to tell mil she cannot use xmas batteries

[MadeinScotland2026]

This happened last xmas but it's been brought up again due to everyone making xmas plans i think.

Mil stayed with us last year and she got the kids lots of presents that needed batteries. Which she didn't get before hand or prewarn us that we needed them.

On xmas morning she noticed my bag of batteries I got for xmas and went to put them into the toys she got. I said no they were for the toys santa got ( they were brought for this reason and cost £££)
I told her she can use any left over and I will buy more when I can. She wasn't happy to say the least and then asked the kids which toys they wanted batteries in first ( they said santa which i already knew)
I was annoyed as

1. They cost £££
2. I wanted to see my children play with the toys I got
3. She couldve said before hand or got some herself

aibu?

Usually I would say it’s the child’s choice what they want to play with if batteries are in short supply

although it’s still piss poor behaviour to expect other people to have batteries for you

So send a short message back.

Hi MIL - I wasn't aware that you expected me to buy certain 'add ons' (ie batteries) for your Christmas gifts which is why there weren't any last year. Just to remind you that the situation will remain the same this year - if you buy the kids presents that need batteries please buy them in advance, otherwise the kids will be unable to play with your gifts until the shops open again'.

As a parent of young kids you should just have a stock of batteries, your MIL would probably not realise that you had only bought the exact amount of batteries for the toys you were planning on buying and would so aggressively gate keep them.. I wouldn't say that was the norm in most households.

In an ideal world she should really have bought the batteries too, but not everyone remembers, or realises they don't come with batteries.

You made a much bigger deal of it then it should be.

YANBU, I'd reply reminding her she needs to buy batteries needed for any toys as part of the gift. It is MIL who has revisited the issue.

Imagine being the children caught up in such a petty argument.....

This is more than just some batteries. Buy some spares and just chill. Let the children tell you what they want to play with on the day without turning it into a face off

So you denied your kids the pleasure of playing with Christmas toys just to get one over on your MIL?
Seriously?

Is this honestly something people worry about 11 months later?

Good grief, you are two adults and neither one of you can add a pack of batteries to your next shop? They’re not gold nuggets you know, they’re pretty much available anywhere including in supermarkets.

This. My XP would buy birthday cards but not stamps then help himself to my stamps, using 2 1st class ones because they were large cards.

I'm self-employed, so he was stealing from my company and messing up my stock control.
Yet I was the unreasonable one.

Your MIL was stealing from Santa, @MadeinScotland2026 .
If the toys need batteries, you buy the batteries for them.

I thought all parents kept an additional stock of AA and AAA batteries at xmas!

Why don't you have a stock of batteries?

Why are you asking your DC to choose between you both?

Why are you being so petty?

Were you awful to your MIL last year which is why she's brought it up again?

No, the op allowed her DC to choose which toys to put batteries in.

If you have toys requiring 20 batteries but you only have 10 batteries you can’t use all the toys.

You're wrong.

It's brought. As in 'brung it up again' (if that was a term, but it's not, so brought is correct)

Always put the batteries in before wrapping. Nothing worse than faffing with screwdrivers Christmas morning. Especially if they don't work.

She's stewing about it. Let her stew. If she buys battery operated stuff then she needs to buy the batteries as well

Or they could have both enjoyed seeing their gifts played with by sharing the batteries, rather than creating unnecessary drama and conflict which is still hurting a year later.

Glory? WTF?

Everyone who has bought my children toys has always sellotaped batteries onto the item, or checked it came with them inside. I don't have the money to have a big stash of every type of battery that may be needed. Maybe she could tell you in advance what she is buying so you have an idea what will be needed (or just buy whatever pack her toys need at the same time when she gets the toy)

I would gift MIL a big bag of batteries as her present 😉

Wow. The level of pettiness on here never fails to amaze me!
can I suggest you invest in a battery charger and rechargeable batteries. You can then move them from toy to toy as the kids out grow them.
Or just buy the massive packs from B&M it similar.

You cant use 20 toys all at once. You can move the batteries around, which is what we had to do all along in the 70s when batteries really were expensive.

There are certainly better ways yo deal with this than what OP created.

Good grief.

You could always just remind her that if she is buying anything that requires batteries, she needs to bring batteries too…

And I don’t know why, if there weren’t enough batteries for every toy, you couldn’t just temporarily move the batteries from one toy to another, depending on what your child was playing with.

But don’t you keep a few spare batteries in your house? They really aren’t terribly expensive to buy in bulk from Amazon etc. and have a long shelf life.

Your MIL shouldn’t be bringing it up again, but you (the hostess) obviously made her feel very uncomfortable last year.

Not sure why mil cant complete the job by buying her own

Are you really this petty?

You sound very petty just be grateful your MIL wants to make her grandchildren happy! On mums net it seems that MIL cannot do anything right

Just get 50 or 100 from Amazon, then you will have plenty, we get the Duracell industrial ones

Same.