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

So to sum up, Avoid these if at all possible

You have been warned

Any food making plastic kit such as
Ice cream maker
cup cake maker
marshmallow maker
candy floss maker
cookie maker
pop corn maker
mr frosty
sweetshop

Any beads such as
bindeez
aqua beads

Any sand
moon sand
aqua sand

And in no particular order
Dr who tardis set
new guess who
tesco pirate prison
dinosaurs in plaster
science museum starscope
thomas jet engine
splashy the whale
girlie password journal
barbie candy glam

Go go hamsters? unsure but as they have sold out anyway, maybe a lucky escape.

The MN jury is divided on Elefun but I would add it to the crap list.

Its a joint first prize for shitest toy to
The Golden Coin Maker
Mousetrap

Please add any new recomendations, and save me from a christmas feeling I have just been fleeced of £30 and filling the landfill with plastic crap.

we have had -
golden coin maker - shite
cella sticker maker - shite
ice cream maker - shite
candyfloss maker - shite
elefun - shite
super badge it - almost shite.
spriderman web blaster (several diff ones) - mostly shite.
bubble gum machine - shite and broke same day)
top gear game - too complicated
celeb in jungle game - too complicated.

no doubt i shall be buying loads more shite this year. Have just ordered gross magic for starters which is bound to be shite.

May I stick up for lego games - ds got the minotaur game for birthday and adores it we have to play it twice a night . is like Ludo and frustration but actually good fun! PLUS (and major thanks to lego for this)it stores in its box so doesn't need any complicated dismantling....

zanzibar - i will not rest until I see Anything Hotwheels on that list too

Dd1 kept on for the play dough ice cream shop last year, i had to hunt one down as they were out of stock in most places, she played with it once, it was nothing like it was on the tv add, dd1 could not push the play dough out and when it came out it looked more like dog poo than ice cream. .

Also Ellefun, it didn't seem powerful enough to blow the butterflies out and ate batteries, another toy that got put to the back of the cupboard on boxing day .

We have gone for playmobil this year (you can't go wrong with playmobil).

I can second all wretched games that involve building with multiple bits of plastic - we have them all: Mousetrap, Rumble in the Jungle, Ratatouille and the list goes on. I hate them with a passion and childless SIL thinks they are ideal [argh].

AH, you see mollyroger Hotwheels keeps both Ds and Dh entertained for hours, and as an extra bonus in another room.
So I veto hotwheels.

Now I love Playmobil But have you seen the 100+ pieces the Pryamid comes in, all to be put together before Dc get to play with it.

I will keep it off the list but with a big red flag warning.

Open up box and set up on christmas eve.

Minotaurus (the Lego game) is very good I agree...

YOU are truly blessed Zanzibar - I have had my stepdad - a trained army electrical engineer - in tears trying to put together hotwheels sets... and get them working.

Agree about mousetrap, it takes forever to put together and the toilet cardboardy thing is crapola, it is now broken. However have just seen on ebay they have bought out the old version again, the one you build as you play, which was much more fun - they have it on amazon too, I wonder if the bits are more plastic tatty than the 80s version tho, anyone got it?
UQD - shit, just bought that planetarium thingy for godson, thought it looked good. crap!
Another vote for moonsand here.
Lol at the cupcake reviews

I never set up playmobil, my children do that!

Hate Mousetrap - waaaaay too fiddly
Hair braider - practically scalped my dd with that one
But really hat magna beads, they DO NOT WORK, you can't thread them, you can't store them, rubbish.

Aqua beads great though!!

Oh fucking elefun. The highest-input-for-least-reward toy ever invented. I hate it, DS adores it. I've furtively hidden it several times only for him to plead for it. I hate crawling around trying to find all the bastard manky butterflies and stuff them in, fiddle with the tube, mend the blardy nets because they always come apart, then woohoo! 5 seconds of half-assed "fun" and the torture starts all over again

I also hate a stupid star wars toy ship that is the worst quality crap ever, it has parts that are supposed to fit together but actually don't and constantly pop off and have to be fixed, plus little harpoons that you shoot out of the front and that immediately blend in with the surroundings and have to be searched for for 45 mins. Aaaaarrrrggggghhhh! When you can get quality like playmobil and lego, why would you buy this shite?

