To beg you not to buy cheap rubbish from Temu for party bags?

[Nescafeneeded]

They’re toxic and horrible, end up in the bin, total waste and the parts are a danger around toddler siblings.

How low is your low?

Out of date drinks and snacks, because "it's fine"? Mouldy food?

What does that mean in relation to Temu? What regulation do other importers have that they don’t?

Well I’ve done the mystery bags and tombola from donated sweets at the school fair for years and yes out of day foodstuffs is a very common donation so I’d suggest a parent probably should check this stuff since obviously you can’t control it otherwise

Yes but some of it IS regulated because you can buy exactly the same products in mainstream UK retailers.
Literally the same items. Sometimes the packaging may be different (as some shops may sell it under their brand name) but it's the same products.
(I haven't ever bought from Temu btw)

I actually don't know how temu etc escape our regulations to be honest.
But UK based retailers are subject to all sorts of regulations.
Toys for example.
Buy direct from a Chinese wholesaler you have no idea what you're buying, what corners were cut, who made it or what from. Testing is expensive and unsafe materials are often cheaper.

When I was a kid parents had a sense of fun and didn't buy plastic tat.

I didn't buy it for my son either. Party bags had a book and a piece of birthday cake in them.

It's perfect possible to have fun without buying horrible tat from China.

However, given that Halloween is soon, we have even more plastic tat in the shops.

By definition most people on here are Mums and therefore have kids, so why the devil do most of you care so little for the environment and the world your kids will grow up in?

But how do you know it is the exact same product? Some of them might look the same, but made with different materials for example. Or by a different workforce who do not receive a living wage. And if it is indeed the same product, it's not all that ethical to steal designs.

But if you're talking about Amazon or ebay, then yes they might well be the same products because they are just marketplaces the same as Temu with the exact same problems.

Kids working in slave like conditions for Temu, so your kids can have some plastic tat that will be thrown away.

Immoral.

You can tell by the photographs.
Same photos of the product on the various different online sellers websites etc.
This isn't all the products they sell obviously
Just some of them.
There are some incredibly crap products available but they are frequently also available via Amazon.
My point was really that Temu, Amazon or Poundland... often same factory/same supplier/same product.
It's not about where you purchase from but what you purchase.

How about people stop buying from Temu and similar retailers altogether please. Unethical, unsafe, and bad for the economy (well, good for China's economy, but bad for your own economy, and considering how bad things are lately in so many countries we really ought to be supporting our own economies as much as we can)

Again, they might use the same photograph, but how do you know the product you receive is the same?
And yes, amazon, temu, shein etc might have the same stuff. Poundland actually won't.
Where you purchase from makes a huge difference. Regulation is important because I can't tell what plastic a water bottle is made from by looking. Can you?

Some products I have bought from AliExpress and Amazon have been the exactly the same as ones that I have bought from mainstream High St retailers (they were toys that were part of the same series and I wanted the full set)
AliExpress and Amazon used the same photos as the ones sold via Temu.
I mean Temu could be lying but it seems odd.

Well unfortunately we don't have many manufacturers in the UK.
We have to buy from abroad because there's nothing here 🙁

😆😆

I adore the self righteousness and hypocrisy of adults begrudging a few bits in a party bag who most likely do far more day to day to harm the environment themselves.

The parents I know who are the most generous with children’s party bags that children actually like usually have the least money, many don’t drive or fly ever, grow their own food at allotments, cook everything from scratch, etc.

Why does it seem odd? Stealing photos and replicating products cheaply is good business sense. It's not safe or ethical, but that's why they're cheap.
Chinese wholesalers and replica products have been around for yonks. It's these enormous e-commerce giants that are new.
It's not a gamble I would choose to take, others obviously feel differently.

What do you suggest then? Kids don’t want seeds and people suggesting books usually suggest the works 10 for £10 books which aren’t great.

I agree with them being a danger to toddlers but that’s why parents need to check the bag themselves.

Let’s be honest, unless you spend a fortune it’s nearly always going to be cheap tat that ends up in the bin.

Let's just cancel parties altogether.

Not so many manufacturers left but you still have plenty of retailers left in the UK, if you buy from them you know that they reach minimum safety standards and support the economy, even if the products come from manufacturers abroad.

There were when I was little in the 70s/80s, but they weren't quite the same as now.

We would typically have a piece of cake, a thing of bubble mix, a balloon (might be given a ready inflated one instead of being in the bag) and maybe something else little, probably a small packet of sweets - the matchboxes of smarties were popular.
The rest of the party bag depended on the games. At parties you played games and the prizes went into your party bag. So sometimes you came out with nothing extra, other times you came out with a bulging bag.
I remember one time having so much my bag couldn't hold it all. That was exciting, and dm was terribly embarrassed. However most of the time I wasn't particularly good at party games and got at most one extra thing.

I suspect if done that way nowadays half the mums on MN would be overcome with trauma that another child had more in their party bag.

It’s pretty obvious the birthday cake baked or bought for the party is going to be in date, or the bags of Haribo.

Its also patently obvious that parents have managed to raise children since day dot without 100 page health and safety manuals by trusting their own judgment and actually teaching their children to generally not put small toys in their mouths? You know, by saying ‘no’, watching them, removing things from their hands, teaching them to keep out of older sibling’s bedrooms, putting things out of reach?

Plastic tat has been around long before TEMU started selling to the U.K.!

Cancel children as well.

Who cares about human slavery eh? As long as your kid has a nice party and you managed to get a few cheap bits. Fuck it eh?

If you’re buying from Shein and Temu you should be ashamed.

I agree. My heart sinks when I see a plastic party bag with more plastic tat in it which I know will be in the bin within a day making me feel guilty about more stuff going into landfill.
I understand the pressure that everyone does them though. My favourite party bags to receive is a sweetie cone and some bubbles. My kids have actually received some good books though as well like Mister Men or topsy and Tim when they were younger.