You Live and Learn - what have been your worst buys for the dcs at christmas?

[oneofsuesylvesterscheerios]

So that others will not make the same mistakes as me...!

The completely crap Illumination Station has to take the biggest prize. It was played on twice, dd1 then went back to her normal trusty pen box and paper whilst the Illumination Station has gathered dust on her wardrobe for 10 months now

plus cheapo shitty mp3 player that has approximately 3 nanuseconds of life before the batteries give out

Littlest pet shop stocking fillers - I keep finding minute kittens in strange crevices

Amything that is bought on the strength of a advert on commercial tv has to be a contender actually...

last christmas i bought my then 1.5 year old the click clack caterpillar from ELC since he loved the marble run his big sister had. although it has been played with a bit, it is still no where near as popular as the marble run!

any my little pony/ponyville stuff - daughter never touches them!

Last Christmas we forked out on a wooden train table. Has actually been a really good buy, it's played with everyday and the drawers are useful for train crap bits and bobs.

Crayola Twistables, not such a good buy.

Chocolate coin maker.

Never, in the history of childrens tat, has one toy scored so badly on every single level!

Play-dough ice cream shope (doesn't do what its ment to, total waste of money).

Sylvanian family river lodge, i was really disapointed with the quality (as it wasn't cheep), bits fall off and it just felt cheep.

Baby born -hardly been played with as dd is a tom boy (my mistake).

Go go hamsters were a hit and still being played with although i'm fed up from fishing them out from under the sofa .

Ditto with illumination station- pulled to bits on Christmas day, never worked very well and never been used since!

But the worst mistake I ever made was MOONSAND! I must have been dizzy with festive cheer when I bought it, as I actually believed the hype about it being less messy. By 8.30am Christmas Day, my living room was like the Sahara Desert. There were little grains of sand in my hair, between my toes..was finding it in all sorts of places for days!

Small spiky plastic animals/ beads/ bits did nothing to enhance the moonsand experience for my feet

This year I will no doubt give in to the hype on some score. Think I'll ask Santa to pop a couple of valium tablets in my stocking

Any hot wheels track , they take ages to put together and not very long at all to fall apart .

Also Scalextric , although I suspect my nearly 6 yr old ds at at the time was just too young for it .

A horse thing that takes batteries, has a magnetic apple and saddle and walks around making a nose while its eyes flash menacingly. Can't remember the name of it, but it cost an arm and a leg. DD refuses to part with it, despite never looking at the bastard thing.

Texta or textra. That's the name.

Marble run. Loved the one at kindergarten, never played with the one at home.

this mamas and papas rocking horse. I think I might have picked it out before DS was even born (PFB style ).

It looked lovely. He was 6 months old on his 1st Christmas and I thought he'd grow into it. He never showed the slightest interest. But the musical antennae stopped working after about 5 minutes anyway.

£50 on bounce and spin zebra. Then 15 month old DD was not impressed and it's a nightmare to store unless taken apart. Bain of my life til it was shoved in storage and I WILL NOT be getting it out again for DC2 to play on as it is shit.

If the toys are still in good condition why don't you sell them??

I have sold loads on stuff on preloved and Friday ads. Really easy to do. I always put "can not post" as I cant be bothered with doing that!!

Despite being overpriced tat dd1 loves the peppa pig play sets & plays with at least the figures every day.

Oh no, I have bought the play doh ice cream maker. Ah well, see how it goes.

We got a glow in the dark space train set, loads of pieces but ds and dh insist on constructing exactly as it is on the box. Last time I couldn't find one piece so it all went wrong and the baby just piles in and wrecks it anyway. Wish we had just got a simple train set. Took us 4 fraught hours to construct on Christmas eve as well!!!

I saw a contender for the coinmaker's crown on an advert the other day. A 'surprise chocolate egg maker' it looks frickin horrendous very complicated. I wonder if any mnetters will end up with one?

The rocking moose from Ikea - permanently seems to be about to fall apart, no matter how often I tighten the screws. And the handful (literally about 5) times it has been ridden, someone's toe or finger has inevitably got trapped under the rocker

Ikea kitchen however has been a major success story!

Another vote for Moon Sand. Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap.

An Action Man for ds - it was DHs attempt to get him to stop playing with his sister's Barbies. Failed spectacularly.

Barbie typewrite.

Golden Coin Maker.

Any character toys .

Screecher the spitting dinosaur -it worked on the day then got blocked and went rusty.

Ohhh yes moonsand ....

travellingwilbury - interesting point about Scalextric. My DS got it last year for Xmas when he was 6 and one of the cars broke within a month so its been gathering dust. We recently unearthed it from the cupboard as MIL is buying him a pair of cars for his birthday tomorrow. He's been playing with it quite a lot, first time the cat has seen it, we got him in April - now that was very, very funny.

If that goes well, may get him a lap timer this Christmas......

Another vote for anything by Hot Wheels and Scalextric.

Hot wheels just crap, they never work like the adverts.

The scalextric, too fiddly and got damaged. I was sick to death of blowing fluff off the connector thingey's, very glad to see the back of that.

Ben 10/ Star wars figures that aren't made by lego. All in bits scattered around the house!

Moonsand, I agree with. Have only played with twice since last christmas. Too messy.

Thank god I did not ignored their request for the Gold coin maker. I read the reviews and was put off by it.

Glad that the Zhu Zhu Hamsters are a hit. I have bought nearly the whole set and hopefully the girls will like them this year.

Also agree with the illumination station. Hardly ever used. But the worst contender must be the .....

Polly Pocket Aeroplace Jet. Bought in Toys r Us for £50, it was buy 2 get the third free of Polly Pocket stuff so bought 3 of the same thing. Gave the other two jets away.

The first time we opened it to play with, the plastic was so flimsy that the jet keeps falling to pieces. The little plastic bits just will not stay in their places, things keep fallling off the table, the dollies can not sit in their seats, the steps kept falling apart.

They have only playes with it twice. I heard that the best friend put hers in her cellar. That's how good they are. No more polly pocket for sure. A lot of money for some pplatic tat.

sorry - meant to say I did ignore their request re moonsand.

playmobile.

the golden coin maker

any science museum tat.

the candy floss maker

the icecream maker

a fair few crystal makers (none of which really worked

In fact it seems to be any kind of 'maker' in our house that has turned out to be rubbish!!