Bewildered by the cost of these toys - what's the point

[PetiteSourisManoir]

Yesterday I went to visit an old friend. We went to primary school together (all girls private so I'm not going to pretend I'm not also privileged). She's been living abroad for several years but now has a little girl who's 3. I have 2 DC who are 2 and 3.

Anyway, she showed me around her home which was lovely but I've left feeling a little bewildered by the cost of some of the toys.

Her daughter has a rocking horse, I commented that it was lovely and asked where it was from, custom ordered from a specialist maker. I asked how much and she said a little shy of £5000 but it's an heirloom piece. Fair enough I suppose, not something I would do but I get that it's intended to be passed on for generations.
When we were in the toy room and the kids were playing though I noticed how so many of these toys seemed expensive. I got nosey and decided to have a google when I got home. Dolls house - £870, play kitchen - £569, tea set - £129. There were more but these stood out to me!

Now I have 2 boys, but our play kitchen was £160 and I thought that was ridiculous. Now it has crayon marks, stickers etc. on it and frankly I wish I'd spent less or got it secondhand!

AIBU to think what is the bloody point in toys this expensive? Have you ever bought your kids a ridiculously expensive toy? If so why?

Or possibly just more money

(she could have huge amounts in savings, money in trust for her daughter, mortgage paid off).

She can afford it so what? Because your kids wreck things there are children who take very good care of their toys which can then be passed down in the family. We spent a lot on my ds toys too which then went to my dd 7y age gap and they are all pristine and some things are from other countries which you would never find again.
It's the same though with adults. A car can get you from A TO B, why buy a Porsche when a cheaper one can do the same?

More money is a given but still more money than sense to spend that on playthings for young kids.

More money isn’t even a given. None of us have sight of her bank account.

That's a fair point , thanks. Taken on board😊

We're all into different things.

There is no sense to most items we buy that are considered unnecessary or a luxury.

I would be super wealthy if I just stuck to the basics in my life - that would be the sensible thing to do but where is the enjoyment in that, unless you like to watch you bank balance grow?
These expensive toys may spark some joy for the friend - perhaps she is going for the classic nursery look a la Mary Poppins!

So in answer to OP’s question - there is no point, there is no point to most things we enjoy.

Yeah, you shouldn’t be asking how much things cost. Not good manners!

If someone asks me how much something costs I would answer how much it costs if i bought it at a shop as fair as I am aware

I could have been given or won it or even been sent it to test for a review there could be lots of reasons I have it that have nothing to do with the original cost

If someone has these weird overthinking jealous or judgemental thing going on that just means they are the one with the issues

If you don't want the answer don't ask the question

The enjoyment is in:

• early retirement
• having money is a form of freedom over no other, so the bigger the bank balance gets the better.

Of course along the way there’s not much point in not having fun/ spending money to make life good. I’m not pretending that I don’t buy what I want. But spaffing money in expensive nonsense just because I can afford it is a no.

That’s why I said previously that she may already have huge savings, trust fund for children and be mortgage free. She may have enough money to have freedom to spend it on all these luxury items and still have spare. I have no idea and neither do you. Perhaps OP is planning to ask this!

Buying nice food, wine, expensive furniture, holidays, season tickets to football, trips to the theatre etc. can also be viewed as spaffing money by someone who can’t comfortably afford these things.

There’s clearly a halfway house between a life of just basics and a £6k rocking horse. But you know that, and like so many posters on here, determined to argue black is white for the sake of it.

I can’t imagine many skint people could spend £6k on a rocking horse

Well, if she is rich, and her parents are rich, and her inlaws are rich, they are probably not flicking through the Argos book for inspiration for present ideas.

If I admired something and I was close to the person who owned it, I would potentially ask how much it cost with a view to working out whether it was within my own personal price point.

I've never once found myself asking what the point of something was when it came to kids: everyone's different, and certainly if they have the money for it who gives a shit? I can't imagine spending a couple of hundred quid on a hairdryer, but people frequently do and I don't judge them for it either.

Mine do. We have a traditional rocking horse, worth a lot, that’s a family heirloom.

I really don’t want it 😆 It’s massive and it takes up so much space, and it doesn’t go at all with how I would like the room to look.

But… my kids love it. And my in-laws would be incredibly upset if we got rid of it. No other kids in the family to pass to either.

So we’re stuck with the damn thing 😭

If they can afford it then fair enough, puts money into the economy.

Me too!
My parents kept everything, as heirlooms.
All the boxes for Lego models. We had to play with it so carefully it sucked a lot of our childhood joy out of it.
My kids wanted their own Lego, up to date stuff that I was not emotionally messed up by.
So we reunited kits and boxes, very few pieces missing, and sold it on eBay to people who hadn't got what they wanted 30 years ago.

I haven’t implied she’s skint

Just that people who spend loads of money often aren’t as wealthy as others imagine.

And there are people who are actually really well off who you just don’t know about because they don’t spaff money on ridiculous shite.

You’re entirely proving my point about mumsnet attitudes to money.

And nets a lot of VAT for Rachel Reeves.

The point I’m trying to make is that it can be spaffing money even if you can afford it. You are completely missing what I’m saying.