Kids toy packaging - why so complicated?
By rainbow
@rainbow (6761)
December 12, 2006 8:08am CST
Bet you'd forgotten this but it's nearly Christmas and I was reminded as I wrapped my sons birthday presents. enter my whinge zone....
He had a Pooh Bear mega blocks set - lovely just 60 pieces - and sticky tape and 32 wire ties and 18 elastic bands, it took about 20 minutes to get them all off to wrap it. I know its about presentation but it's a long wait for a small kid. Several of his other presents were similar.
I always remove the ties and put the battries in before I wrap. Does the excessive amount of packaging bug you too?
2 people like this
24 responses
@DRoddy77 (1776)
• United States
12 Dec 06
Oh, lol i get soooo angry when my kids get new toys and I have to get them apart! I understand they dont want the toys to get stolen, but COME ON! Do they really think a kid wants to wait a half an hour to get their toy? Or have 2 million of those stupid wire ties to pick up? Im guessing the people who design the packaging do not have children!!
1 person likes this
@rainbow (6761)
•
12 Dec 06
They used to say that people who didn't like kids became teachers but I know the truth now I'm a mommy - child haters make and pack new toys! lol!
It's the look on their little faces - they see the toy and then they can't play with it until dad's had a really good swear and half an hour later they can get their hands on it and the moments completely gone; the joy of special occasions eh?
Have a good christmas peeling all the sticky tape and ties off! lol
1 person likes this
@ricki1223 (138)
• United States
13 Dec 06
LOL yes I agree, I hate hate hate to get toys out of thier packages!!! The ONLY good thing I can say for all those stupid wire tie things is that my dad keeps allllll of them and uses them to tie his tags on his deer during hunting season..lmao I know its stupid but yeah thats the wonderful use that we have found for them...but it still doesnt make it any eaiser to open it!!
1 person likes this
@Jshean20 (14347)
• Canada
13 Dec 06
Yes the escessive amount of packaging bugs me too, because often I'm more eager to get at the toys than the child is lol. Maybe they wrap things to tightly so that kids don't go around in the stores opening everything up and playing with them..who knows!
1 person likes this
@rainbow (6761)
•
13 Dec 06
Thank you that's a new and clever reason, toys should not be played with until paid for so even when we get them home we should be able to savour looking at the packaging. What will theythink of next? lol
I know people always say about the kids playing with the boxes rather than the toys but thats no reason to make the toy inaccessable until the box and the parents are worn out trying to open it.
Your comment and swimming cat have cheared me up.
@rainbow (6761)
•
13 Dec 06
Thank you that's a new and clever reason, toys should not be played with until paid for so even when we get them home we should be able to savour looking at the packaging. What will theythink of next? lol
I know people always say about the kids playing with the boxes rather than the toys but thats no reason to make the toy inaccessable until the box and the parents are worn out trying to open it.
Your comment and swimming cat have cheared me up.
@emarie (5440)
• United States
17 Dec 06
OMG...thats so funny...a few christmas' ago my sister bought my son a little car that has buttons, makes noises, and moves...well, the damn thing was SCREWED into the packaging!!! so my husband and brother in law were sitting there trying to take it out. my son was there...waiting...and waiting...and waiting...finaly he dropped to the floor and just stayed there waiting...he was so dramatic...
from then on my sister unwrapped to toys in advance to avoid that...it packaging is always tough...it seems like they get more and more every year
1 person likes this
@rainbow (6761)
•
18 Dec 06
Yes, their little faces are worth watching when they realisd their presents are adult proof, bless them. It does seem to get worse, I spent hours yesterday putting in battries, removing ties etc but at least I won't have to watch the drama unfold when the wrapping comes off. lol
@Willowlady (10657)
• United States
13 Dec 06
Seems like not so long ago, many toys could be had without expensive time consuming packaging. The mess it makes on Christmas morning is a bit overwhelming and that just did not happen a handful of years ago. Why did it have to change? Well, someone thought is was good, sold the idea that they probably thought up in the shower and was rewarded for it with no idea how the consumer would react. Probably didn't care if it gave the illusion of safety, security or concern for the public.
@Willowlady (10657)
• United States
13 Dec 06
yeah, it is so wasteful with the push all around us to reuse and conserve. tis such a shame.
1 person likes this
@jerseypink (176)
• United States
15 Dec 06
And my son is so impatient when my husband and I are SCRAMBLING around trying to cut wire ties, and undo tape and snap pieces together! What a pain in the butt!
