Toy shortage

Our extended family put a ban on plastic tat some years ago. Christmas and birthday gifts for the grandchildren consist of age appropriate wooden puzzles, hand crafted items purchased locally (might cost a bit more but well worth it) gift cards for the older ones to choose clothes, books etc, experiences - and there are loads available for all ages.
Each autumn the parents sort through the early years toys which are cleaned and either gifted to a women's refuge charity or sold on - kids tend to grow out of bikes and scooters and we have always managed to get a few pounds for these.
Growing up, I don't ever recall having piles of presents and never felt the pressure to purchase lots of things for my own children. Maybe this is why they have the mindset now to buy quality over quantity; that and a desire to protect the planet from so much plastic.

I sincerely hope there will be a shortage of plastic tat, also a huge shortage of anything to do with electronic games, we have three young children living here, and believe me, if they didn’t get one more bit of rubbish, they would still have too much.
I begrudge them nothing, but I hate this trend of them making a list, and all of us falling over ourselves to buy every last item.
When our children were young, a list was just for ideas.

Sara1954

I sincerely hope there will be a shortage of plastic tat, also a huge shortage of anything to do with electronic games, we have three young children living here, and believe me, if they didn’t get one more bit of rubbish, they would still have too much.
I begrudge them nothing, but I hate this trend of them making a list, and all of us falling over ourselves to buy every last item.
When our children were young, a list was just for ideas.

Totally agree, the list my children wrote was purely for ideas, no way were they going to get everything. This has brought back memories of looking through the Argos catalogue with my children to get ideas.

Teacheranne
It’s now the Smyths catalogue, I bin it the minute it lands on the mat.

Sara1954, my grandchildren just peruse the Internet and give me their ideas.

One of which was a £650 Lego kit

I've told him to save up and get that one himself!

The smyths catalogue is a thousand times better than the argos one, which presumably is why most of the argos stores are closed.

I know my grandchildren have got far too much anyway and certainly going without a few extras this Christmas will not do them any harm at all

Good news in my opinion as China is the world's largest toy producer and exporter. It is estimated that approximately 80% of all toys produced worldwide are made in China.

So I'm boycotting Chinese plastic tat.

Galaxy
It’s too good, there is so much in there they can’t live without.
Zoejory
Normally I would be happy to buy Lego, but I might have to draw the line at that!

I like Smyths, it's a good toy shop, Toys R Us was awful, again probably why it went bust. Oh I mean other than the pink girls aisle that's just awful but most shops do that kind of nonsense.

Shinamae

I know my grandchildren have got far too much anyway and certainly going without a few extras this Christmas will not do them any harm at all

I totally agree!

Children have way many more toys than when I was a child. My gc have so so many as do all their friends. Far too many that they don’t get the joy and appreciation which we did so they miss out in that respect. As regards Christmas it has long been the case of certain types of toys selling out way in advance. It is up to parents to be strong but they don’t want their children to be relatively deprived as it is called.

There are some children, however, who won’t get many if any presents this year. It is a sorry state of affairs.

Maudi

Good news in my opinion as China is the world's largest toy producer and exporter. It is estimated that approximately 80% of all toys produced worldwide are made in China.

So I'm boycotting Chinese plastic tat.

I have been doing this for the last few years.
I buy British or European only, or don’t buy at all.

Every year!
Like you Teacheranne, does anyone remember making a Blue Peter Tracey Island with papier maché because there were none left in the shops, circa 1989? Ours was a brilliant copy for a while until it started to stink and the dog chewed it up!
Smyths is probably where I will grab some bits.

My grandchildren have had a massive clear out this weekend, and to be honest, the amount of things never opened, or possibly used once is shocking.
We have two birthdays before Christmas, and I really think we need to have a serious conversation about what’s needed/wanted and what is completely superfluous.
We all like to spoil them, and Christmas probably wouldn’t be Christmas without a bit of tat, but if it’s in serious shortage, I for one will be thrilled.

The Smyth’s catalogue arrived Saturday morning I have an overexcited 6yr old GC turning down pages.

Christmas is magical for children for just a few years, our GC (and AC) do get lots of gifts they are normally Lego/Duplo, computer related or bikes/scooters. We have cut down on plastic tatty stocking fillers over the years.

My son & his OH have announced they're limiting the nieces and nephews gifts to £20 each - oh thank you so much!!
The first few birthdays & Christmasses with the grandchildren, at least the elder 3, just seemed like the Jones's outdoing everybody else, and I just couldn't have given 2 hoots about it. But that half of their family were like, 'Oh we gave this, and paid xxx for that' blah, blah, blah. And half the toys went unplayed with simply because the children had far too much to notice it all!
We paid what we could and got the children to give us ideas, and we still do this and they appreciate it more!
You don't need to buy the most expensive toys, or the biggest toys. It gets worse each year, and all the fun has disappeared from it!!!

Ethelwashere1

Do you think Fenwicks will be doing their windows this year?
It used to be such a treat when my mum would take me to see them when I was little!

It was on last year, first year we didnt go, I think there was a booking system for viewing. I love fenwicks window.

I remember the delight of my children on Christmas morning, there was something special, BMX bike, dolls pram, Lego, things they really wanted, then I would fill a stocking each with things like books, games, gloves, bath bubbles etc
You can hardly squeeze into our sitting room on Christmas morning now.
I know I sound like a miserable old cow, but I just hate the waste.

We no longer buy anything plastic that is new, for my DGS. He does have some plastic toys but they are all 2nd hand. We actively look for things that are made from natural materials and to be honest, most of his toys are educational.

Melissa and Doug make nice wood toys, as do Galt. And Facebook market place is great for reselling/giving away to recycle or for buying locally.

The favourite ‘toy’ for my kids was a large cardboard box big enough for them to climb in. Hours of fun decorating, painting and sticking things on it.

Well there’s no shortage in our charity shop and the biggest sellers are wooden toys we don’t get so many in but they go out very quickly and obviously we get more for them

My daughters will be thrilled if there’s a shortage of plastic tat!

Our youngest grandson will be two next week.He has all the toys that have been passed down from his sister and cousin so needs nothing!He will get some toys from his little friends I’m sure but like many others as a family we have decided no more piles of gifts.A few nice toys chosen by their parents for us to buy and money for their bank account is our way forward.