(Insert Chandler's voice in the title.)

Connor has a bubble addiction, so when we went into Toys R Us today (which, I won't ever do with him again..long story but you get the idea since you're a mom) he wanted me to open up his new bubble contraption.
It's a Dora Explorer no spill bubble thing. He started off crying and then practically *convulsing* because these ridiculous ties they twist all over the place for a *simple* bubble container!!!
I felt SO bad for him!!!!!!!!!!!

Just had to VENT!!!!!!!!!

By Kate on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - 11:21 pm:

Ohhhh, Heidi, Heidi, Heidi....I have two girls. You have a boy. You haven't experienced Fort Knox packaging until you try to disengage a simple Barbie doll from the box..... Their hair is SEWN to the back!!! There are twist ties EVERYWHERE. And if you get a SET of some kind....oh my goodness!!! EVERYTHING is tied down, and most of the time you can't even access the twist ties (which require hours of untwisting or actual wire clippers) because they are underneath additional pieces of cardboard that are TAPED over everything. I can't tell you how many times I've SWORN I've detached every possible tie from the toy, and it STILL won't budge!! Then the great search is on to find WHAT ON EARTH IS STILL ATTACHING IT TO THE BOX!!! Barbies are also famous for tiny, thin, clear rubber bands around numerous body parts holding this and that to said body parts. Unreal! (and not having a boy, myself, YOU probably have some boyish toy nightmare I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing....action figures, perhaps??)

Those heavy duty plastic flat type packages are downright scary. I've cut myself so many times trying to open them (like Leapfrog tapes/books). They don't just come apart, you have to cut them, but they STILL don't come apart, you have to PRY them while trying not to slice your hands up!!

So to answer your question, Heidi, NO, they could NOT make packaging MORE difficult!!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 07:43 am:

Ditto, Heidi and Kate! I hate trying to take apart a Barbie. Model horses are the same way! Fortunately, Emily is old enough now to dismantle her own packages.

I hate the hard plastic stuff, too. It's not even easy for the scissors to cut that stuff and then the cut edges are so sharp, that they are very dangerous!

Ugh!

By Dandjmom on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 07:50 am:

I too think that they over do it, especially when your in the parking lot just out of the store in the car and trying to get anything open and have no scissors or wire cutters.

By Tunnia on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 08:11 am:

LOL! I was laughing while reading because I have definitely btdt. I have a boy and a girl and I have opened my fair share of difficult packages, but I'd have to say that no boy toy even compares to Barbie! They are by far the most difficult toys I have had to open and I groan every time my dd gets one. You would think that a Barbie is made of solid gold the way she is packaged!

By Kaye on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 08:16 am:

LOL one year it seems we had packaging nighmares with several toys while at my inlaws. For the next Christmas, they bought my hubby a pair of "snips" and made him open his gift first!

By Kiki on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 09:34 am:

Everything is child proof nowadays.......but we all know, it's parent proof....lol

I share your frustration! lol

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 11:34 am:

LOL We always end up breaking out our pocket knives to get the kids' toys out. And Kate is absolutely right, I don't know WHY they sew Barbie's hair to the cardboard, but ARGH!!!

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 11:54 am:

Actually, it is not "child proofing", it is shoplifter proofing. I read a thread on this on a consumer column in, I think, the Washington Post, where one man was so frustrated by not being able to open the bubble packaging of something he bought, he took it back to the store for a refund.

I'll bet they sew Barbie's hair to the cardboard and do so many of the twist ties to keep things from shifting so that the package/toy is at its best appearance.

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 04:18 pm:

ROFL - I can just hear Chandler saying that!

Whether it is child-proofing or to prevent theft, it drives me nuts too!

It's not just toys, etc. It's beauty products, computer products, etc. Everything is sewn, sealed or tied in that it's nearly impossible to get it out.

By Annie2 on Saturday, May 20, 2006 - 08:07 pm:

BTDT! LOL

Ellen DeGeneres did a funny bit on one of her HBO specials. She said, in a very funny way, that you need scissors to open up the scissor's packages! But lightbulbs come in flimsy, thin cardpaper. Too funny!

By Dana on Saturday, May 20, 2006 - 08:23 pm:

I've been hurt on plastic wrapping more often than being burnt by the combonation of oven, stove, grill, outdoor fire and curling iron all put together. I dread having to open them.

I just bought items for childproofing the kitchen and I still have some packages unopened because I simply didn't want to mess w/ the plastic and cut myself. I have a cut on one of my knuckles this morning and all day I've been trying to figure out where I got it. I bet it was from one of those wrappings.