Christmas toys

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A very fine Christmas was had by all. Dd and Ds had a great time, and loved all their presents. However, there is a special place in Hades for whoever decided that all toys now have to be attached by half a dozen or more ties, plastic tabs, bits of string an elastic bands. And what sadist decided that all the decorative bits now have to be put on stickers. Have these people never given a toy to an over excited child, who doesn't want to wait?! And as for the designer of the magic Merbaby water wheel, I would do things to him that Amnesty International would ban.......

Further to my "Playmobil" thread earlier this month can confirm that I spent a good 2 hours putting together the Pirate ship this pm.... then after all my bother all DS1 (3) wanted to do was shoot his baby brother (5 months) with the cannon, and I had to take it off him...

We went to MILs first thing christmas day and she produced a sack of presents for our DS (18 months old and her only grandchild). The first present was a transporter lorry with cars on the back and he was delighted and played with it straight away but then wasn't interested in the following 14 presents (14, honest) and eventually got a bit stressed about having yet another present placed in his hands for him to open and get excited about. We then had the same again at FIL's house but this time only about 5 presents but here we had the problem of DS being a tad tired and not prepared to wait while we undid the ties etc so I echo others thoughts there. My mum bought DS a kitchen much to the horror of my DH but once we put it together (I reckoned it would take about 10 minutes but it was nearer 45) DS played with it for the rest of the afternoon and every minute since so a big hit.

Least well received present by DS - Bob the Builder talking Muck (spooked him out for some reason)
Best well received present by DS - tie between car transporter and kitchen
Our choice of best present - Winnie the Pooh video as DS was unwell this afternoon and hard to please but sat transfixed for over 30 minutes and even DH and I enjoyed it.
Our choice of worst present - talking Thomas the Tank engine and friends because they don't have an OFF switch (and I can't blame anybody because I bought them!!)

What gets me is that you pay an absolute fortune for plastic xxxx - and then you have to put it together! 3 hours plus for the Playmobil zoo!! (Thanks dh) - even a crayola set of pens in a case was actually just a case with boxes of pens that I had to put in the right places. Does nothing come put together anymore?

Another tricky problem is battery operated toys. They so often have the lid over the battery compartment screwed down. Top marks for safety but they all seem to have minute screws for which you need the world's smallest screwdriver. Which of course, you can't find on Christmas day!

Take all the unwanted pressies back, get cash refunds and put the money into premium bonds! We didn't do this but looking back we prob should have done cos the small amount of money we did put in for DD has doubled due to her three wins!

Ah you'll find the screwdriver in the crackers!! Why else do you get the minute set of screwdrivers, if not for the kids toys!! We managed so many noisy battery operate things that I thought I would scream. My MIL buys so much that it is daft, my 3 yr old got a singing dancing hamster who plays 'Girls just wantto have fun!' And of course this became the hit of the day!!! Along with the two toy cars I bought the 21 month old for her stocking (£1 each!) , she went ot sleep clutching them Ahhhhh

One of ds best presents was a toy cash till I got in a jumble sale for 10p. I got him some toy money for 99p to go in it.

He didn't get anything really bad but the toy garage I asked for from my parents was a bit of a disappointment. It was a fake Lego thing and I really didn't want something that could be pulled apart. The pieces don't fit well together so it doesn't work well.

dd was ill unfortunately so couldn't care less but she's still a baby so hardly noticed.

Hard to believe, but this year now DS is 3½ has been the first year we've been cursed with plastic cr*p and genuinely faulty toys! I bought a battery operated loco for his Brio set off Ebay brand new and one of the wheels was faulty. That will be going back in the new year; his remote control Robot Wars Killalot model - the aerial had been stuck to the inside of the packaging so tore out when it was unpacked (still works ok if you're fairly close to it); the chainsaw and spinning disk weapons on the Matilda robot don't fit either. And the Hot Wheels track is so wobbly that the instructions actually recommend that you either tape it to the floor or weight it with a book!

