PSA Don’t give gifts that require parent to do most of activity

[Anonymous]

My worst gift was when MIL sent us TWO gingerbread house kits for xmas, one for each kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I might be guilty of these gifts. My kids are good at doing them on their own. Last year I hosted a 10th BD party where the kids make a Kiwi crate robot for age 8+ and I was surprised that more than half of the kids couldn’t do it without significant help. We even had our kids build the same kit in advance as a “test” to see what steps might be confusing.

Only then did I realize other kids do not enjoy these kits or make them alone.

OP here. We ended up doing a science kit last night. We also opened and started the sewing project. I remembered that we used to have higher quality age appropriate threading projects when my older kids were younger. This kit was complete crap and I do think it was the lack of quality that made it frustrating for us all.

I am hiding this rainbow loom and hope she doesn’t look for it for over two years when she can do this on her own. I am not interested in doing this at all!!

DH and I wanted to do a no gifts party. My kids do love receiving and opening gifts.

My oldest has very advanced building skills and rarely required any help from us. He is very good at reading and following instructions. He was always good at legos from preschool.

And we do spend a lot of time with our kids. DH did the magic mixie with her. That also seemed to require help. I took a video of Dh doing the magic mixie with her and it was super cute. We did other crafts and candy and bracelet making. These last gifts were just harder and not something I wanted to do after a long week.

Oh my god, just have her watch a couple rainbow loom YouTubes. My kids love that thing!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I might be guilty of these gifts. My kids are good at doing them on their own. Last year I hosted a 10th BD party where the kids make a Kiwi crate robot for age 8+ and I was surprised that more than half of the kids couldn’t do it without significant help. We even had our kids build the same kit in advance as a “test” to see what steps might be confusing.

Only then did I realize other kids do not enjoy these kits or make them alone.

OP here. We ended up doing a science kit last night. We also opened and started the sewing project. I remembered that we used to have higher quality age appropriate threading projects when my older kids were younger. This kit was complete crap and I do think it was the lack of quality that made it frustrating for us all.

I am hiding this rainbow loom and hope she doesn’t look for it for over two years when she can do this on her own. I am not interested in doing this at all!!

DH and I wanted to do a no gifts party. My kids do love receiving and opening gifts.

My oldest has very advanced building skills and rarely required any help from us. He is very good at reading and following instructions. He was always good at legos from preschool.

And we do spend a lot of time with our kids. DH did the magic mixie with her. That also seemed to require help. I took a video of Dh doing the magic mixie with her and it was super cute. We did other crafts and candy and bracelet making. These last gifts were just harder and not something I wanted to do after a long week.

Why are you doing all the gifts in one weekend? Spread them out, crazy lady

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My worst gift was when MIL sent us TWO gingerbread house kits for xmas, one for each kid!

My MIL dud the same and kids had a blast!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My worst gift was when MIL sent us TWO gingerbread house kits for xmas, one for each kid!

OP here. We actually like gingerbread kits at our house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I might be guilty of these gifts. My kids are good at doing them on their own. Last year I hosted a 10th BD party where the kids make a Kiwi crate robot for age 8+ and I was surprised that more than half of the kids couldn’t do it without significant help. We even had our kids build the same kit in advance as a “test” to see what steps might be confusing.

Only then did I realize other kids do not enjoy these kits or make them alone.

OP here. We ended up doing a science kit last night. We also opened and started the sewing project. I remembered that we used to have higher quality age appropriate threading projects when my older kids were younger. This kit was complete crap and I do think it was the lack of quality that made it frustrating for us all.

I am hiding this rainbow loom and hope she doesn’t look for it for over two years when she can do this on her own. I am not interested in doing this at all!!

DH and I wanted to do a no gifts party. My kids do love receiving and opening gifts.

My oldest has very advanced building skills and rarely required any help from us. He is very good at reading and following instructions. He was always good at legos from preschool.

And we do spend a lot of time with our kids. DH did the magic mixie with her. That also seemed to require help. I took a video of Dh doing the magic mixie with her and it was super cute. We did other crafts and candy and bracelet making. These last gifts were just harder and not something I wanted to do after a long week.

Why are you doing all the gifts in one weekend? Spread them out, crazy lady

My kid’s party was actually a few weeks ago. These are the last of the gifts. The science kit was actually pretty cool.

The sewing gift is truly a horrible gift. My older child and I tried to do it but both got frustrated with it. DH is more patient and he has been sewing the project. DH actually said this must be a regift because no one would actually buy another person such a bad gift. I didn’t know he knew what the word regift was. lol DD and DH are spending quality time together. DD is watching DH sew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My worst gift was when MIL sent us TWO gingerbread house kits for xmas, one for each kid!

OP here. We actually like gingerbread kits at our house.

My kids love to decorate, too, but I can never get those walls and roofs to stick together with icing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My worst gift was when MIL sent us TWO gingerbread house kits for xmas, one for each kid!

OP here. We actually like gingerbread kits at our house.

My kids love to decorate, too, but I can never get those walls and roofs to stick together with icing!

I only buy the prebuilt ones. I also hate the ones where you have to assemble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My worst gift was when MIL sent us TWO gingerbread house kits for xmas, one for each kid!

OP here. We actually like gingerbread kits at our house.

My kids love to decorate, too, but I can never get those walls and roofs to stick together with icing!

Having the house with crazy walls is the fun of the thing in my house. We usually end up with triangles for walls because we broke the pieces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a kids party that’s not “no gifts,” you reap what you sow.

+1. The main reason I do no gift parties is that I don’t want guests to feel like they must bring a gift to attend. But another major perk is that we don’t wind up w 15+ crappy gifts.

[Anonymous]

You should have had fewer kids OP. You’d have more patience for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid whining and crying for us to sew with her, do this science experiment and do a rainbow loom with a million tiny rubber bands. Ugh.

Depends on the kid. Mine does rainbow looms on her own for hours on end. A friend at school taught her and it doesn't need "parental involvement" once you learn.

If you are so particular and feel so burdened, easy solution - say "no gifts"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should have had fewer kids OP. You’d have more patience for them.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid whining and crying for us to sew with her, do this science experiment and do a rainbow loom with a million tiny rubber bands. Ugh.

Depends on the kid. Mine does rainbow looms on her own for hours on end. A friend at school taught her and it doesn't need "parental involvement" once you learn.

If you are so particular and feel so burdened, easy solution - say "no gifts"

And to add - my kid is 5. It's a big hit with all her friends too. So it's not a weird present that anyone would think requires a parent the whole time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ant Farm

/ micdrop