Anyone who says "Christmas is for kids" has clearly never spent Christmas Day in a house with any of the following toys. All of the following are guaranteed to annoy parents, so you can look at the list in one of two ways:

12 toys not to buy for your own children OR 12 toys to buy for children whose parents you wish to annoy or wind up.

1. A drum kit

A drum kit is too big to hide in the cupboard (all parents have a cupboard where they hide toys!) and anyone within a few hundred yards will have their nerves frayed within minutes. Proficient drummers are fine, toddlers without fine tuned motor skills or rhythm are not.

2. Glitter

Fact: glitter never disappears. Ever. No matter how many times you hoover, or wipe or wash, it comes with a lifetime guarantee to remain on clothes, in carpets or on floors. Sure, it's good fun shaking it onto glue to make pretty pictures, but if you ever buy glitter for someone else's kids, the first thing they will do is make you a picture with nothing but glitter on and post it to you, so that when you open the envelope it goes everywhere. And you would deserve it.