Christmas presents you thought would be a huge hit but were actually a major flop

[Gillian76]

I'll start.

ELC wooden dolls' house for DD1. Played with about 5 times

Does anyone else have a child that doesn't really like toys? DS2 would much rather help me around the house, listen to music, play outside, etc. Likes doing 'real things', as he puts it. Like hoovering . Loves cooking, and has just started getting into card games, such as UNO. But we're a bit stuck as to what to get him this year. Don't want to repeat the Playmobil airport debacle of 2004. He couldn't be arsed, we couldn't face building it, and it's still in the box in his toy cupboard. Anyone got any suggestions for such a 6 year old ?

shrinking jeans - a cookery book? you could add extras like an apron, mixing bowl, cookie cutters etc. Has he got a cd player and cd's? Digital camera, a Watch?

erm.. a CD?
games you play together!
no idea..

Agree with the cooking stuff- DS2 got a bifg cook little cook set last year and loved it.

What about things like K'nex? I'd want him to have some imaginative play, it's just finding the right solution

going back to flops I forgot to mention Marble Run. Ds (5) to young to put it together and if you don't watch it you create a huge 'run' put the marble in and it just goes straight down, missing out all the rest of it! one small knock and it's timmmmmmmmmmbbbber!

I have a different view on Marble run. I put it on my DD's Chrsitmas list for MIL, who then found DH's in the cellar (a 30yr old version). DD loved it although it's very basic and the best we can build is a zigzag run. DD can build the run with a bit of help to show which way the pieces go. And SIL has bought her the lights and sound versoin from ELC for Christmas. Even if we have to build it for her to start with it's the marble dropping she loves.

thanks for the suggestions! With two boys we are overflowing with k-nex, lego etc, but he's not keen (doesn't mind geomag). Like the idea of a digital camera as he's always nicking mine. Sorry for hi-jacking thread. Love the cooking equipment idea, too. Ta!

Haven't read the thread ...
DS begged and begged and begged for a Roboraptor last year. He got one ... and has played with it, oooh, maybe TWICE?

The Dalek we got SDam (big 12" remote control thng) was a HUGE hit, he loves it.

RE: Cameras, when the boys go to parties these days they always give the same thinga s a gift- a disposable camera, and a phtoto album (99p in Asda) that's been decorated to suit the recipient. Always works a treat.

shrinkingjeans,Lakeland do a childs cookery set with baking trays ect that can be used in a real oven.

elc wooden dolls house and elc wooden castle - both of which collect dust, take up loads of room and never get played with, her friends love them though.

But we did buy her a wooden kitchen and a wooden marketstall and she loves them - so don't diss the wood !

The most expensive white elephant in our house has got to be the tenor sax I bought dh as he'd always apparently imagined himself playing one like a famous jazz musician. He says he'll take it up when he retires...

As far as the dc's go, we bought dd a wooden dolls' house for her second birthday and she still loves it aged nearly 11, & we've also been able to buy accessories for subsequent presents.

Worst things? A succession of clothes from her aunt & uncle that she considers absolutely hideous & will not wear...She was given a make up set when she was 5, which I hid as I though she was far too young, but when I eventually brought it out again about 3 years later she wasn't interested in it anyway. She's not easy to buy for, though, as she never wants anything - she says she has everything she wants - how sweet! - whereas ds sets his heart on just about everything he sees advertised - & then doesn't play with it much when he gets it as he's another one not really into toys eg wooden castle, garage unless they 'do something'.

His Godmother has a habit of buying him really annoying & often large toys that he loves, the worst being the keyboard that plays pre-programmed tunes (how many times can you listen to Jingle Bells, esp in the summer, without going raving mad??), the enormous ELC blow-up stage that took hours to inflate & sprung a leak in the middle of one of their dramatic productions, having to be propped up by one of the audience(!!!) & a huge ELC disco microphone thing which is now in several bits.

He was hankering after a badge machine at the age of 5 as he'd seen one in a shop, but unfortunately that was the year the whole world wanted one, unbeknown to him! I did eventually track one down after a lot of heartache & anguish & he did play with it almost enough to justify my efforts. Last year he was desperate for a cash dispenser(!) & did play with that, but it's basically plastic rubbish & keeps going wrong.

