What NOT to buy

[feelingfairlyfestive]

We have had lots of very useful threads suggesting some lovely presents for our loved ones. After stumbling across this, I was inspired to start a "What NOT to buy" thread to share the crap not so lovely present ideas.

Baby Annabel grew up and developed an eating disorder

do not buy moon sand

Anything educational !! My DD didn't appreciate a book on maths and a fab school dictionary

I'm not convinced the chocolate coin maker will ever be a hit, anywhere :o

oh no my nan has bought dd moonsand for christmas!

As long as you have a hoover handy you will be fine!

I nominate the chocolate egg maker and anything cheffy.

I will second the crapness of the coin maker and moonsand, utterly awful, the baby ate the moonsand and crapped bright blue, it was smeared all over every surface in the house and all ended up in the hoover, the coin maker ended up being pushed aside in sheer frustration, the wii, also, is utter crap, takes about a year from turning it on and any gameplay happening, the stupid condom-like sleeves for the remotes are annoying, I just get them on then the dcs want to swap to a game where they need to use a steering wheel so off they come again, aarrgghh

moonsand is an outdoor toy in this house

fecking transformers

"mummy, make it change!"

"I can't DS. NO-ONE CAN"

Both DS and DD want the chocolate coin maker. Yikes

Badge makers are crap.

Any toy/game that comes with long instructions.

Mousetrap. It has gazillions of little bits that get lost, takes ages to set up and they get bored before you have even started the game.

Having said that, I bought it for them last year because I enjoyed it so much when I was younger

An Egg Boiler, MIL bought us one last year, it's been in the cupboard ever since!

moonsand

..and any variation of those flipping helicopters. They all break within 5 minutes, no matter what the marketing says.

I disagree with wii as a bad buy, though - outs has been used more than I could possibly have imagined, and the DC even occasionally play together, unsupervised, without squabbling (and don't "zone out" the way they do in front of the TV)

ours, clearly

Roborapter/roboreptile, they are all crap. Ds has used his once in 2 years.

please please please don't buy this it is utter crap! Got used once in our house and then binned!

Has anyone got the cereal bar maker? DD keeps asking and I'm starting to waiver...

A cereal bar maker? Sounds like more plastic tat to me.

On the wii front, to be fair I think I am pretty much the only human that hates it, and my kids are a bit young for it, they also have the attention span of gnats, all in all not a great toy for them, most people I know dont understand my hatred though.....

I will add gogo hamsters to my list, I spent ages hunting for the furry little buggers last year, and finally 2 days before christmas eve managed to get all 4, one was opened, looked at with disinterest, and the rest stayed boxed for days, occasionally one gets trapped under the sofa and squeaks till its rescued, and a few months ago dd1 ran one across ds head and ripped him a bald patch

As others have said, any toy that cooks/makes food, is crap.

I realise i'm prob on my own with this one too, buy playmobil and lego are the devils work, truely.

Oh, and the stupid hair braider twisty thing, that also lead to dd1 losing a huge chunk of hair.I clearly have hair issues

Anything that involves parental help. I am far too busy downing wine and talking to be reading instructions and helping dds with things.

I too hate the hair braiders, go go hamsters, coin maker, badge maker and most particularly moonsand - all of which we have and they have been delegated to the back of the cupboard.

Ooh cool thread. I'm intrigued that the moonsand is mentioned here - I assumed it was great! Although I'm morally opposed to it because it moulds the shapes automatically (on the barnyard thing) WTF is the point in that?

And don't get me started on doodle sodding daisy - just buy a spirograph... I hate lazy toys that take the actual DOING away from the user. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

Lego - Don't buy lego for a 5yo hyperactive child with attention span of a gnat!

As it's left to mum to build/create it all etc. Only for mum to be utterly devastated slightly miffed when he shows interest in something else!!!