Why didn't someone tell me 'Baby Born' is almost impossible for even a 6 yr old to operate on her own??? The plastic bottle is so hard that dd can't squeeze it enough to make the water go into the baby and then when I did it, the nappy was soaked in no time and I was all wet! Dd hasn't progressed to giving Baby Born the 'solid' food but apparently I'll have to clean it out whenever she does, otherwise it will grow bugs. Don't tell you these things on the outside of the box, do they?? Still, dd is delighted and that's the important thing.

But the worst gift of the year has to be the long-sleeved velvet top given to dd. Firstly, it will never be worn because it's far too hot for Indonesia and secondly, it's by Smarties at Nestle, whom I boycott with a vengeance!

MIL (the same one who bought me tea towels!) bought dd (7 months) a cuddly reindeer, polar bear, santa and snowman. Lovely - except they all say in BIG letters that these toys are not suitable for children under 36 months. DD's favorite seems to be the £4.99 stacking cups that I got her - oh and the wrapping paper mountain of course.

My First Leap Pad gratefully received by dd1(3) - we heard her playing with it in her room on Boxing Day morning - bless. I also made her a big 'craft box', filled with bits that I had collected for the last couple of months (pencils, stickers, glue etc) and she LOVES it.

Dd2 (10 weeks) gripped by the Fisher Price jungle lion but less thrilled with the Braun hand blender

Dp very chuffed with his Scalextric and is the envy of his friends!

plastic bits and bobs that take ages to fit together and thenm don't, instructions that don't mean anything, missing parts, tell me about them. We have an unopened box of some extremely complicated lego - unopened since christmas 2000, that neither my son, my dh or I can face tackling.

Best present for 3 year old ds this year? The mobilo construction kit I chose for him. His nursery teacher kept banging on about his fascination for mobilo and how he played with it for hours. A bell rang in my head. The chances of a peaceful christmas day were upped. I ordered some throught the nursery, easy peasy, no slog though the shops, and my ds had a great time making mobilo planes and cars. I will definitely be asking the nursery what his current toy fascination is when his birthday comes along.

Best other present - the cheap plastic hoop shooter that his older brother was given by dh. And the 10p truck that transforms into a robot, bought from the church fair.

Worst present? - in the short term, every book he received - just tossed to one side with the wrapping paper (for now anyway). Also, the Lego Exolorer make your own car kit. OK, it is for 4 years upwards and I should know by now to take note of recommended ages, but even so, there are only six bits of lego to construct, and a screwdriver, so imo not very exciting and rather fiddly.

Best present for my 8 year old? strangely not the beyblades. So far it's the Harry Potter gameboy game. Worst present,- the Harry Potter Magic set. It was on my ds's christmas list and we tried to talk him out of it and similar HP overpriced stuff but.... We haven't even opened the box properly yet. Just got to the wand - (faulty) so it will be returned to the shop.

what a good thread - hope someone remembers to revive it next november!

The beyblades and arena went down very well in our house and have probably been most played with. One of them was a hidden dragon one which from the instructions looked very difficult to put together - over 30 pieces, so I didn't attempt it until boxing day. Having struggled to make the dragon I thn found that the bey blade itself could be made up using just 4 bits! I had also tipped the whole recycling bin out to look for a small packet of screws for the same beyblade as DS1 said there should be a bag with them in and we couldn't find one. The screws turned up on boxing day taped into a little compartment on one of the frames for the push-out bits and pieces.

DD loves her fairy outfit and dressing up shoes together with her dolls.

Least liked are the 'don't touch the wire' game which is far too noisy and the paints that someone bought for DD (we don't do paints in our house - that's what they go to playgroup/nursery for!)

DS1 loved his Plan Toys pirate ship and DS2s Plan Toys ark which were involved in several collisions over the christmas period.

Worst present: DS2s complete Mr Men library. 43 books, all of which he wanted read constantly and all of which were too long for him to listen to right through to the end. And yes, I bought them for him.

