I am a Playmobil virgin

[MavisEnderby]

But am considering getting some for the children for Christmas.

dd the carry along house (The bigger houses are lovely but waay expensive)

ds has asked for the pyramid but as we have got him a wii I think that would be excessive given cost.Am looking at some less costly dinosaur stuff.

Can anyone reccomend what Playmobil their children have enjoyed the most?TIA.

Where is SoMuchToBits?

She is a stalwart on the playmobil threads, her and Norman the foreman.

Interesting. Re the advent calendars - are they good, really? We have two Father Christmases who play various (inappropriate) roles throughout the year, but I was wondering about the advent calendars.

I think it would tip DH over the edge though. He loathes PM, and does exceptional swearing when he treads on it.

I'd vote for setting up early, it took us about three hours last year to set up the hospital, kind of like lego instructions for adults Dd was in bed before it was finished. It did then take another hour for me and my sister to set it up just right for Dd to then come and mess it all up playing with it!!
Did find myself sitting tidying it up when I was supposed to be clearing up the living room one day, much more fun than hoovering.
Her favourite thing is actually just to get a huge pile of people and play schools with them at the moment so most of the big sets we have are redundant but doesn't stop me buying more. So far this year its the vet, baby animal zoo and take along dolls housefor christmas. The vet and doll house are in boots three for two which made it quite a good deal.

We bought the Advent Calendars last year (because our local supermarket reduced them to CHF 5 and I was deluded in thinking that they might play with them)

OMG. Every little box contained teeny tiny mini wee bitty bits.

We had a 12 week old puppy who had a rare time finding them.

I should have just put the calendar straight into the bin and missed out the middleman.

DON'T DO IT

Have got the box out of the cellar but fear I will Need Help working out what goes with what.

Will put them on the sale boards here, I have paid for CAT thingy anyway.

Well the thing with the advent calendars here is that there is a crystal clear and policed with deadly force proclamation that there is NO inter-playing of the advent calendar people/animals with the other general population that lives upstairs.

They do not mix. Ever.

So the poor repressed underdeveloped advent calendar dioramas always look lovely and pristine and have all their pieces, which is probably why I like them so much.

I think I like the idea of festive ones - such as a Christmas scene, but my local dealer only has the pirate advent calendar and the fairy princess unicorn one, which, unless I've been missing a crucial element of the Christmas story all these years, doesn't seem to be particularly relevant.

Slubber. That policing policy would be in effect here also. What Father Christmas has done this year has scarred us all - we couldn't see the PM baby jesus go the same way.

dear oh dear. This all sounds very serious moodlum. Yes I think the baby Jesus is absolutely not for playing with.

Saying that I have just remembered that we have the Christmas scene too, the pimped camels are beyond excellent.

The roman arena and vikings and gauls to fight them and the dinos. Ben 10 creatures often fight the gladiators too. And hoovering up the small bits is quite satisfying esp coins from pirates.

PM mixing with Ben 10

That is just too much..

Slubber - it is serious. But good tip on the helpful camels. I've just come across online the interestingly named PM set entitled "Pair of Camels with robbers", so perhaps I need to make my own nativity scene fashioned from other sets. Where PM "robbers" become "shepherds" and PM Mother with baby in a pushchair becomes the virgin mary. And so on.

In My Pocket small furry creatures are often to be found stowed away on the PM plane....usually in the luggage hole (the suitcases actually open!) or in the loo.

Has become dp's Christmas Afternoon Activity, the putting together of the Playmobil....so me and my Mum can crash out and nom chocolate in front of something unbelievably crass while he huffs and puffs in the dining room and swears about "only the Germans could invent little fiddly bits like this".

Speaking of which, German ebay used to be a lot cheaper for PM but I guess with the exchange rate that's gone out of the window.

Do your DC play with the PM or do you?

So, sorted out the box of junk ah, Playmobile and have discovered that most of it is Duplo/Lego.

Shows how much we love the stuff, I have to peer at the base of the figures to be sure if Lego or PM.

Don't think I could sell them though, they are lots of miscellaneous bits and pieces.

The only thing semi-complete is the Easter one (cause SIL just gave them it in April and we have hardly used it).

Does anyone need any plates or bits and pieces, I will send you them (free, don't want money for them). I have flowers and some treestops, not the stems/treetrunks)

Handcuffs and a suitcase from last years Cops and Robbers Advent calendar.

My kids love it !

Haven't got time to read all though this but did you know toys r us has the ark and a dino set for half price they also have lots of others with money off.

carry along house
caravan
lots of figures, random bits

have ambulance and hospital tucked away for xmas

have lost mobile phone for the caravan - must check the hoover...

mamaG, well naturally it is the dc that play with it. I used to stand behind the doorway biting my fist and wishing that I smoked so I could go outside for a fag.

tbh I have become much less anal about it over the year. Last weekend we did a giant re-sort/tidy and I allowed the dds to put flowers of different colours on the flower stems. It was a big step.

henry, yes! omg the campervan mobile phone is literally the size of a grain of basmati rice. We still have it by some incredible stroke of good fortune.

LOL slubber. The first step in overcoming, is admitting you have a problem, and it seems you've taken that first step. Well done.

Thanks very much MmG, but I think my neuroses are extreme enough not to add handcuffs and briefcases into the mix .

I've just added the pm camper van into my ever growing amazon shopping basket. Not even sure who I will give it. Maybe myself.

Dp likes to move things round in the Modern House (he'll put a teeny tiny book on the other side of the bed, or a teeny tiny spoon in the kitchen sink) dd goes ballistic when she notices.

Those spoons are microscopic.

Slubber and her camper van [sigh]

Recycling truck, round here. It has to be said that DS doesn't play with it all that much nowadays and I am wrestling with my conscience about whether or not to get one or both DC PM advent calendars. What is this year's one, anyway [out of touch]?

I think, Pirate and Fairy Unicorn. Lovely and festive.

Do they do different ones every year?

2 years ago (I think) when we got ours I thing there were 3 or 4 different options.

The woodland one is good (and not gendertastic) although FC does come with a canoe of presents

Days 1-12 are always the boring shit like urns for the flowers or a bush. From the 15th dec it gets exciting.

Oh I seeeeee behind each door is a new bit of PM? I geddit..

have to get one now.

we had a great one last year - was a frozen pond with kids skating and playing hockey (v small skates and cute puck!) , snowman and tiny thermos. Santa with a sleigh and sack of toys too. Bought a Lego one this year, didn't fancy the pirates or fairy scenes (have lots of fairy stuff already)

Anyone got the circus? Thinking of that for this year.
We have the pirate ship
bastard big plane
helicopter
recycling van
church/wedding carriage

and about a million flowers mixed with tiny pirate guns, knives, coins and miniscule cups from the plane.
It's great - the bride gets kidnapped from the church by a band of pirates and strung to the masts of the ship, and the police helicopter comes to the rescue. love the stuff, prob more than the dcs