Thursday, June 11, 2009

Thought That Counts?

It is your child's birthday party. As the children gather and you scramble for your note pad to try to convince yourself that this time you will write thank you notes, your child opens the gift and squeals with delight. You are silently planning on how to either return the gift or hide it before your little darling opens the package:

Here are the top 7 most horrible gifts to receive:

(My sincere apologies to dear friends who may have given me the toys. You know who you are.)

1. Moon Sand. Is there anything worse? First of all, who thought to bring sand indoors? Color it? And make it available year round in the toy aisle? Damn you Moon Sand.


2. Complicated games. I know the box says 6 and up but I hate learning new games. I am not good at it and I am pretty lazy. Just stick to the classics. Please?


3. Whistles or other music equipment. I am a lover of all things music. But this has to be left to the parents to buy so they can only blame themselves. I gave out little whistles in treat bags to toddlers a few years ago. I am so ashamed.

4. Legos before you are ready. When I was first given Legos, I thought my friends hated me and wanted me to go crazy. I do not want a box with 200 parts in it. I will be the cleaner upper. No thanks! (We now love Legos and the boys usually pick them up themselves. But at age 5, ugh!)

5. Any sort of puzzle, game or figurine that you have to put together that does not come with a box. We are not good at keeping toys together. More work for me.

6. Water guns are pretty annoying. Until the kids are old enough, you are stuck helping them fill them up. Once they are old enough, you become the target.

7. Stuffed animals. My kids LOVE Webkinz. Other than that, stuffed animals are quickly donated to Project Night Night. A few have made it through to their beds. A few. The rest are donated, given to the dog or are used as in house footballs.




So as you can see, it is all about ME! Even if these toys bring hours of enjoyment to my children, I rate them on how much work it takes for me to maintain. So, please skip the Moon Sand, the complicated games and the whistles. With a little girl on the way, I am sure I will be able to add to this list. Please, oh please, no Bratz dolls or make-up for my toddler/preschooler. So, what would you add? I am sure every mom has her favorites.

9 comments:

Trooper Thorn said...

In fact, any 'craft' gift is a sure fire loser: wood burning, weaving, metal moudling etc. If it gets used once you are lucky. Or unlucky since you have to do all the work, then clean it up.

With a girl, be sure to ban bead-related gifts immediately, unless your vacuum cleaner is hyper powered or your floors are just industrial mesh screens.

GypsiAdventure said...

Moonsand rates at the top of my list and dart guns - only because there are so many darts to pick up that find there way into every part of my house. (On a side note..I usually share my pain with dart guns, only because the kids have so much fun!) :) hehe

Jessica said...

THANK YOU for the shout-out! I really dislike clothes as gifts. We have tons of items in the closet with tags on them...out of season, wrong size, UGLY, out dated...mostly bought by my mother-in-law :)

Anonymous said...

HA! loved this post. Classic. Oh so true.

Wouldn't it be cool if our kids were ok with just getting together to hang out? No need for presents and no need for those pesky goodie bags?

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

I so agree..that's a great list.

I always ask parents what the kids are into and we get whatever the MOM suggests. It's the only way to go.

MelKeil said...

Worst gift ever... the volcano kit given to my son when he was 6 from my sister in law. Found out later that she had re-gifted it to my son because it was too messy and dangerous for her son!!

Indy said...

Santa (aka me) brought the volcano kit. It is still in the baement unopened. I felt bad about it earlier today but didn't feel like opening it.

KT said...

Playdoh. Fast in the trash.

Avery Baker said...

Grateful for sharingg this

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