The hell that was 'The golden coin maker' haunts me still, what to avoid this year?

[zanz1bar]

If any of you got conned into 'The golden coin maker' my sympathies.
What do you suggest is best avoided (amongst the general tat I will probably get)to keep my sanity in tact

Another 'no' vote for the golden coin maker here. Literally takes all afternoon to make two coins. I tried to melt the choc in microwave but managed to turn the whole plastic mould into a melty burny mess. Having said that, DS still often asks to play with it. Until I find a new hiding place.

We had both aqua beads and hama beads - hama win by a mile.

But I beg you, by all that is holy, avoid magic sand. It is the biggest pile of shite I ever bought. After one use I took it back to Toys R Us and they actually gave me a refund!

Moon Sand is not the worst, but nowhere near as good as the adverts. Hard to get the moulded sand out of the moulds.

Golden coin maker is so rubbish, so is the cupcake maker, so is the badge maker and so is the sticker maker and magnet maker.
And I still haven't learnt my lesson as this year we will have the fruit factory and the chocolate maker - both guaranteed to be totally rubbish.

Agree, all total shit:
golden coin maker
magic sand
cupcake maker

And stuff I am keen to avoid this year:
Lets Cook Ice Cream Parlour
Rescue Pals Swim To Me Puppy
(even my DDs think this looks rubbish)

Swim puppys not bad especially if you take it to the local pool as theres not enough space in the bath. It does make an annoying noise though the whole time it's switched on.
I'd avoid all those jigsaw books with millions of pieces that will never be put together!

Oh ye gods, Jigsaw books, they fall out everywhere.

WE used our Golden coin maker - once - what a load of shitola - melting chocolate with warm tap water.
ALos anything hot wheels
ANd tattoo pens - may as well draw on your child in biro

My DD loves her password journal - I think it's ok.

The password journal for slightly older girls was shite for us, as well. It has never really worked properly, and is very, very easily broken by younger siblings

Roary's silverhatch workshop --- ramp never stays up, lift constantly jams, and to top it off the top is a piece of cardboard!!!!!!! the toys (roary and helli) that come with it are good and we got a free back pack when bought which ds loves....also the roary race track set that comes in a toolbox type thing rubbish and never stays together,

fruit factory ice cream parlour they all made by the same company, could one be better than other
dd wants fruit factory

The ice cream maker is a big pile of rubbish- don't buy it! It is really hard work, the kids lose interest long before the ice cream is made and after what seems like hours you get a piddly portion of ice cream that is only partly frozen.

Or maybe I did it wrong.

no, I think that goes for ALL ice cream makers!

The general rule seems to be, avoid all food preparation toys and do real cooking with your dc's instead!

Thankyou for this post! My daughter wants the bloody coin thing and I was fairly sure it would be crap, so thans for confirmation. I am hoping she won't notice its absence in amongst the large of other gifts she is no doubt going to get!

Have just seen this on our local Freecycle - is it one of you?

TAKEN: Chocolate coin maker
Date: Mon Nov 9, 2009 1:32 pm ((PST))

Thanks for prompt collection - hope you have better fun with it than we did

I don't learn though, I have ordered the sandwich cutter and biscuit decorator thingy using that fab littlewoods £25 discount.

My DS always says he'd like that chocolate coin thing too, glad I never bought him it!

I can advise on a couple of crapola items we recently received on DS's birthday - he loves them both obviously..

a thomas game on offer in Asda which he bought with his Bday pennies. Shite, eats batteries like you wouldn't believe, balls roll of the game and under you sofas, cupboards, tables, etc.

an alien lab set which someone kindly bought along with a refill kit of extra bottles of goo and playdough which have permanently stained my table and one of his school jumpers. Also the goo supposedly takes 5 mins to set, more like 10 hours and I am not exagerating.

These are both in the shops at the moment so avoid avoid avoid.

One of teh worst things we ever had was the Tardis Electronic Playset. It took all Christmas morning to get it out of the box, ages to set it up and about 5 mins for it to start breaking.

Actually I dont think you can get it any more.

This is such a great thread, keep them coming!

Oh wow someone else suffered the curse of the sodding golden mess coin maker! Was a Christmas present from doting grandmother. I was cursing the one time we tried to do it. It is NOT hard to melt chocolate on the sodding stove, why do they try to con parents into doing something far messier and less effective?

Bindeez also pants, wished on us by someone who doesn't have kids. Had already accidentally hidden it before the news broke about it being poisonous and that kid dying in Australia. (Think they've now got a new version that doesn't kill children. Hopefully.)

ds and his friends used to love Elefun, though.

Katisha, you are so right about the Tardis playset being flimsy - luckily ours was passed on from a friend, would have been highly pissed off if we'd actually parted with good money.

Underground Ernie station set also flimsy - engine sheds are made of incredibly thin plastic that breaks, leaving very sharp edges. Actual track and trains are fine but sheds are frankly dangerous and it's a flaming cheek given the price.

I must vote for Mousetrap. DS2 begged for it last Christmas. Took ages to "build" and then didn't work properly. DS2 now uses the toilet part of it to feed marbles into and then flush them. The rest of the game is spread over the house. Never again!

Oops extra . must remember to preview!