This thred is worrying me! DS is 22 months so can't ask for anything luckily but I want someone to tell me honestly if

1. Remote Control Thomas the Tank Engine
2. Postman Pat Laptop
3. ELC Thomas wooden table
4. That bubble machine from ELC

any of those are going to end up on this thred next year as I was going to get them for him Be brutal I can take it!

Interesting re: Elefun. We have a cheapy version that's a big fish instead of an elephant, and.......

......... it works pretty well.

Had it a couple of years, and dc still get it out every so often.

I would also add to the list:

Operation - flimsy cardboard facing that just overhangs the plastic holes so it's impossible to get the bones etc out. And I mean really impossible.

And new version of Buckaroo, with 2 swanky settings. First setting means if you breath on it, it goes off. Second setting means your entire family can pile onto the donkey's back and It Will Not Buck. Why did they have to improve ruin it?

Can I add Bendaroos, useless.

My dd wants the biscuit cutting decorating thing, probably useless, one for someone else to buy.

Golden Coin Maker - you have to hurry it along in the microwave to make it bearable (not in the plastic thingy).

Moonsand, OK but not in a carpeted room.

Bindeez, complete waste of money, the ones you iron are better, can't remember the name.

DD asked for the cupcake maker, I suggested we use Mummy's oven instead, I have enough underused kitchen appliances without DD adding to it

My tactic is to not let the dcs watch tv with ads, ban Argos catalogues and similar and then brainwash advise them on things to choose of my liking!

Can we add Mummy Make Me Better Chou Chou to that list? She doesn't get better. We had no end of tears from DD who couldn't understand why she couldn't make her baby's poorly go away .

Bindeez - yes, completely useless. DD got loads last year for b'day / Christmas, and they stick for, ooh, 5 minutes, if that...

Baby Born horse & carriage. Way overpriced, the arm bits for the carriage keep popping off, and the horse doesn't move!!! If you buy the horse on its own it neighs, but not the (more expensive) one supplied with the carriage!

DD has been after the Golden Coin Maker for a few years, and various heavily advertised cupcake makers / icecream makers / glorified blenders... thankfully we've not caved in yet!

We've just bought that Tesco Pirate Prison game for DS's friend's birthday. I guess his mum will be cursing me now .

And TeaOneSugar, I've bought DD a bumper pack of Bendaroos for her birthday on Sunday, thought they looked quite good! Oh well, I'm prepared for disappointment (again)...

Yes, aqua beads are truly awful, dd's have hardly been able to ake anything at all and I think all 1200 beads have been evenly distributed all over the house now and the worst bit is they resist being hoovered. Just won't go up.

I do really like the look of the Operation Game, anyone bought that lately?? Does look different to the 80's one I remember so fondly, though.

oh arse. i have bought dd aquabeads for xmas

Hungry caterpillar board game - never could work out the rules, little boxes to collect pieces in fell to bits immediately and irretrievably, spinner stuck all the time.

ScattyKatty - the wooden table is expensive but can be used for other stuff (haven't got one but friends do, and I do want one)

Bubble machines, well they love them, i love them, but we have 2 broken ones in the cupboard (i keep thinking i can repair them [hmm).
My tip? always empty them, even if it means pouring bubble mixture down the sink; once it sets, and you forget and press go, it can snap off an arm.....

Don't know about the others, yet.

I'm thinking about:

• the Mack playset (Lightning McQueen/Cars)
• the ELC rockstar guitar

but haven't got them yet.

Have played safe so far with a variety of cars, trucks, emergency vehicles & DVDs.

OMG I had Mousetrap as a child and it WAS shite!!! My DS is two and so far have not had any 'bad' purchases. Am sure that once he is old enough to start 'wanting' things it will happen to me too! I am loving this thread by the way xx

Polly Pocket Race to the Mall - Absolute carp!!! Takes Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long to build and then the cars get stuck.

Password Journal - never worked properly. We had 3 after returning them and getting replacements. None of them ever understood the passowrd! More fun would have been had burning the £20 note used to buy it with.