I know it’s crappy plastic trash, but……

Interesting about Fisher Price, JenniferEccles.

We still have the little school - and most of the bits - it was a present to dd1 on her 1st birthday.

She’s now 45 and the school lives here for 3 visiting Gdcs to play with.
We also still have some of Dd2’s Barbies (she’s 42) and elder Gdd plays with them every time she visits. They are usually taken into the bath with her!

Yes, we still have our Sasha dolls!

I am sure that the main issue is durability and the ability to pass things on (like Fisher-Price). A few people do disapprove of Lego, but most of us are very happy to keep it for many years.
The problem with 'the latest craze' is that it may go to landfill a long time before Lego. But who knows? I bought a Millenium Falcon at a car boot sale over 30 years ago, and it is still treasured.

I have bought some 1970s Sasha vinyl dolls ( anyone remember these?
I've never heard of them - obviously DD couldn't have been aware of them, more's the pity if they are worth a lot now.

We still have a pile of Lego but have a DGN who might be interested.

Sindy sits at the top of the Christmas tree every year, she must be about 45 by now. She does have a lovely new dress which I made for her.

Oh yes it would have to be new for a birthday - and exactly what they had asked for! Definitely Granny privilege

Well say what you like about plastic but my new Sindy doll bought in 1960, was played with by my daughters along with their own new Sindy dolls and all them were played with by Granddaughter, so we got our moneys worth! They are all in the loft awaiting Grt Grandchildren.
However, I would buy what your daughter wants you to buy.

Good for you, Witzend.
What your granddaughter wants is to be the same as her friends. Yes, peer pressure, but also being part of the gang; no harm in that occasionally.
I refused to buy 'My Little Pony' for my daughter way back because I thought they were dreadful until I spent a wet playtime with a class of seven year olds, watching the girls busy combing , plaiting, jumping and doing all sorts of creative play with their Little Ponies. So she had one next birthday, loved it dearly and played with it for years, and I think it is still somewhere safe, out of sight.
(ps I bought a LOL doll for my almost -step -granddaughter, and I think they are equally awful too, but she was thrilled and it doesn't seem to have harmed her development.)

Well each to his own all I can add is my own children had all their toys second hand, presents and all and never knew the difference It was much better to have plenty of (second hand presents) than one new one
But it’s really up to you and if that’s what you want to buy her go ahead she ll love it
Don’t discount new things in charity shops or eBay many children get two or decide it’s not the right thing and we get lots of brand new toys to sell

I see we have some fun sponges around today. ?

I think when they are under 5 it is less important to be new but at 7 she would know. I had to travel to Berwick from Midlothian to get a 2nd hand Doc McStuffins surgery thing (probably cost half the price in petrol) then on to Livingstone to get another bit. DGD was 4 at the time though 5 now and delighted. DGS2 gets stuff from marketplace and eBay as DD2. can't afford new and he is perfectly happy as long as there is wrapping paper. He is just 4.

Let her have a little bit of bright plastic,just a little will satisfy her and then she can play with her wooden toys.
On DD instructions I bought GD a lovely wooden dolls house with wooden furniture and people. Other relations bought the Barbie Plastic castle guess which was played with most.
I find if you let them have a little bit they stop wanting a lot.
I also think it applies to a lot of things. Many years ago I taught a child whose parents were strict vegans. We found that chocolate biscuits and fancy crisps were disappearing from lunch boxes. Unfortunately, we had to spy on who we thought was the culprit, there the child was sitting on the school loo eating all the goodies they had stolen. When we told their mum she let them have a lit bit of something she did not agree with every now and then, the child was happy.

I think children should sometimes be given what they ask for. Not always of course. The whole thing about being the same as your friends is very important to a child even if not to an adult. No point in slavishly copying everything but I think some concessions are necessary. I still remember so vividly not having the same clothes or toys as my friends. The reason wasn’t financial either. I was just told “we don’t have/do things like that.”

I spend a lot of time and energy trying to avoid plastic. Perhaps you could not buy something else plastic that you would normally buy so as to offset.

This lovely gang of second hand dolls and their kit cost me £5 in a charity shop and were good as new (no hair cuts!) after a wash and brush up. (apologies to GNetters who've seen this photo before on another thread).

All that said, I'd buy her the beautiful new doll in a box. I had one as a present from my mum and dad and can still remember the joy.

Ooh, they're a well-dressed lot of dolls!

No doubt the new dolly will be recycled at some point and might even become a collector's item.

I just love to indulge my GC. Their time of reality check will come soon enough.

I buy both plastic and wooden toys for my grandson's. And would never buy second hand. They are children. For goodness sake let them have new toys. At least plastic toys can be washed if they get dirty . And to be honest both plastic and wooden toys last ages. Children grow up so fast let them have a childhood . Part of the fun of having presents is getting the things out of boxes.

I recycle and don't but many things in plastic but people take things to extremes when there is no need. Life is so short live every minute and stop stressing about none important things.

