Toy shortage

One problem is that young children change their minds several times before Christmas depending on which advert they have just seen, so toys bought now may well be out of favour in December.

I agree about a load of plastic tat, but do remember having ordered the much coveted "Buzz Lightyear" for my then seven year old, panicking when it was announced that there had been a run on that toy and they couldn't be manufactured fast enough so many children would be disappointed at Christmas. Like many, I bought into all the nonsense, why do we? no one will die if we don't get our hands on whatever! Although whilst queueing in the Disney Store having picked up my pre ordered purchase and holding on tightly, I couldn't be persuaded to part with it when approached by someone who offered me 4 x its value

So many of us turn cartwheels at Christmas because we want to assuage any potential disappointment our children may experience. I don't imagine previous generations ever went to such lengths

We've still got our children's lovely wooden Brio train set. heaved along on two house moves now! Our grandchildren did like playing with it until a couple of years ago. Alas! after lockdown and they were able to stay again they both emerged from that hiatus with their individual I Pads, so that was that!

GagaJo
I agree with you that there are some really lovely wooden toys around.
We start well, wooden baby toys, wooden kitchen and pots and pans, wooden dolls house, little wooden pram, wooden farm, it’s all so lovely and wholesome, and then…..yes of course they want Barbies, and all the awful tatty rubbish that goes with her, a lot of people like playmobil, I find it excessively expensive tat, then there’s all the Star Wars and Spider-Man, and god knows what else, even Peppa Pig is all plastic rubbish.
What as loving grandparents do we do?

I have never bought plastic tat for my children and grandchildren. Many toys my children had were passed to grandchildren and I am sure my great grand children will have them....

What you might have seen was people buying up the toys to sell on eBay nearer Christmas at a great profit when parents cannot get the toy their child wants.
Any sign of a shortage and these opportunists buy up what they can to sell on all the time. That was what happened with hand gel at the beginning of the pandemic etc.

It would do the majority of families good to go without yet more plastic tat which is paid for with a credit card more often than not. Children have far too much these days. My neighbour was one to buy every single item her child listed that she may like about twenty years ago, instead of choosing three or four. She panicked if she was unable to get everything. My children had what we could afford and were never in a sulk on Christmas Day because they did not get the latest toy advertised on tv. They were always content. I remember watching the news once where a single mother on benefits had used a credit card to buy everything her toddler had pointed to in their Argos catalogue, for Christmas gifts. What a ridiculous thing to be speaking about on tv. She had no idea how she would pay for it all once the bill came rolling in. Children expect way too much in this day and age.

Zoejory- good grief- i would have too! My son, 22, is a big collector of Lego, always has been, but even he would draw the line at a £650 set, & he now does (mostly) buy his own! (His car didnt even cost him that) ?

Kids get too much anyway….good lesson if they don’t get ALL they WANT!

I'm so glad all my grandchildren are old enough to either tell me what they want, or for me to give them the money and they then tell me what they have bought. This year I am giving all my family money which is the part of a legacy from my DH. I don't feel like Christmas shopping this year even on line without him.

Yes but let’s be honest if you had young children you would be doing the same as the parents out shopping for Christmas. Because you wouldn’t want your child missing out. Me myself I don’t buy my grandkids toys I leave that to their parents. I buy my grandkids clothes. Pjs coats etc whatever parents ask me to buy. As for Blue Peter my mum made my oldest son tracylsland because couldn’t find one anywhere lol

I give my money towards my younger grandchildren lessons, maybe judo, theatre, etc whatever they choose. It helps the parents out and they remember me every week. Not that I am there to remind them.
The older ones chose clothes, footwear, or some they would like for their bedroom.

but what would they be missing out on, the chance to grow in compassion and not covetousness.
i remember hearing someone on the radio speak of his childhood xmas days.
his father was a doctor, and he and his sister were taken around the children's wards to greet the children and hand out gifts to them. this was done on xmas morning. they had to wait for their own presents. at the time it annoyed them, but as an adult looking back, he and his sister appreciated it.

The oldest two I give money now, I don’t think my daughter was impressed when I started that a couple of years ago, I think she thought it showed a lack of interest in them, but I was fed up with either getting it wrong, or being sent a link to exactly what they want and where to buy it, when they can do it themselves with the money I send them.
The next two, age twelve, I have told them I will only buy what they specifically request, I know where they like to shop, but still get it horribly wrong.
The youngest are at the toy stage, so a shortage of plastic toys will fill me with joy.

