Monday, December 29, 2008

An Open Letter

Dear Family-In-Law,

There something you might need to know about me. I hate branded, shoved-down-your-throat, cheaply made, over-marketed merchandise. Specifically, I hate Dora almost as much as I hate Disney merchandise. I hate it because for me it just takes something that could be super special and turns it into one big profit center. There is so much crap out there and everything that could have a picture of Dora on it, does. I'm not that big of a sucker and I don't want The Little Miss to be fed into that big corporate big business brain washed madness.

It's not to say that Dora is all bad, in fact, Dora's been a good role model for her. She doesn't go anywhere alone, she always has her friend with her, who happens to be a monkey, bit still, I feel it's better to have someone with you. She's resourceful in consulting her map and always has a backpack full of things she might need to get out of a jam. She's bilingual and bi-cultural, celebrates her heritage, both her parents and her grandmother play very important roles in her life. In my book, that ain't too bad.

However for Christmas, dear family-in-law, you managed to give us the following Dora merchandise:

Dora Go Fish and Dora Crazy Eight card games
Dora Dominos
Dora See and Say
Dora Spoon and fork set
5 Dora books
2 Dora night gowns
Dora Temporary tattoos
Dora Stick on earrings
3 Dora rings
Dora Bubble whistle
Dora Bubble liquid and wand
Dora Ball and bat set
Dora Hopping ball
Dora Pillow

It's totally over-the-top sickening and most of it is already in the give away pile, or will be headed that way when The Husband isn't looking.

One of you had asked what The Little Miss would like for Christmas and I specifically said if all 10 (adults) of you could all get together to buy her a kick ass craft set. Finger paints, paper, glitter glue, scissors, crayons, coloring books, and anything else that looked like fun craft ideas, because that's what she LOVES to do and asks every single day if she can paint or play glue, or use scissors. Did we get any of that? No.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but honestly I'm a bit pissed and disappointed. I don't like to whine, but I am. You asked and I thought I had given you a good suggestion, but I guess you have all been lured into thinking that anything that has Dora on it is the perfect gift. You're wrong.

On the flip side, I get to have the fun of taking The Little Miss to the craft store today to pick out new paints, some paper and a some other fun things for herself. (since I've been putting off buying anything since I thought that was what she was getting from you.) I can't wait to see her face light up as she has free reign to pick out what she wants and you know how much fun we're going to have this afternoon getting all messy? That right there is the best Christmas present you've given us.

Family-in-law, next year please no Dora or anything that has any person's face on it. Please.

With Love,

BigGirl

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

AMEN SISTER. and, for some reason, this all veryveryvery especially relates to Dora for me.

now the yo gabba gabbag cr*p *I* bought the Toddler at Walmart--that suff is just find :)

Unknown said...

My mum was telling my newborn twin cousins that next year they might be old enough to get cardboard boxes for presents. The funny thing is, she wasn't joking. When I was growing up the most fun I had was with cardboard boxes. Kids don't need piles of toys; they are creative enough with making crafts and using their own imaginations! Have fun crafting with the Little Miss:)

Gigi said...

Very funny! I have a sister who constantly competes with me and always gives my 13 year old son bigger and better gifts than I do - and much louder ones too. This year was a karaoke machine big enough to land him a respectable DJ gig - if only he were allowed out of the house after dark, that is. Fun aunt would probably let him. Unfortunately, we can't pick our relatives.

Hanlie said...

I really applaud your stance on this! I hate this crap! It just turns children into wasteful little consumers at a young age. We need more people like you!

I love buying my nieces clothes and I make a point of getting non-merchandize stuff and preferably NOT pink, since pink seems to be the new black amongst little girls. It's sickening to see this sea of pink... where is the individualism?