Please don’t ever buy my kids..?

[Kibble19]

Lighthearted, before anyone gets upset about people being ungrateful.

What gifts would you stick on the banned list?

For me, it’s the classic glitter and slime-based toys. Special mention to toys with 4000 loose parts too.

My son is a pre teen but please please please no musical instruments -he's loud enough without them!
Manchester City , Leeds or Liverpool kits (he's a Man U fan)

I remember having one of these and I really enjoyed doing it, but never did anything with the snakes knitted bits that came out of it.

Years later there are still 4 little red footprints on our (at that time) newly painted white ceiling from some sticky creature. Annoys me every time I do yoga and lie on my back.

Anything with loads of bits!!! My house is just full of bits!🤣

Electronic toys with an annoying, generally squeaky, voice.

All toys seem to be so high pitched, I can't handle it.

And slime. That can f right off.

Reading this thread, the lists seem to be pretty much endless, and include basically every kind of toy or gift that might interest any children.

Conclusion: never buy anything for anyone else's kids. 😆

It’s really difficult as everyone wants different things, but in general everyone agrees that we don’t need cheap tat! We need to normalise systems like https://www.planiit.io/?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwL8fx9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp77EbfYB7EMNFyyczDgbx1zeYFiG4c5rtEaBf1mKyIIGCEanWlSlKzdEihqJ_aem_NQl-V3JtuVqj1zqgNysPIg to try an reduce unwanted things going to landfill

Im still at that stage where late baby/toddler toys with batteries give me migraines.
And if we have something withbatteries and they run out, sadly the battery man doesn’t manufacture those batteries anymore.
I thought LEGO would be my next banned toy, but my 4y old has been extremely responsible and every model is in the right box with instructions and all!
Big no to Slime and glitter

I bought kazoos for nieces, nephews and stepchildren. I was told never to do that again 😆

A pet
(A relative was once very pushy about buying my boys a pet and didn't get without much persuading why buying a live animal as a gift without being asked, was inappropriate. They didn't buy the pet).

Clothing that is too small. People don't buy them clothes as much now Dd's are mid primary age, but when they were little it was all the time especially for oldest Dd who's always been tall. We would specifically tell family what size she needed and they would still get a smaller size. One time SIL said she thought a dress looked big, so bought the smaller size. It was like a top on her. I never got it, surely if in doubt you buy the bigger size as if it's too big they'll grow into it.

The other thing is board games. Both me and DH hate board games (which family member who always buys them knows). On top of this Dd's have lots of hobbies so they just sit getting dust. Special points for buying ones for my oldest which my youngest is too young to play. If we were to play a game it would be as a family.

Any toy weapons.
Plus, as a parent of twins, anything that can cause injury to the other. Yup, MIL, I’m remembering you.

SLIME🤬

Toys or games that don’t have the batteries as part of the present.

Top hate is insisting that little girls must have dolls, frilly pink dresses, or makeup at the age of 7 while little boys get solid clothing like jeans, trucks and bicycles.

Second hate is toy guns. Even cowboy or western sheriff type kit. I come from a place where there is a gun culture and have no problem with teaching at the right age about how guns can be used for hunting with all the safety precautions that go with it. But guns are not toys.

Rubbish colouring pencils…. and maybe colouring books. But that’s only because one of my children got about 15 (!) colouring books at their party where we invited whole class about 2 years ago. Hasn't got through them all yet! Did get mostly lovely pencils & pens with them though!

Oh and makeup sets for a primary aged girl - yuck! Then you’re a bad mum for not letting them have their gift…. Don’t mind nail varnish though.

I actually love my kids getting slime kits, science kits, bracelet sets and other crafty things…. They mostly get done during school holidays, so it’s lovely to have these activities to pull out. And then I don’t have to find long term space for it because it’s done with.
Love kinetic sand and play doh too, it doesn’t last forever but good fun whilst it does and I don’t find it too messy really.
The slime however I’m quite strict with mind and have a specific tray it must be contained with and a bin bag under tray for good measure 🙈😂

Play-doh, slime, anything big - we don’t have the space.

OMG....do we have the same MIL/SIL some how?! 😂 They do ALL of this, including the photo album, plus the dirty extreme second hand crap and glitter filled/button cell battery crap from other posters!

In fact last time I saw them they had bought squishy toys filled with some kind of liquid and glitter for both kids, including the 2 year old. I couldn't help laughing when SIL was playing with one and it immediately exploded its gunk all over her. Better her than my kid ingesting whatever substance was inside?! Good job we dont see them too often otherwise our house would be full of absolute toot.

Wheely shoes

Marbles

Well there's loads of stuff I'd have "banned" but dc actually loves it and plays with it a lot so it's hard for me to say!

I agree with slime.

Anything involving water beads as I've read horror stories about children dying.

A baby walker/bouncer/activity centre (like the ones you sit in). I have similarly read horror stories about those.

Electronic screen type stuff. I want control of that.

Lollipops/slushies/any food that's a major choking hazard or has "not suitable for under 5s" on it because it's so full of dodgy chemicals.

We love play-doh though!

Colouring pencils. Grandparents bring new supplies every birthday / Christmas / random visits in between. I’m not sure how long it takes to completely use up a colouring pencil, but I’ve probably got enough for an entire primary school. I get that when they were young (1950s) art supplies were a kind of luxury item. But these days when you can buy a multipack in the Works for a couple of £ they just don’t have the same meaning as a gift. My kids try their best to be polite and say nice things but I feel for them!

I don’t mind the messy noisy gets lost under the sofa immediately stuff.
My MIL however constantly buys mine and my SIL kids utter tat from shein, temu, TikTok shop.
it’s cheap and nasty and tacky and the clothes labels are always stitched to the outside so my DS never wears them. Toys fall apart etc everything is such poor quality and frankly I’m never convinced it’s perfectly safe or regulated as the labels and instructions are always in Chinese😂 I dread DH coming home with a bag of lovingly curated 💩
charity shop is hopefully doing well from it though as it goes straight there! Just dreading when DS can talk to MIL and she realises he has 0 recollection of the ‘nice’ things daddy brought home for him from nanny’s house!

Musical instruments if they can't play . Ibe hidden many a recorder and drums!
Oh and that sand thats colored and used indoors.
Im glad my kids are too old for all that now and can actually play the Instruments they choose now

So what, if anything, would you like people to buy as a present for your child?