Taking a trip down memory lane…Did any of your kids (when they were little) and/or grandkids have toys that just annoy the crud out of you? My D had one of those books that had buttons you could press to add sound effects to the story. One book had a button with a honking sound that D loved to push over and over again. It used to drive H and I crazy! S had a sound machine that all sorts of funny and rude noises…god he wore that thing out using it so much. I remember one of the buttons fell off…H and I were so happy, cuz he couldn’t keep pressing the button for the sad horn sound.
Our worst was a pre-school remote control police car with a very loud siren. Every time our landline rung, it turned on the car and siren. Imagine how long that lasted.
“Doggie Woof Woof” - a stuffed dog that would “woof” to the tune of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. DD loved that stupid thing and had it going non stop for nearly a month before dh couldn’t stand it anymore and doggie woof woof suddenly went mute.
Along the same line was “Quacky Duck” and “Talking Parrot”. (My parents were the masters at giving the most annoying toys).
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My S had a toy train with three buttons – one noise was louder than the next. It was like living next to a train station. It went missing after a short while.
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My D got an electronic dog that used to get up and start barking in the middle of the night. We finally made up a shoebox so it could “sleep” in her dark closet after one week and that solved the problem.
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Furbies - The "hot’ gift that year until we found it started yapping at any time for no reason. Those got moved to the basement playroom very quickly.
Anything that made noise. I wouldn’t buy them for my children, and “we were out of batteries” for the grandkids. I REALLY hate toys that make noise! Silence is golden
Yes, it’s so funny how a lot of these toys went mysteriously “Missing.” As in H and I put them up on a high shelf. Or suddenly the batteries wore out…as in H and I removed the batteries and sorry we’re all out of batteries as in H and I are NOT putting batteries back in the toy!
That book of my D’s eventually got put on the top shelf of the guest room closet after she went to bed one night, luckily she had kind of lost interest in it by that point.
My hairdresser’s kid had a thing that you’d press the button and it would go “Wuzzz upp!” Yep, that thing went missing very quickly…my hairdresser said the used to have dreams of her running that thing over with her car…
My S has a fart machine that a friend gave him in middle school…oh god he and his friends would and still do go to town with that thing. I thought it was funny at first, but then it just got annoying. He has driven my D nuts with that thing… Of course H thinks its hilarious as well. He still has it and will probably take it to college. Boys, what can I say!
So many of the noise ones. One kid got some sort of plastic sax thing that had a bunch of seriously out of tune buttons. That thing disappeared so quickly! And the Fisher-Price Corn Popper. They are adorable pushing it around, but it’s so loud! https://www.target.com/p/fisher-price-corn-popper/-/A-13921055
@mathmom Oh god those corn popper ones. D had one and it got passed down to S. Why we let S have it too is a mystery cuz I could NOT stand that horrid thing!
Ahh - the teaching of cause and effect, an important developmental milestone.
I love the sound of the corn popper. It’s the sound of childhood.
I loved the pull along zylophone. I’m not sure the parents of the tykes I gifted them to were as thrilled.
In general, I did restrain the impulse to give noisy and irritating gifts. My kids were pretty sensitive to noise and would get irked if anything made too much noise.
Anything with millions of tiny pieces! Like Legos. My H bought the kids some set called Build Your Own Roller Coaster or some such name. Ok. Its built. Now where do I put it. And meanwhile my feet hurt from stepping on tiny plastic pieces.
Ok we are guilty of giving legos because our kids did and still do love LEGO!
I love toys—even the noisy ones. They don’t bother me. My kids had plenty. I could tell what they were up to and where they were. Loved the old corn popper.
It was silence that was disturbing.
I certainly would NOT like one that went off when the phone rang!! That would be out the door!
The Talking Elmo. I am a big fan of Sesame Street, but I thought it was creepy when my toddler got that toy for Christmas… and that was years before the accusations by alleged victims of the human behind Elmo made it seem even creepier.
The talking Elmo doll. There aren’t enough obscenities in the English language for that one.
If I have to play one more game of Candy Land…
My son made me play it again once last year. He just can’t wait to pick Queen Frostine and laughs with glee if I get Plumpy (a card he’s marked BTW). Of course, if HE gets Plumpy, game over.
And, oh, he’s 22.
Also, there is a place in hell for Monopoly.
LOL. I don’t think Talking Elmo was around when my kids were born but that darn popcorn popper !
And yes, I bought it for others just to irritate them cuz they’re my friends.
Does my neighbor’s leaf blower qualify ?
Tamagotchi was a giant PITA!!!