Bouncy horse for a 5 year old

[velochic]

Dd turned 5 in February. My father and step-mother try SO hard to buy gifts that they think we will approve of. They really do, and have the best of intentions in their hearts and are very kind and loving to dd. They are getting up there in years (70) and my step-mother never had kids. I grew up in an era when Dads weren't involved with their kids. They're pretty much clueless about gifts, (very mainstream), but they try with all of their hearts. We end up with a lot of Wal-Mart clothes and plastic toys, still. The small things can easily be given away.

They bought dd this bouncy horse that she is totally uninterested in. Moreover (this is an aside), it's HUGE and I have no place to put it. Step-mom says, "Just put it in the the middle of the living room." Well, we are minimalists and very clutter-free and everything has a home. I'm not going to start cluttering my house with things like this. I put it on our deck. Dd is outside every day and she ignores the toy.

I think another child might get more use out of it. Dd couldn't care less about it. I want to get rid of it so that someone will put it in their house (and not get rusty) and it won't end up in the landfill. But I don't want to hurt my dad and step-mom's feelings. I just wish they would have talked to me about it.

What would you do in this situation? What do you do with bulky unwanted gifts that were given with the best of intentions?

[dillonandmarasmom]

I absolutely empathize with you! We receive numorous gifts that are never touched. We, too, are minimalists (wannabes at least). It is a condundrum. Even though we have a big backyard (where most of these things end up--the toy graveyard), we still feel it's cluttered.
A couple of things have been freecycled, but because we live 5 minutes from both sets of grandparents, it is tricky. Honesty is the best policy, yada, yada, yada...but it still sucks!

Okay, I guess I am not much help . I will be checking back to see if others have ideas.