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When it comes to gift-giving, it’s the thought that counts — unless the thought is to give a child an annoying, obnoxious, messy, or complicated gift. Then, it’s better to just show up empty-handed! (If you know, you know.) Kylie Kelce has some very strong feelings about new toys for her three girls, who she shares with husband Jason Kelce, and she just debuted her list of toys she does not want anyone to get them this year. Her don’t-buy gift guide is actually genius!
In a new episode of her Not Gonna Lie podcast, the soon-to-be-mom-of-4 opened up about her holiday expectations, and “the presents I’m kindly asking you not to buy my children.” This was born out of gifts she sees while out shopping that makes her think, “not in my house!” She calls this the “‘please don’t buy this for my children’ guide to holiday shopping,” and we are obsessed.
For starters: No toys that will require more than 5 minutes of assembly. “Don’t do that to people,” she adds, explaining how her daughters Wyatt, 5, Elliotte, 3, and Bennett, 21 months, will impatiently ask when the toy is ready and often chew on little screws or other tiny pieces while anxiously waiting over your shoulder. Either gift it already put together or don’t gift it at all!
“Number two: hard pass on anything covered in glitter,” Kylie continues, adding, “This is coming from a mom of three girls. Pretty much everything we get has glitter on it, and it makes their hearts so happy. I can’t veto glitter as a whole, but I need you to get something that the glitter is sealed. I need it attached to that surface. I need it not leaving it.”
Next, make sure that a toy can be quieted. “No volume control? Not in my house,” Kylie says. She shared a story of an electric drum set that only turned off and on. “I could not get it to not be just assaulting everyone’s ears when she was playing with the toy,” Kylie says, explaining how she taped over the speaker and tried covering it with blankets, and it still was way too loud. “And so, it got retired after a week of living in our house into the bottom cabinet of our built-ins.” The same family friend brought Wyatt another drum set the next year (oof!), but at least this one did have a volume control so it “was allowed to stay.”
“There’s still a deep amount of guilt associated with the fact that I hid a Christmas gift from my child because I couldn’t stand to listen to that damn thing for one more minute at the volume that it was playing at,” she continues. “I’m so sorry, Ed!” she adds, referring to her father-in-law Ed Kelce. (Honestly, he should have known better!)
The fourth thing she wants to remind people not to give her children should be common sense: anything alive. “I don’t want anything with a heartbeat,” Kylie says.
“Now, we have not been gifted anything with a heartbeat yet,” she continues, although, “I fear that the time will come eventually, and we will handle that appropriately by gifting that thing directly back where it came from.” (BTW, that’s exactly how I handled a gift of live tadpoles for my kids one year.)
“And, lastly, number five: no toys with too many pieces,” says Kylie. “Once the kids start playing with the toys that have a million pieces, I then have to go around picking up all the little pieces. Eventually some will end up under the couch or in the trash or, honestly, sometimes in the fireplace … I am going to throw out the parts when I step on them.”
“And special bonus. I thought this one went without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: No toy weapons,” Kylie says, adding, “They’ve proved that they have not earned the trust required to receive weapons because they will try to take each other out. And I don’t want to mediate any of them.”
Kylie, who is currently pregnant with baby number four, recently showed how she and Jason redesigned their playroom with the help of Pottery Barn Kids. This has plenty of storage (with cabinets so you can’t see the messy insides), areas for creative play, and relaxed areas for the girls to have fun. “Family is everything. It’s really important to have this space feel cozy and comfortable,” Kylie said in a statement at the time. “We feel like the items are made with such great quality, whether it’s storage, a book shelf, something great that will look amazing in the space but also be kid durable.”
In an interview with PEOPLE at the time, Kylie said, “Jason is emotionally and mentally present for his girls, and I think that’s so important. The memories that we’re creating now are things that we’ll talk about later, the same way our parents tell stories about us now. We hope that this space allows for the girls to be a good team together.”
Find out how our favorite celebs spend Christmas, Hanukkah, and more wintertime holidays with their families.
