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.

Cheap toys operated with button batteries. My DD is two and has been given very cheap bracelets etc with button batteries in the past. They ended up on the bin, as only a few years a former colleague of mine, lost her DD due to swallowing a button battery.

Had to look up Bunchems too and found this .
lolol

Plastic! No more plastic anything please 🙏

I frequently threaten to buy my grandson a drum kit, my daughter says A It would break the first weekend!! B She'd not talk to me ever again, not sure if B is good or bad

Magnetic tiles
Scratch art books
Lego classic ‘creative’ box (or Duplo)
Voucher for a day out
Age/interest appropriate book
Good quality washable felt tipped pens

I think all of the above have escaped the wrath of Mumsnet!

Hahaha I bought all of this stuff for my nephews and nieces, I once bought my DNs a drum kit, electric guitar, microphone and amplifier set, a kids one DB & DSil had said no too, I set it up when I was staying over one night and they woke up to the kids going nuts on it 😂 😂 😂 I would also put glitter in cards and wrapping for extra pissing off 😂

They always said they’d pay me back, but they never did.

Glitter/sequins

Anything noisy

Sil suggested a guitar for ds' 3rd birthday

Er, no???

Toys that are for a child a year younger than my child! Why do grandparents keep doing this?

Also, and this might make me sound grabby, don't ask for a specific gift to get and then get something different. Either choose something by yourself or get the gift that the person went to the effort of suggesting.

Obviously in the minority because im happy for my kids to have slime, kinetic sand and play doh . Or craft kits they need help with.

But based on thread I think generally these things are ‘safe’….

Science kits, art/ craft kits that they can do independently, Lego (proper not knock off and in the age range), colouring books (avoid pencils, crayons and pens unless getting a brand like crayola or better, not Poundland, home bargains or supermarket own). Sticker books - there’s ones you can do by number for older children. Activity books.

I'm pretty tolerant of most things but I refuse to let my daughter have slime. I hate everything about it. The texture (vomit) the smell of it, but most of all the greasy residue it leaves on walls and furniture.

My brother in law bought my daughter a karaoke mic for Christmas one year. My husband still wonders what we'd done ro deserve that haha!

Yes! It’s weird - if someone has been told that a child wears age 8 (say) then it is bloody minded to buy age 7 because that is their actual age.

My niece asked for light up magnetix that needed button batteries. But she was about 7 and quite a sensible only child at the time. I've always avoided anything with button batteries if I could with my own children as they're difficult to replace. Anything that has bits small small enough to be put in a child's mouth is too small for a 2 year old. Those homemade dummy clips with the beads on wtf thinks these up?

My DD is now of an age where I don't need to worry about certain gifts that she might receive,but when she was,it was definitely glitter! OMG I hated the stuff, and I still do.

A friend of mine (no kids) bought my 3 year old a mini drum kit one Christmas. I rang her at 6am on Boxing Day and let him play them to her while I went into another room.

Anything messy

Anything that takes loads of adult input (thanks, you’ve just given me a job to do)

Anything big and bulky

Massive teddies.
No, I don't have room and they're not cute, and no one one else wants them so impossible to get rid of!

And things I've always been thanked for...

Consumables. Anything that gets 'used up' and doesn't contribute to the houses clutter long term.
I have always filled a gift bag with some bath bits, colour changing bubbles, spaghetti bubble bath strips, sponge / novelty shower puff etc and been thanked for them as they get used pretty fast and don't hang about (not bath crayons... No-one has time to clean that crap up!)

See these are the few things that I don’t like having children with sensitive skin and eczema. Myself and the children are always polite but they get immediately put in the charity box. More than happy with sweets or chocolate, if it’s nit a favourite it will still get eaten by someone eventually.

I forgot this one, I’m pretty laid back and always appreciate even the messiest, loudest gifts as long as they inspire creativity.

Toy weapons on the other hand go to the charity shop immediately, dangerous ones go in the bin.

I accidently bought a gift that was too old for my granddaughter (need to wear glasses in shops more often). It’s still in the cupboard and I bought her another Christmas gift.

Yep, my GD hates dolls, don't know why. And if my GS had a gun he'd drive us all mad with it, personally I'm very much against toy guns anyway, the nearest thing that would be OK is a lightweight lightsabre.

Some children like toys younger than they are, obviously not all. My GS loves the Orchard Toys games though many are supposed to be for younger children.

I have never viewed the guidance on toys (3+ etc) as being the maximum age for the toy but rather the minimum age. I've bought party gifts for my DC's friends (7/8 year olds) that were 4+ and been told by parents that they like them. Things like aquabeads, garden rockets, den kits, hula hoops. And I've seldom had a child over who can pass our big box of magnatiles without building something and those are 3+.

Those bloody sticky things that leave oil marks when thrown at the wall!