What do you do with extra Christmas presents?

vernab

My son recieved WAY too many toys for his birthday and Christmas.  Most of which he could care less about most of the time and I don't really like them either. 

We gave everyone suggestions that they didn't listen too.  We asked for wooden or cloth toys or books.  We recieved some books but mostly a bunch of noisy crap, that is taking up space in my living room. 

We sent some stuff to my parent's house and put some stuff in the attic for when he's older, but there is still just too many toys.  DS would rather play with the dishtowels  than with most of them anyway. 

So how do you a) deal with extra toys and b) get family members to actually follow the suggestions you give them.  I don't mind some toys obviously, and I've taken the batteries out of some of them.   It just frustrates me that we asked for toys that he can use his imagination and didn't get any thing like that.  TIA

mrs.jimbob squarepants

well it's the gift-givers money to spend so they get to give what they want, regardless of your suggestions. Whatever you don't want/like I would just donate or sell to a consignment store. Or store some away for now b/c he might be interested in them later or you can rotate them out once he gets bored with the toys he has right now.

mrsolsenk12

If you have a lot of toys that you know he won't play with, I would donate them to a woman's shelter or  something similar for children who need toys to play with. As for getting family members to listen to your suggestions...I still haven't figured that out. My MIL bought my then 18 month old a toy that said for ages 5 and over on it. (That doesn't include the toy golf clubs that say 4 and over that she got him last easter when he was 10 months old!)

Shayna0182

Way to be appreciative.  It's a gift for a reason.  If you truly don't like it, then I agree with pp, donate it to a shelter, and let another child play with it.  

cchill01

You can give up on getting people to buy what you want.  You can send links with suggestions, but that's no guarantee.  We made a ToysRUs wish list to help guide people.  But, I'd say 80% of her gifts were not things we asked for.  If there are things you'd really like him to have, I say return what you don't want and buy those. 

DD's birthday and Christmas are the same week, so we got tons and tons of things during that time.  I put about half of it away and we're going to open them on her half-birthday in June. 

glasgow_girl

Unfortunately, PPs are right, you can give suggestions, but can't really control how people spend their money.

Any chance you could return some? 

We have a huge toy collection now, some of which will be put up and rotated so that we don't have all her toys out at one time, just a selection.

If you can consign some, or Craigslist, great, if not, then pass it on.

asyph107

DH and I are like that too with toys. We prefer things that make less noise and allow for imagination. Our families have gotten the hint though. We do occasionally get toys that we would not necessarily buy. We are gracious and let DS play with them without the batteries. We have a few musical toys that we allow him to use with batteries. Additionally we rotate the toys he has access too weekly, putting some in the basement in a storage container and leaving some out, that way he is not overwhelmed and can pay attention to playing, rather than getting distracted by toys toys everywhere.

As for getting our families to understand the first few times we just asked politely if we could exchange a gift for something else. As long as you are nice about it most people would rather know they spent money on something a LO will play with and love, than a toy that will sit in the basement. Let me also say though that we would never do that with anyone outside our family. We would just keep the toy, see if he is interested without batteries, if not donate it to a child who will be. So just be up front but nice about it. Don't make it about what you want for you child but their development and interests.

Mis+Shapes

Unfortunately, DD received way too many toys at Christmas.  I donated some of them to The Salvation Army. 

NMAWALLACE

I feel two ways A) save the toys and let him use them later.  They are their gifts and they should pick what they want to keep.

DD received a ton of clothing and toys. I can't even get into her closet.  Some of the items are in my closet. As for toys, they are everywhere in my living room and I don't care. I'm a parent and she is a child having fun my house should look like a child lives there because one does.

 We made a gift registry and plan on doing it again next year.  People really used it and I was happy to get  appropriate toys for her.

shoeboxx

If it's something you don't like or want, keep it in the original package and either donate it, or return it to the store.  You can't really make people buy what you want them to buy.  Let's face it, most of us have purchased something for someone they didn't want...bought something that wasn't on a registry, etc. 

BMSmith

NMAWALLACE:

I feel two ways A) save the toys and let him use them later.  They are their gifts and they should pick what they want to keep.