Also the ELC fort and farm were very well received except all the wooden animals for the farm were held in by, yes you've guessed it 400 plastic ties Last year I opened all the things I'd bought them and took all the ties off ready for christmas day. I will certainly be recommending all family members do the same next year.

No piles of plastic c* this year oddly enough.

Best present : Brio road and rail set. Even better for me as I cop out and tell ds that dp is the engineer so he'll put it together for him, so dp spent all day putting it up, putting it away (when ds got distracted with something else) then putting it back up again ha ha!! Also the Tonka dumper truck and digger that dp was determined to buy him. The bloody thing is huge and kills when you trip over it.
Worse present : Xylophone and not because ds keeps playing with it but dp does. There are only so many renditions of Twinkle Twinkle I can take. Dp is not musical at all.
I was swearing about all the plastic tabs etc as well made even more difficult by ds keeping hold of present and trying to pull it every so often. On the battery front though we were lucky my Dad gave us enough batteries to last all year. Ds is also quite taken with his Leapfrog thing.

MandyD,

• what? what? Is this anything to do with Roald Dahl's Matilda? Reminds me of the revolving knives and channels for the blood in Monty Python's architect sketch! Please explain it to me!

Not exactly a Christmas toy but my kids got 'secret' letters from Santa written in invisible ink. They were a huge hit.
Here's how to do it....
Take a sheet of paper and burn around all the edges with a candle being careful not to set the house on fire. It now looks like parchment.
Next, mash an onion with a little salt, difficult but who said magic was easy?! Squeeze the pulp through a tea strainer and you will have onion juice. Using your finest eyeliner brush, write 'Santa's' message on the parchment, very difficult but it is invisible ink. Roll up the parchment and tie with a red ribbon.
Next morning when the kids pull this out of their stocking explain that it is a letter from Santa at the North Pole and needs defrosting. Hold it close to a glowing fire and watch the writing appear! (ironing it works just as well)
My kids stared in amazement and wonder and couldn't believe their eyes!

The House & family, for their ELC Happy Street, also the School & playground, were well played with. The Playmobil fort & pirete ship, were pretty good as well, but as ever it was the cheepest things that have been the real favourites, whoopie cushions x2 99p each, and the real fav. toys, torches x2 99p from woolies.
My 4yo ds twins have fallen asleep every night clutching them..... and I creep in and look at them, so sweet !!!

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My two and a half year old dosen't beleive in Santa. I work in a very busy toy shop and I realised that my son would become more aware of comercialism early but this is ridiculous. He knows toys come from 'mummys shop', he tells everyone at playgroup this and the other mothers aren't impressed with his stark knowledge. He dosen't like Santa and wants all his toys from the shop, help! how do I turn this situation around?

My two and a half year old dosen't beleive in Santa. I work in a very busy toy shop and I realised that my son would become more aware of comercialism early but this is ridiculous. He knows toys come from 'mummys shop', he tells everyone at playgroup this and the other mothers aren't impressed with his stark knowledge. He dosen't like Santa and wants all his toys from the shop, help! how do I turn this situation around?

pamT I take my hat off to you - I don't go near beyblade instructions - that's left to ds and if he can't do it, he asks a friend. Yet you put together a 45 piece dragon's head and beyblade together - did you have time to cook christmas dinner as well or did someone else step in?

batters, re Harry Potter wand and magic kit - it gets worse! We exchanged the kit yesterday only to find the new kit had a part missing. We have now talked ds out of getting another replacement and having the money instead. Even he could see the plastic and cardboard contents were ludicrously overpriced and unlikely to last 10 minutes. 'The similarity with Gilderoy Lockhart and his empty promises sprang to our minds.

tigermoth

I was contemplating buying the HP Magic kit for my son who will be 9 in Feb. Some of the HP things are half price in Woolworths.

I take it I would be wasting my time and money from your comments here?

HI kk girl, we give the HP magic set a thumbs down, though if it was half price or less might consider it. If you go ahead, watch out for the tiny screw that holds the battery packs in place. It is a B*** to get off. Also be aware that the wand takes FOUR triple A batteries. Magic doesn't come cheap!