Cheap chocolate and presents from MIL

[nottheplan]

Mil and dhs family always buy rubbish presents and easter chocolate for our dcs. We're talking rotten own brand chocolate that nobody likes. It just gets chucked in the bin. Also cheap plastic toys from b&m in the 2 for £20 offer for birthdays and Christmas. Always break into pieces and get chucked in the bin. They are most definitely not poor. Wibu to ask them not to buy anymore for our dcs? If I phrase it that they have too much already and were trying to cut down on toys and treats?

What sort of cheap chocolate?
Some own brand is better than Cadbury’s.

thank fuck I can pay off my overdraft

🤣🤣🤣

Maybe they don’t believe in the absolutely appalling practices of Nestle.
for example
Maybe they have morals on that one !

Yes, if someone turned up with a clothing gift,
wooden toy or gift card at easter
@nottheplan I’d think they were odd,
but I’d be nice about it. My DM genuinely
believes Lidl is better and fancier as European chocolate, and she too can afford 5 star hotels…

there has to be some
backstory of alienation here as this is small beans.

Imagine how you'd feel if you were asked to stop buying your Grandchildren gifts one day.

Give them food banks etc if you really can't find a use for them.

My nephew loves cheapie B&M toys. You sound really ungrateful.

Clothes to a child are necessities until they are brand hungry teenagers.

I have an image of you snatching the plastic tat away from your dc as they gleefully play with it, replacing it smugly with a Grimm's rainbow which the DC look at with disdain.

I wouldn't ask them to buy your kids clothing, they might buy some ghastly high street abomination and how on earth could your children ever be expected to wear anything that didn't come with a designer label?
Seriously though, your kids must be incredibly picky if they only eat brand-named chocolate, sounds like this might be more your issues than theirs, maybe don't teach them that brand names equal quality, that's setting them up for a lifetime of wasting money on brand named things even when the own brand equivalent is just as good. We're big fans of Aldi's rip-off brands in our household, their Titan (Mars style) bars and Jaffa cakes, in particular, are every bit as good, if not better than the originals and much cheaper too! I have a friend who is a high-end professional chocolate-maker but, when she wants to pick up a quick chocolate fix she always heads to Aldi!
Finally, £10 doesn't sound excessively cheap for a toy and I'd be surprised if they all broke in five minutes, unless your kids are deliberately smashing them in which case I'd say you had bigger issues on your hans than your in-laws present choices!

You sound hard work.

I’ve never know a child question what brand their chocolate is or turn any down for that matter.

and as for the toys, theres nothing wrong with toys just because they’re from B&M

Maybe unclench a little and let go.

Lidl bunnies are delicious, you should try them!

Mine would have enjoyed eating the receipt 😂

Lidl chocolate is superior to Cadburys nowadays without a doubt, both in taste and in ingredients. And it's not really any cheaper to buy an egg from there either.

They really aren't 🤑

I think you have missed the sarcasm there.

Lidl bunnies don't contain palm oil.
Cadbury and Nestle do.

I used to work in a high end independent chocolatier. I never buy Cadbury or Nestlé. I haven't bought them this year but I've eaten Lidl chocolate before and it was not bad at all.

I assume that OP means that her MIL asks for specific gifts, such as restaurant or hotel vouchers that are expensive while buying cheap crap for her grandchildren.

I bet you keep your Cadburys in the fridge

No I'm not thank you very much, my dc get lovely gifts that they actually want for their birthdays and Christmas. Not 2 for 20 offers of tat

Yes god forbid the MIL can’t find her way to the organic cotton section!! I do get it, I’m a crunchy hard work wooden toys parent too, but you have to let the small stuff go. In fact, most of the overpriced wooden toys left in mint condition when mine were done ignoring them…

Definitely not, the softer the better 😁

There is no way that a young child knows that gifts are poor quality unless their parents tell them so, directly or indirectly. And most young kids like being given gifts. Being given an inferior brand of chocolate does not make children feel unloved unless their parents have told them to feel like that.

I am not a fan of endless junk ruining the planet. But it is important to be gracious when accepting gifts if they are given with good intent. Snobbery is really unattractive.

JFC you mean to tell me that every single toy in B & M breaks within hours….. not true. You are being a snob.

You can't really say anything without looking bad. I suppose you could say," sorry they won't eat these bunnies, they end up wasted in the bin. They'll only eat a pack of cadburys buttons! You have it." That way they know it's money wasted.

I don't think it's even snobbery, who thinks Cadbury/Nestlé are high quality?!

I am not a chocolate "user" but Saturday Kitchen has some really good suggestions.

Indeed. And Tesco own brand chocolate (in my opinion) tastes much better than Cadburys.