Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

4yo dd really really wants a chrimbo present that I really really don't want to get

77 replies

ladybaabaa · 02/12/2011 11:38

It's a fur real friends thing, here.

So £45 (!) plus it looks rubbish. She has asked for it every single day for about the last 3 weeks and even says "I can't wait until Father Christmas brings me Cookie" with a big smile.

DH thinks we should just get it for her but I would REALLY rather get her some Sylvanian familes stuff or something else, but she doesn't seem very interested.

Should I just buy it or risk tears on Christmas morning, advice very much appreciated!!

OP posts:

Jinsel · 03/12/2011 12:17

FC gets (well got) the credit in this house too. One present from us and a nice fat stocking and usually the one thing that they were desperate for and we'd said was a total waste of money came from FC.

I don't understand why people have to get the credit either. It's such a short period of time to keep the magic going

Bluestocking · 03/12/2011 12:58

No "magic" around here, I'm afraid - just a mid-winter holiday with nice food, and an excuse for (real live) people who love each other to exchange presents. We do do a stocking for DS, because it's part of the fun, but he's always known that FC is a fairytale figure.

nappyaddict · 03/12/2011 13:01

Flamingo I'm the same as you. FC gets a few things & the stocking but DS knows the rest are from me or whoever bought them. I think it's nice that they are grateful to the people that bought them and can thank them properly.

exoticfruits · 03/12/2011 13:14

I always made it clear from the earliest age that a wish list is just what it says and no one gets all they wish for. FC is the same-he has his own ideas.

juneau · 03/12/2011 14:32

I would tell her that her list for Santa is a WISH list, and that what Santa brings is what is in his sack at the time. I won't buy tasteless, overpriced crap and I utterly resent the advertising on children's channels that relies on pester power to shift their mountains of tat in time for Christmas. You are the giver - give what you want to give. If she wants to save up her money to buy what she wants when she's older, that's fine. But while it's your money you get to say how it's spent IMO.

NICEyBahHumbug · 03/12/2011 17:07

I asked for loads of things that Santa didn't buy me. I didn't stop believing in him. I just was too excited about the other stuff I got.

I'm somewhat bewildered that "Santa must get otherwise child feels that Santa doesn't love them" approach. There must be a lot of distressed little girls who didn't get their ponies and now santa hates them.

heliumballoon · 03/12/2011 17:33

The issue should be whether you can afford it, not whether you like it. I understand that children should not have whatever they want, but if you're going to spend £45 anyway, then why should your taste trump hers?

startail · 03/12/2011 17:49

I much prefer Lego to Playmobil, but the Lego stays in it's boxes and there is Playmobil everywhere. Some of it bought with DD2s own money!
I fear you may be stuck with the dreadful thing unless you can get her to fall in love with something else quick.
We have a useless polly pocket track that falls apart for the same reason you just have to and bear it.

Original poster

ladybaabaa · 03/12/2011 18:35

Just to clarify, dd has a long list of things she wants for Christmas, very few of which she will receive. In our house FC does the stocking and 1 main present for each child. They receive lots of other presents from us, family and friends. I have made it VERY clear to all 3 dcs that they will not get everything they put on their list. I thnk they would be shocked if they did!

This toy would be the FC toy. Tbh my main objection is not the price but the longevity. I just can't see her using it much but maybe I will be proved wrong. Pressure from dh is pushing me towards the Amazon site.......

Helium, you are right about my taste not trumping hers, but if she starts begging me for Sylvanians in February I will need therapy!

Just going to test her now on her wish list........>>>>

OP posts:

5inthebed · 03/12/2011 18:40

Have you bought it yet? John Lewis had it for £37.50 (instore though not online) and it has a little coat and abowl as well.

pooka · 03/12/2011 18:41

Personally I think 4 is a tiny bit young for sylvanian families - dd dint really "get into" her sf stuff until she was nearer 6. Too many fiddly pieces.

deemented · 03/12/2011 18:42

TBH i wouldn't get it.

DS2, age7 has asked for a imaginext batcave and accessories. As well as lots of other things, but he will not be getting it. I simply can't afford it.

So, i've told him that Santa may not be able to bring it for him, because his elves only make a certain ammount, and not to be too dissapointed if he doesn't get one, because he'll certainly get lots of other things he'd like.

IMHO it's important for children to know that sometimes you can't have everything you want.

Cristiane · 03/12/2011 19:01

I am NOT of the 'just get it' school. I actually can't believe how many people here would.

Dd has asked for three things in her letter to Santa which are beyond my budget or just too plastic tat. I am not getting any of them. None of us really NEEDS anything. We certainly don't need to add to landfill with things that will break. So I am going to get one durable indoor and one outdoor present for each dd. but what I am going to do is plan a LOT of fun things for Christmas day. So like planning a Birthday party in terms of having lots of ways to fill the day - perhaps we will do musical statues to Santa songs. And hide and seek. And play a board game. And go for a walk and take silly photos and read a book and watch films. And of course there is Christmas dinner too.