@shywolf (4514)
• United States
6 Jan 07
Yes, the excessive amount of packaging can be pretty frustrating! *laugh* I hadn't thought about it in a long time, since I haven't had any real occasion to open any toy packaging, but I remember it being bad enough when I was younger.. and the packaging on certain electronics is enough to make you take an extra ten minutes, as it is! LOL ^_^
@kgwat70 (13387)
• United States
13 Dec 06
The long time to package or wrap a present does not bother me at all. I would rather have a nice and neat packaged gift than to rush it and have it all messed up and looking bad. Some gifts are more difficult to wrap than others depending, depending on the size and shape of the gift.
@rainbow (6761)
•
13 Dec 06
It's not the time spent wrapping them nicely that bothers me it's the excessive use of ties and tags. I like the present to look nice and be well wrapped but I would prefer my kids to be able to play with the toy on receiving it rather than have to wait 1/2 an hour for the tags, ties, sticky tape and screws that hold the toy into the packaging to be removed.
@chiquita1977 (1706)
• United States
13 Dec 06
yes it does i do not understand why they have take toys hostage it takes twenty minutes just to untape and untie everything i still do not know why they do this.are they that afraid that people are going to steal because that is the only thing i can think of.
1 person likes this
@Khokhonut (702)
• United States
15 Dec 06
Oh gosh, I had kind of forgotten about all that !
That drives me nuts !!
The wire ties, the little plates that they go throuh, sometimes thread almost sewn across stuff.
I'm sure it is about presentation and anti-theft, but come on. I don't know any other product that is packaged so securely.
1 person likes this
@shoelover (896)
• Australia
13 Dec 06
Yes it certainly does. Sometimes it takes at least 15 minuts to undo the packaging so I too could put in batteries. I can just imagine a little child. They would get so frustrated with it and throw the toy down.
I don't mind a few ties but some of these things are adult proof :)
1 person likes this
@rainbow (6761)
•
13 Dec 06
we seem to be living in an increasingly strange and annoying world of consumerism whichallows products to be more expensive, less accessible and cause more waste.
It's all very well to make it look good but surely we should be able to get into the box?
1 person likes this
@cowboyzfan (718)
• United States
13 Dec 06
It's all about making the item look good.
1 person likes this
@chertsy (3797)
• United States
13 Dec 06
I give anything I came across this site earlier. You make a lot of sense. I wrapped my oldest's present already and I know it's going to take me at least a good 5-10 mins to get the doll out of the package. No telling about the other gifts. I just pray I remember this for next Christmas, lol.
@wvchell78 (564)
• United States
22 Dec 06
omg....this just reminded me what I have to look forward to again. I have to do all of my sons Christmas presents and then I have both of their birthdays the Thursday and Friday after Christmas. I hadn't even thought of removing all of the annoying packaging before I wrapped them. Well I will have scissors and screwdrivers ready....LOL
@wolflvr (335)
• United States
13 Dec 06
Sometimes it seems that they spend more on the packaging then the toy is worth. I hate those awful zip ties that you need a sharp sword to open the things. Then once and a while you get a toy that you need a screwdriver to get the thing out of the packaging.
1 person likes this
@rainbow (6761)
•
13 Dec 06
Had some sealed plastic presents yesterday too, even the scissors struggle but at least the product is safe from harm until you try to break into it and rip it's head off with the carving knife.
We had a big truck and some cars from grandparents with screws last night - 15 minutes to undo, my son had given up on ever palying with it and had found something else to do.
1 person likes this
@Kscott (634)
• United States
13 Dec 06
Oh I most certainly hate this part of opening presents, it really takes the joy out of things. I have 4 kids, and thats alot of wire ties,sticky tape, bands..etc. to open...I never thought about taking them all off before and the battery idea. Usually this has become an all day affair and we end up putting a toy aside till we can get to it. I think it's excessive to have all these gadgets to hold a toy in a box, back when I was a kid they didn't have these things, and life was simpler!
@rainbow (6761)
•
13 Dec 06
Thats right, we opened the box and slid or pulled the contents out, instant present = instant fun.
Now we have progressed - the internet and computers make so much more accessable to our little ones and they grow up differently to how we did but they still want their presents as fast as possible when they get the box open.
Progress is such a wonderful thing?
