avoiding crap toys

Dec 15

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The holiday season is always an exciting time of year in my home. While we are generally a family with few rituals or routines, each Christmas, my children look forward to receiving one special, hand-made gift, wrapped in plain brown paper, made by Santa’s elves, just for them.

I am a firm believer in the magic of wooden and hand crafted toys. One setback I face each holiday season is the dreaded onset of what I usually like to refer to as the “crap toys.”  The plastic, overwhelming, noisy, manufactured by the millions, toys usually delivered to us, from well meaning relatives. It is an artful struggle keeping battery operated mechanics and inappropriate video games out of our house, but in this season of giving, the struggle often feels like a battle. As these undesirable items infiltrate my home disguised in brightly colored wrapping paper, tinsel bows, and tagged: Love Grandma and Grandpa.

But how do I teach my children thankfulness for items I normally wouldn’t touch with a 10ft pool? How can I teach them to love the gifter while hating the gift…

Over the years I have devised a few strategies to intercept bad gifts before they happen. I share them here in the hopes that, if you are like me and wishing for uniqueness within the gifting frenzy, that you will find these tips useful in your quest for a quieter, more personalized holiday season.

Ten ways to discourage “crap toys”:

  1. Scare them with the statistics: lead, phthalates and PVC, chocking hazards, small parts, pesticides, fertilizers and other chemical used on conventional cotton… oh my!  The list you could give for possible risks related to most mass marketed, commercial toys could fill a book.  Educate your relatives prior to the gift-giving season! Instead of sugar plum fairies, fill their heads with recalls and hazardous warnings so they think twice before hitting Toys R Us .com.
  2. Remind them of their childhood. Ask them about their favorite toys, games, books from their youth.
  3. Ask them for time instead.  Time is always more important than the toy.  Set up a special play-date with grandpa, or ask the neighbor to take your son to the park instead of gifts this year.
  4. Talk about what your child is doing. Tell them how much she likes to color, dress up with your olds scarves, or play family games.
  5. Make them a list from a favorite store. Some stores do have a place to keep a gift registry, but for those who don’t, you can usually ask them to keep a list behind the counter.  The smaller the store, the more inclined they will be to help.
  6. Ask them to visit our school. Perhaps seeing the things they use here will be inspiring.
  7. Group goal. Choose a larger gift that several people might help purchase:  bed, bike, fancy stroller, etc.
  8. Start a new tradition. Ask them to draw a picture, paint a cup, plant a tree.
  9. Inspect the gifts first. Unwrap the gifts before the kids get it.
  10. If all else fails, just GET RID OF IT… This is a last resort, but sometimes I still do it.  It’s a busy time of year and the kids get lots of presents… the occasional “hmmmmm… I don’t know where your Buzz Light Year lazer gun went?” won’t ruin their year!

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