And before anyone jumps on me my husband died at 47 and never lived to see our children marry or know he has 5 grandson's. So worrying about plastic is futile.

Zoejory

Practically everything contains plastic. I doubt we would ever be able to live without it. Of course people will say they avoid all things plastic but they don't. It's impossible.

moralfibres.co.uk/11-surprising-items-that-contain-plastic/

Healthcare uses vast amounts of one use plastics, and how many of us are on multiple meds now?
After reading your link Zoejory I’d definitely buy the new doll.

I remember PollyPockets that my DD’s and then DGD’s loved and cared for, that took me ages to check all the pieces. Getting one of those, with odd shoes missing or half an outfit missing would not have been the same.
By the time I’ve driven round the charity shops to find what I’m looking for, and found one (probably with some of the bits missing) I’ll have done more harm to the environment than buying a new doll. Besides which, taking DGD’s shopping is half the pleasure for both of us.

I used to buy the plastic trash because that’s what they wanted. I have friends who feel as you do who just put some cash in a bank account and make their own cards. I just liked to see their faces as they opened their presents, they are only young a short while. I am very eco friendly myself and it went against the grain a bit, but that’s what I did.

One new plastic doll is not the same a buying her one every time you see her. It's a small indulgence. If you spend five minutes in a medical setting you will be appalled at how much plastic is continuously being thrown into the bins.
If you helped your granddaughter make a shoebox house out of recycled household bits, would your daughter feel less anxious about it being new?
You have to keep it all in proportion and remember you are one of BILLIONS on the planet. Enjoying your life is not having that much of an effect.

Be thankful your granddaughters aren’t in America. There the ritual is for grandparents to buy American Girl Dolls. This involves a visit to a store with children in tow where they even have grown women hairdressers to style the doll’s hair. Thankfully they were fully booked. You can also book afternoon tea for children and their dolls. Everything is designed to make the little ones want more and more extras.
With two overexcited girls I called a halt at around £400’s worth of purchases. My daughter in law orchestrated the whole production, insisting it was a “right of passage” experience. I felt conned into it.

I’m not anti 2nd hand at all, but not when there’s been a specific request for a birthday.

Several of the toys we keep here came from a local charity shop, including a big (plastic) Disney princess castle, which came with all the bits and pieces.. Just £8 - I bought it when dd1 was 2, so coming up to 5 years ago, and they still play with it at every visit.
The batteries (it plays Disney theme tunes) have yet to run out!
Bargain or wot?

I’m 62 and still have a couple of my dolls from childhood (in the loft). I just loved them ? I always have the environment in mind, recycle as much as possible, tweet companies to publicly shame them about excess packaging and consider what resources are used in manufacturing as well as in the product produced. That said, children deserve toys in their childhood and most toys are made of plastic. Remember soft toys, teddies etc, are made from Polyester, which is also terrible for the environment. Favourite teddies and dolls will often be kept for decades, sometimes handed down. (aside from the manufacture) It’s only bad for the environment when/if it ends up in landfill. What does your daughter think happens to all if the stuff she buys in the end. Let her have the doll. She may love it forever.

A difficult debate. Well made plastic toys can be played with by generations of children. We kept all my son’s Duplo which our granddaughters love and we’ve added to it with more Duplo and now Lego. I bought our elder granddaughter a wooden medical set. Big chunky blocks of wood. Nothing like the real thing. She doesn’t play with it.

I am shocked. Fancy giving your child a second hand birthday present if you can afford to buy a new one!

If your daughter really feels so strongly either about plastic or this particular doll, she should tell her daughter that there is no way she may have one, either new or used.

Her daughter will remember and resent all her life that she was not allowed this particular thing.

The child will be seven - it is a jolly good thing she has a Gran like you who wants to make her happy.

Just because something is plastic does not mean it's bad. Things we value can't always be made in wood or metal at an acceptable price.

Esspee

Be thankful your granddaughters aren’t in America. There the ritual is for grandparents to buy American Girl Dolls. This involves a visit to a store with children in tow where they even have grown women hairdressers to style the doll’s hair. Thankfully they were fully booked. You can also book afternoon tea for children and their dolls. Everything is designed to make the little ones want more and more extras.
With two overexcited girls I called a halt at around £400’s worth of purchases. My daughter in law orchestrated the whole production, insisting it was a “right of passage” experience. I felt conned into it.

??!

Though having said that, I have a sister and adult niece in the US, both very eco-minded - I couldn’t see either of them buying into this.

I’m reminded of a trip to LA Disneyland when dds were small, though, so it was ages ago - $$$ worth of merchandise everywhere you looked! IIRC we got away with a couple of things for each of them, one of which (I still remember it) was a large turquoise soft toy.

I also well remember younger dd, still only about 5, once we’d got into a cab ready to head back to the hotel, saying in a spot-on, loud American accent, ‘Let’s get the hell outta here!’

Where on earth she’d got it from we had no idea, but all of us, inc. the cab driver, nearly wet ourselves laughing.
But we certainly echoed the sentiment, before there was any more damage to our wallets!