You know I used to have nothing and be pretty happy, now I have tons of things, and more stress.I now conclude, Id like to get rid of most of it and SIMPLIFY. Plus I am the biggest pack rat I know! Why is it we become so tied up with these posesssions. I want to live a simple life and teach my daughter the same, but lately it is out of hand. My dd is 2 and has more plastic crap than I can handle (im not even kidding 1 bedroom FULL plus a FULL toyroom), but she is doted on by the fam and I would feel guilty throwing it out, and if I requested that she be given less plastic crap the fam would laugh and do it anyways!! :bang What would you do?

I have finally managed to wean down the gift giving from dh's Walton size family. I have finally gotten most of them on board with giving gifts like: zoo membership, swimming lessons, tennis lessons, manicures, etc.

I have explained many times before it finally sunk in that my children love going to the zoo, taking lessons, etc. and the cost that comes with it. I have also flat out told them to chip in and buy certain items/lessons when asked what they want.

You can get through to them but it may take awhile. I should mention that my oldest just turned 8 and it is really only the last 2 years that they have listened.

Get over feeling guilty about throwing it out (or giving it away). Really, its liberating :lol

I return cheap plastic gifts to Wallyworld and use the money to buy soap and tp.

You know I used to have nothing and be pretty happy, now I have tons of things, and more stress.I now conclude, Id like to get rid of most of it and SIMPLIFY. Plus I am the biggest pack rat I know! Why is it we become so tied up with these posesssions. I want to live a simple life and teach my daughter the same, but lately it is out of hand. My dd is 2 and has more plastic crap than I can handle (im not even kidding 1 bedroom FULL plus a FULL toyroom), but she is doted on by the fam and I would feel guilty throwing it out, and if I requested that she be given less plastic crap the fam would laugh and do it anyways!! :bang What would you do?

We had the same problem. Kids birthday parties are the worst........such a waste. We had limited success with the "no gifts please!" route, but it's very hard to do gracefully. Basically, with every party, a child invites 15 friends (or more), each whose parents feel they have to spend an hour of their lives to a toy store, spending another hour or more of their lives to *pay* for the toy. And soon birthday child is *drowning* in jazzy toys that mom and dad struggle to find room for. No child can play with all of it. Looking past the glitzy gimmicky appeal of most of it, it's clearly 99% crap anyway. And in an average school-aged child's life, there are a dozen or more birthday invitations a year! And this continues for years. What a racket! STOP THE MADNESS!!!

Luckily, few who saddled us with the gifts would ever discover we disposed of it, but you still feel ungrateful and guilty at the waste.

Have you read Confessions of an Organized Homemaker? Check you library for it.. it's a GREAT read! It's not very long but has wonderful and simple ideas about decluttering, organizing, and simplifying your life.

We also ask for more practical things like the things kewb said. Then they really know DD is USING it!!! As for the plastic junk, my husbands family is gigantor in size and mostly all give the boys gifts. It still gets ridiculous, but over time the big spenders (his parents) realized we just give away the crappy toys, so they started buying nice ones, and usually will actually ask what they want. I fell no connection to the junk that people give us. When the kids are younger, I actually pre-open their christmas and birthday presents and discard of the crappy ones - still works for my 2yo.

For my 5yo we have a different strategy. If there's a toy he's really in love with and it meets our already designated family toy guidelines (no annoying noises, no guns, no characters), but it's still a junky toy, he can play with it until it breaks, and then it gets given away. He's rough on toys, so we especially let him take the junky ones outside and roll them in the mud, bury them, rock play, etc. (oops! did it stay out in the rain?:mischief ), until it's broken. I've also found it's lessened up as he gets older, because he can actually ask for what he wants - so most people aren't just giving him whatever crap they find at Walmart or Dollar General.

So for your 2yo, just toss the junk and don't look back. If anyone asks, tell them the TRUTH - There were getting to be so many toys from your sweet, generous relatives, that she was overwhelmed and couldn't really enjoy each one, so you needed to declutter. I promise every single parent in America can relate to that!

As for birthday parties - we just have potlucks. We write "In leiu of a gift, please bring a dish to share!" It goes over well, and still actually most people bring gifts, but very few are the walmart (spent too much money on junk) type. Most are like some stickers, neat box of bandaids or something little. We have told DS (5yo) that it doesn't matter if people bring gifts or not - that's not why we want them to come to our birthday parties, ya know? (I also told him that some of our friends might not have the money right then to buy a nice present and feel like they can't come to the party - so we don't want people to "have" to bring presents - which isn't really true, but I think that comment put him in a better frame of mind ;) )

but she is doted on by the fam and I would feel guilty throwing it out, and if I requested that she be given less plastic crap the fam would laugh and do it anyways!! :bang What would you do?

They will stop laughing once they know your just going to get rid of it:lol

BTW you should just donate them, 'cause some people could really use it. Most of the toys at SA are really old and junky it would be a nice suprise for a mama or papa to find a brand new (or an EC) toy that thier dc would love for only a dollar or two.

Also, what I plan on doing at birthday parties is saying on the invitation is "The gift of you presence is all that we would like, please no gifts" and then if anyone brings any I will just put them in my room or somewhere else hidden away. I will say thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and say today isn't really about gifts, but when she does open it I'm sure she'll love it.

You know what I do when I get stuff that I don't really want ds to have? I save it and give it to my friends' kids at their birthday (baby boom and all, buncha kids the same age). Then I don't have to buy a bday present, and ds doesn't have a buncha crap around!

I know what you mean we have a tonne of little tikes crap...its starting to upset me I have two toys I really like (a castle and a garden house thing) but the rest the kids would be happier with a basic work table at their height.

They and the rescue hereos command centres are going....
eventually.... but I still feel guilty even though they are robbing my kids of creativity.... I don't mind the action figures and cars but the command centres with all the lights, sounds it kinda kills imagination

CKBerkey, I did the same thing after my baby shower. The Diaper Genie, The Stroller, The Character Clothes, all gone. We got $130 in groceries, and haven't missed it a bit.

Bella, so right. Throw it out, donate it, give it away (Peter'sMama has a great regifting idea) and they'll start listening.

We're going to talk to all of our family members about 3 or 4 months before X-Mas/DS's B-Day. We'll provide a list of wants and needs. If it's not on the list, or at least in those guidelines, Hello Goodwill!

I personally think that if they don't respect your parenting choices, then they don't respect you. Trust me. No one is getting MY DS any kind of guns, violent toys, anything with batteries in it. He has a few plastic rattles right now, but they're really interesting (they're made by Pylones) and he loves them, so when it comes to plastic, it will just depend on what kind of plastic it is, what kind of toy it is, and if the creative play that results is something that I want for him.

If they want to give a child a bunch of crap, they can carry their own kid for 9 months and birth it. I'm the mom, I'm the rulemaker, and if they can't respect that, too bad.

Lucky for me, I'm nipping it all in the bud by starting very ealry. There are already a few things that I have "lost".. and I'm not afraid to "loose" more.