I was horrified when I went to our local tip to see the discarded toys. You name it - bikes, prams, scooters - I'm sure a lot of it could have been passed on, sold or put on Freecycle. It is shameful how much is bought and subsequently thrown away. Do people not heed the warnings about the environment? One of my children's happiest days was when they slid down our sloping lawn in a huge cardboard box. Hours of fun. Children should be encouraged to use their imaginations as that's how they have fun.

Josianne

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.

Yes, my ex husband made one which lasted for years! He was used to making models so knew that solid papier mache would not dry and so go rotten. Instead he created a frame out of chicken wire and just used papier mache on the surface. I saved tokens from weetabix and got all the toys free - it was the best present my four year old had and cost almost nothing!

Galaxy

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.

Yes I have to say I only recently perused Smyths and was a wow at te selection. I have done click and collect before there but never entered the labyrinth! Much better than toys r us!
But when I asked the lady on the till where the dinosaurs were she said over there with the boys toys.
I said you can't say that isn't it all gender neutral. She looked at me as if I was an alien. We were buying the dinosaurs fora girl indecently.

But I have to say I dont think a toy shortage will do any harm to any kids. It's the shops who will be missing out.
I am fine with buying a good present around £100 but I dont buy extras. No stocking fillers or tat and nothing for adults except money or vouchers it's too much.
We did ok as kids growing up in the 70s we were lucky but we didn't get or expect loads. Christmas has been spoilt for kids all being given too much some parents are ridiculous with it.
I wish I could go back to Christmas 1977 sitting playing with my Fisher Price village Mull of Kintrye on the radio and my lovely Grandma cooking dinner. I would thank her properly for giving me the best memories of Christmas and tell her that her and my grandad are always in our hearts foremost at Christmas.

totally agree Ethelwashere1 lets get back to simpler Christmases and be grateful for what we have or receive.
Lets help with Climate change or there won't be any Christmases to enjoy.

Our only wonderful Grandson was 1 last year, and our whole family went nuts. He was totally overwhelmed, and it took 3 weeks of a present or two ďaily to clear the pile. I am trying very hard not to go mad this year, clothes he needs, 4-5 books and a quality metal tractor for his birthday at the start of December and probably similar for Christmas...with a silly stocking, for which I need ideas. As many have said I don't want plastic rubbish, but items need to be safe for his age, inexpensive and fit in a stocking...

Shortage of plastic? Good!

Has anyone considered that these (mainly) women piling their cars with toys, may be shopping for a charity that gives gifts to those children who would otherwise have nothing?

If you haven't considered this, please do - because I'm one of those women (not in Newcastle, but a bit further south).

We buy as soon as we can before Christmas so that we can wrap and label each present with its content, and that is one of the many jobs done towards providing some Christmas cheer to those who would otherwise have none.

Next piling of cars will be Christmas food that can be kept in the freezer - but no doubt a thread will appear on here criticising that too.

You have no idea why those people were piling their cars, no idea at all.

Children get far to much anyway these days and once they go to school they don’t have so much time to play.
When I was a child in the 1920s and 30s we only got one or two toys at Christmas. I still have my baby doll from when I was seven. Because of shortages and lack of money after the war my husband made many wooden toys for our children and some of those toys, little cooker, ironing board, kitchen cupboard, train and lorry are now being played with by our great grandchildren. My son, 73, still had his teddy bear for which I had to pay five shillings in 1949.

a five shilling teddy in 1949 was a quality bear.

There were no TV ads to fuel ‘must-haves’ in my day - I’m sure that’s what gives the impetus to a lot of it.

I once had a shock lesson in the power of TV toy ads over children. A dd was barely 4 when we were stuck in an American hotel room for several hours in between flights.

Of course the TV went on, and there was an ad for a ‘Baby-Skates Doll - You Can Make Her Skate!’ It was just a battery powered doll on roller skates - you could almost guarantee that a child would lose interest after half an hour.

At least 6 months later, we were back in Oman where we were living at the time, and blow me, there in a supermarket was a stack of these boxed dolls.

DD’s eyes (she couldn’t yet read) lit up - ‘Baby-skates!’ I couldn’t believe she’d remembered after so,long.

Of course she wanted one, but no way - we never bought toys except for birthdays and Christmas anyway.

We buy vouchers for a visit to the theatre, childrens' farm etc as they are so expensive for a family to visit. We do a stocking for them but usually something like hair bands, small kaleidoscope, small Lego pack etc. Within the adult family we have Secret Santa with a maximum of £50.