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Original poster

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

304 replies

zanz1bar · 09/11/2009 20:26

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

OP posts:
ja9 · 09/11/2009 23:22

this thread is like a script for Grumpy Old Women!

Brilliant!

ja9 · 09/11/2009 23:27

am actullay crying laughing at the following posts:

By shineoncrazydiamond Mon 09-Nov-09 22:03:58

By chickbean Mon 09-Nov-09 22:18:14

chortle!

GypsyMoth · 09/11/2009 23:31

why are all the mn dc's obsessed with MAKING things?! badges,chocolate coins,cupcakes etc etc.....setting yourselves up for a fall, playstation all the way here....

paddingtonbear1 · 09/11/2009 23:43

dd wanted that coin maker last xmas. I thought it looked crap and said no, thank god I did!
'easy and fun to make' is says on amazon, ha ha. I've said no to the ice cream maker this year...
dd did have some moonsand though. She found it in the garage and got it out when my dad was here - he was not impressed. It's now hidden until next summer, when we can just take it outside!
have got dd the lulu 'cuddlin kitty' for xmas this year. Who knows what it will be like! She did want Biscuit the dog, but the price put me off...

paddingtonbear1 · 09/11/2009 23:46

dd was also interested in those gogo hamsters. I think they look really bad...

MilkNoSugarPlease · 09/11/2009 23:55

Those blardy badge makers...the little crappy bits of plastic are JUST to short...annoyingly soo

When i was young all i ever wanted was baby all gone...the doll that eats the cherries...even now i cant listen to people talk about it incase they say it was shite, i live in hope i will oneday get one even now

paddingtonbear1 · 09/11/2009 23:56

have just read some of the reviews of the cup cake maker on amazon, OMG! tales of icing flying across the room.. I've never seen so many bad reviews for a toy.
please noone buy this!!

(ditto the fruit factory and ice cream parlour, which apparently does not make ice cream)

3PrincesofSerendip · 10/11/2009 00:09

Agree, do not buy that cupcake maker. We used it once!! and the cakes were awful and the icing looked like something Mr Whippy did!

moondog · 10/11/2009 00:13

Books, felt tips, paints ,the odd bit of outdoor kit.
All esle banned chez Moondog.

RumourOfAHurricane · 10/11/2009 07:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Ingles2 · 10/11/2009 09:37

OMG have you read the reviews for the cupcake maker on Amazon!
unbelievable!

MintyCane · 10/11/2009 09:45

can you give us a link ?

Ingles2 · 10/11/2009 09:46

look at this

MintyCane · 10/11/2009 09:46

just found it anyway looks really bad

TrinityHasAVampireRhino · 10/11/2009 09:49

my dds all want the go go hamsters
are they really that bad

thing is I'm going to find a way to get them anyway because daddy had already said to them 'I'm sure santa will manage to find those for such good girls'.......

MintyCane · 10/11/2009 09:49

the coinmaker reviews are really funny

Ingles2 · 10/11/2009 09:53

Hi Trinity.. how are you?
the go go hamsters are a real hit with the girls round here.
I think they seem pretty good. They actually do things, run around and squeak, which is more than can be said for our real hamsters

pofacedandproud · 10/11/2009 09:54

WE bought this WALL-E space station thing that took 4 hours to assemble and then fell apart when you touched it and bits broke off it almost instantly. DS was distraught. It 'disappeared' after about a week as bits were all over bedroom floor. Literally impossible to play with.

We love Elefun. But they ought to sell replacement butterflies, we've got about 4 left.

I adore playmobil but the big jumbo jet is annoying as the wings and wheels fall off all the time.

Ingles2 · 10/11/2009 09:54

hamster review

hobbgoblin · 10/11/2009 10:01

This thread is hilarious!

billynomatesmum · 10/11/2009 10:12

Don't buy the "ice cream" maker. IT IS PANTS !

"I scream", if you'll pardon the pun at the very thought of having to get the fecking thing out again. So far we have used it 3 times and I consider that if we make it to 5 I should be in line for a parenting martyr medal.

You need to load the central drum with ice and lots of salt and provide all ingredients such as cream milk flavours etc so it's an expensive way of teaching your kids how ice cream is made. However you won't actually get to eat ice cream as seconds after scraping it of the rotating drum it melts into nothing more than milk shake really.

I think the fruit smoothie maker looked better and wished I'd persuaded ds to buy that instead but it was his money.

Truly we'd be better off just getting a cooking with kids type book and working our way through it.

billynomatesmum · 10/11/2009 10:19

I should also mention that Splashy the Whale got banished to a very high shelf after the repeated soaking that the carpet suffered as dh didn't see the need to protect it with towels or anything. (High wool content carpets don't benefit from repeated soakings)

And whilst I'm ranting about toys...All those hide and seek toys (scooby doo, peppa pig) where you hide the cuddly toy and seek it out with a handset. Forget it unless you can guarantee that you won't for some reason abandon the seeking half way through and then be unable to remember exactly where the cuddly toy is. 6 weeks now and still no sign of it. We can't use the handset to find it because the batteries in the cuddly toy have run down and are no longer emitting any signal to aid the finding.

PlumBumMum · 10/11/2009 10:31

Must agree elefun is pants, they all come out in one go, very dissapointing,

Also those hair braider things Holy God unless you secretly like to torture your dds by trailling their hair out

BeauticianNotMagician · 10/11/2009 10:32

The roary racing car workshop is the worst item i have ever purchased.It fals apart constantly i spent most of christmas day putting the ramp back on.In the end i threw it away.It cost £50 as well.

Housemum · 10/11/2009 10:32

Avoid anything with cooking, or anything more than the most basic making stuff - DD has been givem so many craft kits that looked pretty but either they didn't go together properly or the tools were ineffective (scissors that didn't cut, glue that didn't stick)

We avoided the cupcake machine by buying some pretty cupcake cases and an apron - I am no Nigella but can manage to make fairy cakes.

Elefun is good - yes the butterflies go everywhere but DD still doesn't mind collecting them up (she's 6 and has had it since 3) so doesn't involve much effort.

Avoid games with lots of bits or complicated rules - eg Mousetrap, most film/TV themed games. Stick to the basic ones that work eg Uno, Monopoly (the board versions Junior & normal, "my first" with the talking car is a pain as the car comes off the track and you have to faff around trying to work out where you are or it says the wrong thing!)

I bought the coin maker after DD asked Santa for a coin machine - didn't realise till months later when she told me that what she actually meant was the one you stick the money in and get mini Cadburys bars out. Would have been expensive to refill but a lot less hassle! (Ironic really, I'd always wanted one as a kid and my mum said no)