8 Things I Am Begging You Not To Buy My Kids

Like all kids, my little ones love presents. When birthdays and holidays come around they are so excited to open their gifts. As a parent though, there are a handful of things they receive that I wish they didn’t. And it’s not that I’m ungrateful, I just know how things will pan out in the end.

I will always and forever teach my children to say thank you and be appreciative of the time and money you spent to buy their gift, so they’ll never hear me say this out loud, but I wish you wouldn’t buy these things for my kids.

8 Things I Am Begging You Not To Buy My Kids

Things that require inflation. I can say with certainty that I will never blow it up. I can barely blow up a balloon and do not own an air pump for this occasion. Your gift will more than likely sit in the box until garage sale season rolls around next year. I’m just being honest.

I will add a caveat though, that if you stick around to inflate the toy yourself – either with a pump you brought along or your above average sized lungs – then you are welcome to buy as many blow-up toys as you’d like.

Yellies. If you haven’t heard, there is a toy this year that only runs on children screams. Yes, I’m serious. “The louder you yell the faster they’ll go.” This would actually be a pretty good gift for someone with a mother you hate.

Slime. We’ve been there, done that and have the stained carpet to prove it. They’re pretty much over the slime craze but if they see it they will for sure play with it long enough to ruin something.

Drums. Enough said.

A Kite. They really are a lot of fun if they don’t break first and it is a perfectly windy day. Chances are though, that thing will never fly.

Anything with sugar. I get it, you want to give my kids candy because they love it. But can I make a request? I won’t toss your gift right in the trash if you can keep it small and in moderation. Maybe just one sucker, not a whole bag of them. I’m fighting sugar intake every minute of the day and would love for you to work with me, not against me.

Things not for their age range. If you get something that says 12-24 months and my daughter is 4, she’ll think it’s for a baby and never play with it. If it’s for a 6-8 year old, it will require I assist her in some way every time. Stick with something that says it’s for the exact age they are at the time of purchase.

Lenticular puzzles. These are the puzzles that look different depending on how you look at it. “A lenticular puzzle is a puzzle that takes advantage of this type of lens to create an illusion. The illusion works by showing you a different image depending on the angle at which you view the image on the puzzle.”

Have you ever tried to put one of these together? Oh. My. Gosh. I bought one once thinking, that looks cool, and it was so not cool. My son couldn’t figure it out and it took me forever to complete it. I had to finish it at least once just to prove to myself I could do it, then I put it in the box and never opened it again.

I haven’t eliminated too many things, so there are still plenty of awesome gifts that don’t fall in these categories. No matter what you buy though, we will smile and say thank you every time.