Christmas is about memories not about presents. Really does anyone remember not being 'got' something with bitterness?

MrsRhettButler · 03/12/2011 19:05

Dd wants this too but I've already told her she won't be getting it, it's totally overrated, does it really do anything much? We have two real dogs that she plays with much more than she will this.

Wormshuffler · 03/12/2011 19:11

One year DS saw this hot wheels volcano thing on an advert and asked and asked for it. I didn't get it, it was £40 odd quid and I knew it was a one play toy.......once you have fired the car through the volcano what else is there to do?
On christmas morning he was asked by a relative if he had got everything he wanted, and said no i really wanted the hot wheels volcano. I felt so bad i went out and bought it on boxing day with the money he got sent from the GP's.
I was right, he did only play with it once.

GrimmaTheNome · 03/12/2011 19:19

Just a thought - if she has rellies who give her money (or tokens you could use and give her the equivalent cash) which might amount to £45, then she could choose to spend it on this if she really wants it. I think my DD was maybe 5 the first time I took her on a post-christmas shopping trip with her money - it was good, she really thought about what to buy.(when about 9, she chose rollerboots and because it was her money she used them a lot).

OTOH they really can't always have what they want... DH has vetoed the only thing she really wants this xmas, and she isn't allowed to buy them for herself either - a tankful of Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches. Don't suppose the Fur Real folks could diversify into insects... - be thankful if your DC only want innocuous furries!

heliumballoon · 03/12/2011 19:54

I understand OP!
But if she starts begging you for Sylvanians in February then she will have learnt a valuable life lesson about material goods costing money so you can't have a limitless supply so you had better be very sure what you want!
The funny thing is that my DD is also four, and I loathe sylvanians and would be miserable if she wanted them for Christmas! She has asked for a dolly I don't much care for but it's within budget, so her choice.

GooKingWenceslas · 04/12/2011 09:15

I'm saying 'just get it' because the OP says she can afford it but doesn't like it.

That is not the same as blowing money you haven't got for the sake of Christmas magic.

I am sad for children who want something really bad, like the baby skates, and their parents think that they know better.

BikingViking · 04/12/2011 09:23

Definitely get it if you have the budget for it.

I can still remember being desperate for a Barbie when I was younger and never got one because my parents didn't approve.

My mum's cleaner (who sometimes looked after me) felt sorry for me and bought me a Sindy as a Christmas present. I still remember that to this day - much more than any of the 'nice' presents my parents got for me.

HoneyandHaycorns · 04/12/2011 09:31

My dd got a furreal dog last year. I hated it, but she still plays with it all the time. This year, she wants another furreal dog to keep the first one company.

Buy it, OP - they are only little for such a short timr, and it's worth it to see the joy on their faces when they open their presents. :)

However, don't buy it and hope to hide it in the car while your dd is around. I smuggled ours into the car while dd looked around another shop with her dad, but then discovered that I couldn't work out how to stop it from panting, whining and moving its paws all the time. Daddy and dd had to get the bus home that day...

WhoIsThatMaskedWoman · 04/12/2011 09:42

There's a big difference between "just buy it" even though you can't afford it, or you know it's crap, and "just buy it" despite the fact you don't fancy it.
OP is presumably going to spend that sort of money from Santa anyway, and FurReal isn't a definitively crap present, it's just that the OP suspects that her DD won't stick with it. In those specific circumstances, and especially because DD would like a real puppy but can't have one, I'm in the "just do it" camp (but shop around for the very best deal).

TheOriginalNutcracker · 04/12/2011 09:51

I think, if you havent actually said 'no, you arent getting it' by now then you will have too.

With my 3, if they ask for something that I know I cannot get (due to money), then I say no from the off. They are older though, so it is easier to explain why they won't be getting it.

FlamingoBingo · 04/12/2011 09:54

GooKing - thanks for feeling bad for my kids. I'll let them know.

lljkk · 04/12/2011 10:10

Ity's a good toy, OP, honestly, I endorse it.
My only concern is she's a bit young, and they are breakable (DD's is now partly broken).
DD got a 50 quid Furreal lion cub for her 7th Bday & it was THE top toy for almost 2 years, still much loved.

Also, if she doesn't take to it at all, they have good resale value on Ebay.

ImpYCelynAndTheIvy · 04/12/2011 10:54

Could you have a look on ebay for a nearly new one? At 4 I don't think she'll know if it's new or not. That way if it's not played with you haven't spent lots on it, and if she does play with it, well, it was a bargain.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Swipe left for the next trending thread