how to ask for non-commercialized/t.v.-related gifts - Page 2

[Maela]

I get a couple of catalogs of natural toys and take it to the grandparents' house (we see them about once a week) and browse through it while I'm there.  They inevitably want to see what I'm looking at.  ;)  It works REALLY well for my ILs, but not so well for my parents.  My mom will just go out and find cheap, plastic versions of what we were looking at in the catalogs.  My parents always say, "But really we didn't spend that much money!"  But that's not the point!  I don't care how much or little you spend.  I'd rather quality over quantity!! They don't get it.

[tzs]

ugh!!!!! i had totally been following this thread and now we just got "little people" for chanukah! i'm not anti-plastic, we just got a playmobil thing from my parents and i love it and i would totally take cheap versions of good toys. 

sorry....just had to rant. "little people" (unless they are the vintage ones) are a pet peeve of mine.

[GreenGranolaMama]

Originally Posted by Maela 

I get a couple of catalogs of natural toys and take it to the grandparents' house (we see them about once a week) and browse through it while I'm there.  They inevitably want to see what I'm looking at.  ;) 

This is a great, yet subtle idea : )

[simplicityissanity]

Any good suggestions for catalogs? A lot of toy companies seem to be online only now days....(not saying that's a bad thing, I just really like the catalog idea!)

[Maela]

Originally Posted by simplicityissanity 

Any good suggestions for catalogs? A lot of toy companies seem to be online only now days....(not saying that's a bad thing, I just really like the catalog idea!)

This one has plastic and battery toys in it too, but they're so many creative/use-your-imagination toys, and I really like that. 

http://www.hearthsong.com/Toys_And_Games.html

Magic Cabin

I know I get one or two more, but I can't remember them right now...

I usually don't like getting catalogs (waste of paper IMO), but for this, I love it!

[elus0814]

We used to get tons of plastic junk that was hardly played with, we still do from some people. Once we had our third child we had to do something about it and now with a fourth we have no choice but to ask for specific things. Compounding the problem is our families, who only want to give toys and more toys. Four kids times five gift givers who will only buy toys equals a ton of junk. Luckily we have a large house and have room to box up rotate out excess. In the past year we have gone from the plastics to wooden and natural toys. Most of our family members won't buy from places like nova natural because they think everything is too expensive for what you get - apparently spending those $20 on a big junky toy that gets 20 minutes of play time is a much better value than using that money on a single ostheimer animal that will gets years of use by all of our kids. 

The amazon wish list has helped so much. Amazon carries spiel and holz stacking toys, camden rose items, stockmar crayons, and plan toys. You can also set up a universal wish list where you can wish for things on other websites. We've wished for things like museum memberships.

[GreenGranolaMama]

Originally Posted by simplicityissanity 

Any good suggestions for catalogs? A lot of toy companies seem to be online only now days....(not saying that's a bad thing, I just really like the catalog idea!)

Nova naturals has a catalog (and a website as well), DH and I ordered Ds a few things from them for Christmas this year 

[tjlucca]

Originally Posted by NevadaMama 

Originally Posted by FloridaBorn 

We are also TV-free, and while I did email a "wish list" type email to folks we're close to, I didn't specify against cartoon characters because it's not really an issue yet for my 4 month old.

My MIL lives nearby and she has a HUGE big screen TV.  I hate the fact that it's always on and how I feel like I have to talk over it when I'm there.

Anyway, here's what I wrote in the email:

Please remember that Jim and I are choosing a natural approach to parenting and we would like to avoid the overuse of plastic toys.  If you can find wooden or cloth items for her to play with, that's awesome!  Items that might overstimulate her (blinking, beeping, or battery operated) will be returned or donated to Toys for Tots next year... you have been warned!  ;)  Some websites that might interest you when it comes to natural toys are:

Article on why to choose natural toys -- http://www.superpages.com/supertips/natural-toys.html

My favorite online toy place -- http://www.novanatural.com/

This site has a special section for toys made in America -- http://www.magiccabin.com/welcome.asp

There are so many parents who work at home and make their own toys.  Etsy is a treasure trove for these items... check out this seller's puzzles!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/justhatched

 

We did the same thing for our parents - worked for mine, DH's family was insulted. MIL called us very snippy and said that if she couldn't go to Wal-Mart to buy toys then she wasn't buying any at all. I was nice and patient and told her that that was fine, DD is still little and doesn't need much anyway. I told her if she'd still like to buy things for Christmas to focus on clothes and board books. We'll see what Christmas morning brings!

On the bright side, my dad and stepmom ordered DD some beautiful blocks, a walker, and Ruskovilla woollies from Nova Natural. Yay!

We have been through this. We tried a "wish list" but MIL wasn't going to have it, or she forgets, or it's passive -aggressive, probably a combination of all of that. Now we trying to get together with in-laws for a big family meal at MIL's on a different day and not do any gifts at all. Just a big get together, then we can do our own thing on Christmas and they can do their Commercialized consumer crazy HUGE gift thing. We'll see how it goes. DP and I are trying to emphasize that getting together with family is what is important and that is what we want the emphasis on for DD. Then we can buy whatever toys we want ourselves. None of the angles we tried were effective with the toy thing. Best of luck to you Mama!