Anyone got opinions on K'nex? - we were thinking of getting him some as he's enjoyed playing with it when we were on holiday, but it's not cheap.

Also anyone advise on a reasonable but not too expensive digital camera as I thought that might be a good thing for dd? (Sorry if that's hi-jacking)

One I forgot earlier was one that MIL bought for DD (although to be honest I never thought it would be a huge hit, but MIL did) -a childs oven that "really bakes".

What a pile of poo that was! It took around 45 mins to "bake" 2 miniature biscuits and then (Health and Safety, of course!) you can't open the oven until it cools down , so about another 45 mins later.

As you can imagine children lost interest about 20 seconds after the biscuits went in the oven as they couldn't even watch them bake as they "cook" under a foil lid using the heat of a light bulb FFS!!

My parents bought ds one of those black and white robots and he has never played with it

ELC wooden fort. The one we got turned out to be enormous and just got tripped over all the time.

Barbie horse head - the hair turned to nylon frizz within a couple of weeks.

microstars stadium

Aargh how can I have forgotten Snow Whites cottage (50 quid if you please!) and the seven dwarfs?? God, I have to go and lie down when I think of that thing.

Took us hours to set it all up. We had a million 'stickers' to put all over it. And the each dwarf had his own set of cutlery, plates, cups, mugs, candles to be un-twisted off this plastic frame.

Played with it once or twice.

DD still likes her Leappad. She has loads of books for it, including two with a microphone for recording yourself. She uses it in the car sometimes, but it is also a useful toy to take when we go visiting friends/family for weekend. She doesn't use it for the stories, but for the activities.

Bloody Furbies, dd got 2 of them so they could interact but they never did, they would just go off when you least expected it. They gave me the creeps.

They are now at the bottom of a rubbish tip still spouting unintelligable rubbish

Leappads are loved by both dd (5) and ds (2) here - so much so that am thinking of buying ds the bus one.

But yet another beautiful wooden, fully kitted out doll's house gathering dust in this house - thank God it was the ILs who bought it!

I thought the Fur Real cat would be a hit but was only played with once or twice and it actually promised more than it delivered, so don't blame dd.

My biggest regret was buying Baby Tad. It was such a huge hit with both of mine (and still played with) but the most annoying bloody toy in the world - I just want to torch it everytime I here 'Hi, I'm Baby Tad' come on (especially in the middle of the night - creepy!).

Thanks to this thread I shall not be buying any Playmobil after all.....

We would buy spare playmobile off anyone whose children don't like it - it's very popular in our house, some sets are 30 years old and still in good working order.

we particularly want a large treasure island with a cave running through it - anyone? It seems to have been discontinued.

Our 30 year old Scaletrix still works well too and is a big hit whenever we get it out.

Beautiful wooden dolls' house. Never played with by dd, although most visiting children seem to like it.
Leappad is rubbish. DD's version even went wrong within a few days, so it would be saying something completely different from the word dd was pointing at.

Collision I have a thomas aqua draw in the bag for the charity shop upstairs you can have it just cat me

Lucky Surfermum - think dd might like Leapad now, might encourage her, but wouldn't pay major money for it. Most of this stuff is way overpriced and over-specific, so kids can't be imaginative with it if they try and ending up just watching, spending more time setting up than playing, seems endemic. I've got no problem buying from car boots and charity shops, my version of recycling, I'll need more money when dd is older, I reckon. Tend to succumb to just one thing maybe (did put scary horse head on list though as she kept going on about it last year (Grandma didn't like the look of it and had got something else), hope nobody got it yet! I don't have space for all she'll get anyway. I think they play more with smaller quantities as well, but haven't had the heart for it yet. Want to announce after this Christmas that I'd like all the family to agree to buying Just One Thing each for each other - don't care if this means they spend less, some are spending much more than they can really afford anyway. Don't know how it'll go down with dh's mob - they're nuts over Xmas shopping, buy TONS and much gets recycled as birthday presents during the year, which seems crazy to me - just don't get so much in the first place. Bad for the economy, better for the kids though and more gratitude all round.

Have to say the leap apds were a big success in this family, they've kinda gone by the by now (trashed iirc) but for ages the boys would happily settle with them of an evening. I rather liked them.