To want to ban pink

[Manoodledo]

Apparently we're having a girl, after two boys. Apart from being quietly pleased (even though I thought I really wasn't bothered about ever having a girl! and I still somehow feel I'll believe it when I see it), I'm slightly dreading the sea of pink that's coming my way. I really dislike pink, especially that sickly pastley baby pink that so much stuff comes in and would be loath to dress my baby in it. Can I really ask people not to buy pink? Has anyone else tried?

Actually, I bloody love bright pink, but I do know what you mean.

Have you told people the expected gender of your baby, yet? If you haven't, you could say you couldn't tell. That way, you'll be in receipt of lots of sickly yellow, green and cream and downright impractical white, instead :o

Well, if you have two boys already, you presumably have a massive stock of non-pink baby clothes? So if you get given some bits of pink, you can still mix it up? Particularly some of the bigger stuff (like prams, cot bedding, out-door garments)

I was quite vocal in telling people that I hated the whole pink princess thing. DD wears a lot of pink (thanks to hand-me-downs), but never head to toe and I've come to accept it. I still do reject the hand-me-downs that are too pink princess, and actively look for girly but non-pink stuff at NCT sales.

Its your baby and therefore your prerogative to dress them how you want for at least the first few months... it won't last!!

stepmooster: its not the colour pink, its the fact that every bloody toy I want to buy my daughter either comes in pink or blue or is designated as a girls toy or a boys toy. I hate the fact that at the age of 1 she is supposed to want to grow up playing at being a princess and worrying about her looks. Pink in my mind just associates itself to the whole insipid princess rubbish.

This! It annoys the hell out of me. Why do ELC trikes come in pink and blue? We bought DD the blue one for her first birthday and DP's family were all, 'Oh, did they not have the pink one in stock?'. Aaargh!

It isn't the colour itself - certain shades of pink can be nice - it is the assumption that EVERYTHING for a girl needs to be pink.

If it helps, OP, we told good friends and family in a joking kind of way, 'Oh aren't we pains for hating pink', and no doubt they think we're annoying and weird, but they have generally avoided completely pink gift-giving.

Now aged 4.5, DD has the odd bit of pink in her clothes drawers, which is really not a problem to me at all. But she likes lots of colours, and doesn't assume something is a designated girl's toy if it is pink, or a designated boy's toy if it's not, which is I suppose what we were trying to achieve. She likes fairies and dinosaurs with equal obsession, so I'm happy.

YABU pink is just a colour.

By banning it you are giving it some sort of special status. All my DC wear all the different colours, including pink and don't think of it as anything other than a colour.

I must admit that the pink toys thing does annoy me. Why does there have to be a pink version of mega blocks? Why does the vtech camera have to have a pink one for girls and a blue one for boys? why is there not just one colour that either can play with? It didn't really have to be blue OR pink. It could have been yellow or green.

I have absolutely no idea what posters mean when they talk about prescribed boys and girls toys.

as a mum and a child minder my lot played with any and every toy on offer. prams, puzzles, bricks, books, dressing up etc.

lot of old cheap talked about this. buy what you like, dress kids how you choose but if people are nice enough to buy stuff for your kids if what ever colour be grateful and if awful just don't use.

I asked for newborn clothes in bright colours, knowing I was having a boy and being sick in advance of the oceans of pastel blue.

Vivipru, I've spent time and money searching out bright, cheerful clothes in red, green, yellow, purple, orange for my now toddler-age son, to try to avoid the grim sludge colours, khaki and blue with plastic tractor/car/train applique that seems to be the lot of little boys on the high street. And in my experience, I am far from alone. I buy high street stuff when I can, especially the nice, bright, cheap, organic cotton basics range from H and M.

Would there really be no money to be made for a mass market retailer who brought out a range of cheerful, plain, brightly coloured tops, jumpers, socks and trousers?

You can control the pink whilst she is under 2 or 3. Send her to nursery or preschool at 3 and the battle will be well and truly lost. My dd is obsessed with pink. Pink everything. I have completely given in and hope she grows it of it. She's 5.

Go overboard on how much you like bright colours -- even if you get pink, it'll be shocking pink so not quite as objectionable....

Morrisons Nutmeg range have packs of bodies, babygroes etc in vivid colours like orange, shocking pink and bright yellow that are really nice.

I banned pink when my dd was born. A few people gave us pink things, but most were happy to give other colours. She wore white, blue, green, yellow, all sorts. It is harder to find nice not-pink girl clothes though. She is now 5 & still happy in all colours as long as it is a girl style.

I'm not against pretty or reasonably girly, just the colour pink, particularly that baby shade, and the ubiquitousness of it. Have so far only bought one girl's thing and that was a lovely green babygro with flowers on it (some of which are shocking pink!) Haven't told anyone it's going to be a girl but I fully expect that when it's born we will get loads of pale pink. I know I sound ungrateful. Have already said to friends that if it's a girl I'm not looking forward to all the pink so hopefully we'll get some bright colours. A lot of people are funny about colours for young babies. My dad was horrified when I said I was going to knit a red cardigan lol!

Miaow love that you wouldn't dress the baby in a babygro with a misplaced apostrophe on it. Sounds like me.

mobile.twitter.com/LetToysBeToys/status/340184420487151616/photo/1

Multicoloured 70s toys and the modern (pink) equivalent. Sad.

If you don't want pink gifts, ask that people don't buy gifts at all.

That way you aren't making people feel like they have to go to six different shops to find something that you will like. If people want to give a gift to a baby, they should be able to do so without it being too difficult. If they want to buy something that only comes in pink or blue in most places, it's a bit rude to expect them to traipse round the shops looking for the things they want to buy in the right colour.

CheapBread that reminds me of an advert from the '70s of a girl playing with lego as compared with abomination that is Lego Friends, don't get me started on that, it's a whole other thread.