Is the playmobil advent calendar worth the money?

[450fromPaddington]

And if so which one? I ve got a 2 and a half year old girl and twin one year old boys and want to try to make the lead up to Christmas a bit special this year. now that they're all sleeping well and things aren't chaotic anymore I have got round to thinking about what to plan for Christmas!

Any tips welcome :)

My two ds's have one each. One has a scene of santa in the forest and the other is a castle theme (ie not christmasy at all). If you're careful with them you can make them last for years, I think we've had them for about 5 years now and they will shortly be making another appearance.

They do have lots of small pieces though, so I would probably not let 1 year olds near it.

hth

Is it something you pack away every year then? My mum has got ds one as if you spend £45 on Playmobil in Toys r us you get one free.

ours is 5 years old and the dc's (now 10 and 7) still love it.

I get mine 99p chocolate ones, and then 1 playmobil calender between them as a rule, so everyone gets to open their chocolate, and then they take it in turns to open the playmobil one.

Have you seen this though, I got this for DD this year instead (but yes they are worth it although i dont know how anyone uses them twice, I am impressed).

zhu zhu cheap and cheerful keep DD happy

450, You have 3 DCs until 3...how are things NOT chaotic? :) I saw these on TV this pm. How much are they? Am tempted.

I made the mistake of not putting it away last year but I will do after this Xmas. DS is not very interested in old stuff though so I'm not sure he will ever have the love of the traditional brought out year on year.

Think they would be too young. My son loved his last year but he was 5. The pieces are v small

You would probably be better off buying one (or 3?!) with pockets and filling with little things. Bubbles or balls from pound land / b and m bargains?

Eh, under,obvs.

Buy them in the new year half price and put away for next year, when they'll be old enough to appreciate it and less likely to put the small bits in various orifices

I disagree, DD was 1 last christmas and she loved the concept of advent calendars, (it helps having the 99p choccy one)

Op is asking about the playmobil ones thin I think 1 or even 2.5 is too young for that. Not for advent calendars in general but for playmobil ones.

Sadly, although in general I would recommend Playmobil advent calendars wholeheartedly, I do think yours are too young, as the bits are quite small. Something for the future though!

Yes I meant the advent Calendar DD was 1 and DS 3 last year and they loved the Playmobil advent calendar.

I had it on a window sill where they couldnt reach and it was like an extra ornament that they helped build. They loved it.

My DM bought one for DS1 (2.4) last Christmas as he is "allergic" to chocolate, he was too young to appreciate really. The characters are in the toy box and get an outing every now and then but personally I'd wait until they are older. Plus v small pieces hurt your feet when scattered to the four winds and keep finding the bloody things by treading on them.

Ours will be on its 5th Christmas this year - it is the Father Christmas and woodland one and we love it. However, DD is nearly 13. I'd have bought one sooner if I knew they existed but I think at 1 and 2.5 it might need to be 'look but don't touch' if you don't want to lose the teeny tiny pieces. We are a bit OTT with advent calendars though as I don't throw them away and DMIL sends a new (non-chocolate) one ever year and DD likes a chocolate one too, so this year we will probably have about 6 in total.

Thanks very much for all the feedback. It sounds as though the best thing to do is hold off for a year til they're a little older before buying one of these.

Thanks for the link Izzywizzy, that looks like something worth getting too, and is quite cheap!

Woopsi maybe I should clarify that things are LESS chaotic You should check out the free ones with £45 of playmobil toys as they're over £20 to buy on their own.

My daughter and my husband "shared" the knights one last year (aged 3) and this year she gets the princess one - I decided to overcome my pink aversion, just so that she'd get some female figures to play with, too.

Playmobil calendars are really good value for money.