga doodle… gutted!
Omg that's awful. I'd be in counselling for that!
Chemenger · 21/10/2021 13:11

@KilledByWitches

I got Baby Annabel instead of Tiny Tears, still remember 50 years later

I think you might be misremembering there, Baby Annabel wasn't released until 1998/99.
I cant think who the main rival to Tiny Tears was back then though. I still have mine.

Your probably right, she was Baby Secondbest any way!
LookItsMeAgain · 21/10/2021 13:12

Argos has this (admittedly it doesn't have wheels and is a vanity case) but it might be more useful to her over time.
You could put a few things from Primark in the sections - a lip balm, an eye mask etc. - so as she opens it up it's full of things.

yourestandingonmyneck · 21/10/2021 13:14

Sounds like she's coveted it for quite a while. I would just get her it. £40 out of your £100 budget isn't too bad - plenty left to get her other things, but if that's what will make her happy, I'd get it

LookItsMeAgain · 21/10/2021 13:15

I forgot to put the link to the vanity case in my earlier post. Here it is:
www.argos.co.uk/product/9426049?clickSR=slp:term:unicorn%20vanity%20case:1:7:1

I have also found this kids luggage in Argos for £25 that is actually luggage and you can fill it with similar to what comes with her toy thing that she is desperate for.
www.argos.co.uk/product/2728294?clickPR=plp:1:10