Every year we are bombarded with gift lists of the “must have” toys for the year.
Some are genuinely great toys. A lot of them are annoying. By new year they have become a distant memory, collecting dust under the bed. But there is another category, a very special category, these toys are often bought by relatives with no children.
I asked the blogging community to spill the beans, to share the list of toys that somehow get thrown out with the wrapping paper, the gifts the elf must have taken back to the workshop with him, toys that suddenly “break” and can’t be repaired.
So in no particular order, I present this years:
Top 32 worst Christmas gifts(what to buy your nieces and nephews)
Top of Mummy and Moose’ list is Kinetic Rock. I haven’t had the pleasure yet, but it does remind me of a Play doh set my brother bought my son.
For the darling little musician we have a drum kit as suggested by You Have To Laugh and Kelly Allen Writer an absolute smashing deal at £15.99 with free delivery. This would be perfect for the bosses son.
The source of Five Little Doves nightmares? Cry babies, both Five Little Doves and Tippy Tupps confessed to taking out the batteries. There are 3 to collect and they come with their own tissues to mop up their tears. Worryingly, one of the Amazon reviews suggests that the doll makes “sex noises”, so don’t say you havn’t been warned!
“Just add water”, I think that’s enough to scare any parent! Now according to Mymummyspennies, Aquabeads get everywhere! They are available in variety of different characters, reasonably priced, the perfect gift for an annoying co-workers child.
Mayflower blogs has another suggestion of a toy that gets EVERYWHERE: Kinetic Sand. Whilst I find it quite relaxing to play with, almost like a zen garden. Witnessing my children play with it is a whole different kettle of fish.
Everyonesbuckstopshere expressed a dislike for anything that requires her to do more work and tidying up. Craft kits, paint, etc. I’m quite sure she would be thrilled to witness this bumper Mister Maker Craft box being opened on Christmas morning.
Let it Go! Elsa has been on every little girls wish list for the past few years she most definitely made the list. Her singing merchandise getting a special mention. Might Mama Bear Blog recounts a particular Elsa doll that sings “Let it go”, said doll has one volume(LOUD!) her daughter has been known to press the button repeatedly so that dear Elsa never gets further than “Let it…Let it…Let it…” I fear we have a similar toy, Elsa’s musical wand, a design flaw in the wand makes it extremely top heavy and prone to being used as a weapon, I’m shocked its £17.99, I’m seriously considering getting it on Ebay!
Which brings us to last years must have toys, the two toys that were on the top of every childs list. Furbys and Hatchimals, parents were forced to pay ridiculous amounts on Ebay, stood in queues, sat in front of computers for hours trying to secure a Hatchimal. Many were let down on Christmas morning when they didn’t hatch as they were supposed to, some parents even had to go as far to performing c-sections. Emmys Mummy and Harrys too confessed to spending an hour with theirs trying to get her moneys worth after her children neglected the poor creature.
Edinburgh with Kids was lucky enough to be given 2 V-tech Singing Cows, these cute little cows are a source of torment, they are quite devious creatures: saying goodbye then 5 minutes later bursting into tune.
After spending a zillion pounds on batteries for a remote control robot, Teddy bears and cardigans had to tell Bear the Robot was broken. Said robot took a 3 large batteries and another 3 in the control.
The Cheshire wife questions musical instruments as a child’s gift.
Mummy of 5 miracles and Kate on Thin Ice both recommend the recorder. At only £4.75 and comes in a range of colours, this would be a brilliant stocking filler. Life is Knutts has a dislike for the “Toot. Toot. Toot. Toooooot. Tooooooooooot. Toot. Toot Toot. Toooot. Tooting” of whistles. The Home Makers Journal goes on to express her dislike for all mouth instruments; a breeding ground for kiddy germs and totally unnecessary as children are quite capable of making annoying noises without them.
Devon Mama questions why anyone would want to amplify her already noisy childs voice with a microphone/loudspeaker.
Mummy Cat Notes added a piano to the list. This keyboard one looks like quite an impressive gift for only £16.95.
Captain Bobcat brings 2 suggestions to the table: Ewan the dream sheep, the harp music and sleep deprivation are not a good combination. We had Ewan but he wasn’t a resident for long. He didn’t seem to do much for Josh and soon got tossed aside.
Suggestion number two from Captain Bobcat, something I actually did have on the Christmas list but have hastily crossed off, the Fisher-Price Code-A-Pillar. We now have it on good authority that it is noisy and runs out of batteries in no time.
My Monkeys Don’t Sit Still isn’t a fan of play-doh; it looks good on the box but soon all the colours are mixed and its a disaster. I must admit, I hate seeing the colours mixing too.
Our Fairytale Adventure has another noisy suggestion, Toot Toots, with their irritating songs and habit of setting of while trying to do the nap time room evacuation procedure. And thats not all, you need an engineering degree to put the tracks together.
Another “just add water” toy, the water doodle mat, a source of irritation for Household Money Saving, the kids just flick the water at each other and everything gets wet.
The Then There were Three household is lucky enough to have 2 sets of Peppa pig Musical instruments.
When you feeling nostalgic and have memories of Tom Hanks dancing on a giant walk on piano, do not be tempted to buy one. All About A Mummy has had to suffer the repetitive electro beads that have starting infecting her dreams. In case you are tempted, you can find one here.
Mumworthy suggested a large set of Crayons, which inevitably end up being used on an art project on the walls! With 150+ pieces this would be drive me mad. I would be finding loose crayons, felt tip lids and pencil shavings everywhere.
The Welsh Mum expressed a dislike for toys with glitter on, “it gets everywhere, if I really disliked someone I would send them an open bag of glitter.” I think I’ve found something particularly special for The Welsh Mum: A Glitter Tattoo kit.
A Strong Coffee shares my dislike for fake “Lego”, it doesn’t stick properly and results in many tears(mostly mine…..when I step on it)
Furthermore, A Strong coffee isn’t the biggest fan of Hama beads. Gee Gardener is still finding Hama beads 2 years on!
Isn’t this set good? 10, 000 pieces!
My brothers have bought my kids some great gifts, but they haven’t ever gone as far as this. Lets Go Somewhere Nice received a stink bomb kit! I hope my brothers know better than to do that!
Pip Milburn’s daughter was given a life size doll that has been named “big person”, Pip says its the scariest toy ever. I managed to find a 100cm doll on Amazon:
The Sleep Thiefs Mummy was first to suggest “paint it yourself” kits. I don’t think these need any elaborating on……
Mr Tumble and his creepy laugh can be heard in the Daddy Giraffe house, most often when the little one rolls over.
New mummy blog got rid of their Winnie the Pooh walker as soon as possible, that was one item not being stored for the next baby!
And in our experience:
Our kids have been given some thoughtful interesting gifts over the years. Many have already been mentioned but there are a couple that deserve special mention.
The V-tech bear, any toy that has the following in its vocabularly should be banned: ” lets sing a song for 30 minutes”. It doesn’t have an off switch and manages to start singing if you ever so slightly brush past it.
I recently saw Max Tow Truck on a local Facebook group, it was an absolute bargain. At that point I should have realised what I was getting myself into. He looks harmless enough but he does not shut up. I am counting the days till Summer, when Max will move to the shed and become an outside toy. But in the mean time, I will stock up on ear plugs and wine.
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