19 parents share the one Christmas present they seriously regret buying their kids.
Holiday shopping for children is often a frenzy of crowded malls, 'batteries not included,' confusing pamphlets of directions, and pretending to be a mysterious, magical, old man with a team of flying reindeer...
The drum sets, the loud video games, the craft kit that covers the white living room carpet with permanent paints...it's easy to stumble upon a deep gift regret even when your child is overjoyed. So, when a Reddit user asked parents what they regret buying their kids for Christmas after trying to put toys together at 6 AM (3 mimosas deep) at the in-laws' house, parents everywhere were ready to share their pro tips.
1.
Got a call from my kids to pick them up because their new electric skateboards ran out of power. They're 9 miles away from home - Ghastly_Gibus
2.
A new guitar for our 14yr old son. He has a headset that plugs into his amp, but won't use it because 'then all my friends can't hear me' as he calls each and every person he has ever met since birth to personally serenade them the 4songs he knows how to play - EvieZeGreat
3.
Battery-powered Nerf guns. Ouch. - BlueVicious
4.
So.much.Play-doh. RIP my floors. - turnitdownanotch
5.
A tarantula and a big terrarium. woke up and the terrarium was empty - McBlemmen
6.
Noise canceling gamer head phones. Now I have to walk to him and make eye contact to talk. I forgot he likes being upstairs when I am always downstairs, I can yell all day but he can't hear me. So frustrating but liking the workout - HealersDeath
7.
Not a parent, but an aunt. Got my 2 year old nephew a full fireman costume so he could play dress up. Full suit, helmet, visor, plastic axe, and fire extinguisher that sprays real water. You know what else it has? A whistle. My sister is not pleased with me. - jenniferfey
8.
A Lego set for a 5yr. He threw every piece in the toilet causing it to get clogged - Dapiex
9.
A set of build-your-own dinosaurs, with mix and match parts. I've been stepping on lego dino pieces every 20 minutes or so for eighteen hours now. - Pennyem
10.
This floating ball thing that flies on it’s own and senses where your hands are. It looked cool on the box! And it is cool! They just didn’t say on the box that it sounds like a symphony of 100 dental drills while it flies around the house - [deleted]
11.
Just too much crap in general. He's 18 months old. I don't honestly know what we were thinking. He would have been ecstatic with like 3-4 things but for some reason we forgot that he has grandparents and so with their stuff + our stuff, our living room looks like a disaster zone. - Realsan
12.
My in-laws (out-laws) bought my 3 year old a Mickey Mouse that does the hot dog song & dance. It was cute the first 29,000 times but how’s its just plain awful. I suspect the batteries are going to die soon which is too bad. - all2neat
13.
I regret my in-laws getting my daughter one of those echo microphones. Dear god. She just wants to scream into it. - Moltrire
14.
Two daughters ages 2 + 4. 'LOL Dolls' - fun for 5 minutes, then the pieces all go into the bins with the rest of the itty bitty doll accessories, never to be touched again. So. Much. Wasted. Money. - MyJokesAreLame
15.
My folks got my son magnetic fidget balls. He wound up actually swallowing some after forming a necklace with them and forgetting they were magnets. Spent Christmas in the ER, then traveling by ambulance to a pediatric gastroenterologist 2 hours away to have them removed. Fun times! - Wolf19667
16.
Kinetic Sand. The stuff is actually pretty cool, but you give it to a three year old who loves play-doh, and the result is bright loose sand everywhere. - goode3790
17.
Got my 3 year old the game Connect Four. After a couple hours it's now the game Collect Four. - Kaizenno
18.
Puppy. We added a pet with open eyes and a plan. But not sleeping through the night and cleaning up multiple puppy-messes in the last 24 hours still hurts. - frnoss
19.
My in laws got my son a peekaboo Elmo that I will kill before New Year's, I'm sure. - mamagoose117