DD received a ton of clothing and toys. I can't even get into her closet.  Some of the items are in my closet. As for toys, they are everywhere in my living room and I don't care. I'm a parent and she is a child having fun my house should look like a child lives there because one does.

 We made a gift registry and plan on doing it again next year.  People really used it and I was happy to get  appropriate toys for her.

 

This Exactly.

superaunt

wow, your family sucks for not spending their money (and time) in the manner in which you want.

trackchik6

Regift, return, or save for a rainy day.

shoeboxx

superaunt:

wow, your family sucks for not spending their money (and time) in the manner in which you want.

Hahaha...exactly!

DEBBIE33CASEY

I regift the ones that I can (to people who weren't at Christmas or the bday party) and donate the rest.  I put many gifts in toy drives this year that were 'extra' gifts from last year (but that also means I had to store them for a year).  Think about places like the Ronald McDonald house, United Way, etc.  Those places could always use more.

jesstibb

First, toys last a long time in terms of kids playing with them. Our kids are still really young. My LO wouldn't play with some of the toys she got at her birthday but now she loves them. She's really started to think about how to play with stuff so much more lately. That same toy that she plays with now she'll probably play with in a different way when she's 3. KWIM?

Second, get three tubs. Fill each with a group of toys. Have 3 puzzles? Put one in each tub. Three phones? One in each tub. Etc. Rotate a tub in as "active" every month or couple of months. 

MegGary

We got duplicates for Christmas so I gave them to her DC. It's a church run DC so they don't have the funds to always buy new. 

If that isn't an option, a shelter is a great place to give too.  

erino&chrish

shoeboxx:

superaunt:

wow, your family sucks for not spending their money (and time) in the manner in which you want.

Hahaha...exactly!

LOL-my thoughts EXACTLY!

MommyMich

Unlike a lot of people here, I totally understand where you are coming from!  My MIL goes totally overboard for every holiday/birthday and it drives me nuts.  My kids have gifts from DH and I, 3 sets of grandparents, 2 sets of great grandparents and countless aunts and uncles.  I appreciate that they all think of them and buy them something, but there should be a limit to their kindness.  When my MIL does Christmas for my kids, she acts like they are orphans and she is the only person in the world that buys them anything.  She actually buys them about ten times more than we buy them ourselves, and a lot of it is useless.  I have brought things to my parents house, donated, given things to other people and my kids still have hardly any room in their playroom to actually play... and it is a BIG playroom!  I have asked her repeatedly to tone it down and remember that they get presents from a lot of different people but she doesn't care, so I will continue to give things away.  It also annoys me because she overpowers every event.  At their birthday parties they spend 30 minutes to an hour opening gifts from JUST HER!  Last year I made her do her gifts separate from the party because it is not fair to the other guests.  And this is the same woman that never has any money.... but that is a whole other issue!

anna7602

Ditto previous suggestions for what to do with the overflow.

As for getting family to listen to your suggestions, I suppose it all depends on whether they're getting things without reading labels or because another child in the family had a particular toy and loved it or because they don't have any concept of space since they don't currently have 20,000 plastic toys all over their own living rooms.

For each one of these issues, there are different ways to deal. My mother was a huge offender on the "non-label reading issue." She has given my nieces & nephews and now DD numerous gifts that are simply not age-appropriate. She has gotten a little bit better at this after numerous conversations with me and my brothers about why the kids aren't playing with what she got them for Christmas. (We weren't trying to be unappreciative, but when she asks point-blank, where's the xyz I got your DD for Christmas?, I have to say it's in a closet because she isn't old enough to play with it and then I elaborate- it scares her or it has small pieces she can choke on or whatever the age-specific issue is.)

The space issue has also become clearer for my parents as they've spent more and more time in my home and DD's toy collection has grown. (I respectfully disagree with pp who says "your living room should look like a kid lives there." To an extent, yes, but when your ability to walk through a room is endangered, it's not ok to have a bunch of toys everywhere. This is why people with bigger homes make playrooms or put toys in the basement.) They are a lot better now about calling me when they want to buy a big toy when before they used to just buy it on a whim.