My mom got us an indoor trampoline with a 5 foot tall net around it. It takes up most of our family room and the cats use it more than my kid does. Argh.

My kids got to jump on one of those at their cousin's house over the weekend. I was so jealous that they had the space. What a great option for the winter!!!

We got this from Grandma, too, and we usually stick to wooden/natural toys. But this one is a keeper, and I secretly love it. It's in the basement.

We have one that we pull out for special kid visits, in one house in a spare bedroom and in the garage in our current one, its been a BIG hit!

My heart hit my throat when I saw this and tried to picture it in our house. But yeah, if we had the space, I’d definitely keep it!

I learned to accept ugly, large (for our house), obnoxious toys when my parents brought over a music/activity table for my then 9-month old first child. I stayed polite and keep my mouth shut, planning to donate it the second they left. Then my daughter fell in love with it. It took up valuable living room property for a year.

The worst offender this year is a brightly colored plastic dollhouse, which isn’t too bad. It would be fine if we had a playroom, but having it front and center in our living room is driving me nuts.

The way I see it, 1/2 the people who live I our house are toddlers, (twin 2 year olds) so the fact our living room is home to a train table, a mommy-built play kitchen and a million toys is completely OK. They're only little once. Let them be little and enjoy it.

We have one of these too, and I love it. Winter is cold in South Dakota, it's great to have something the kids can do indoors to get rid of extra energy.

for overnight guests, we can fold up the beast and move the guest bed and other furniture back to their normal spots....
are you kidding!??! if there was a remote chance of that being my overnight accommodations, I'd be the guest that never left!

We found an alternative to the beast... we have an old crib mattress that we pull out on those days with windchills in the negatives. The kids (1 and 3 years) have figured out that they can bounce toys off of it if they worked together. And best of all, it fits under the spare bed.

We have fold up play tents (though not as fun as huge bouncy beast!) that are really fun for the girls I like the way they fold up into a neat little bag!

I have a 3 month old.. Our family room has a jumperoo and a play mat. There's a swing in the TV room and a bouncy chair in the kitchen, plus toys, a bumbo and a tummy time mat that move around the house.. My husband isn't a fan of all this stuff, but she's the new boss!

We have the same little tikes bounce house too, got it for our sons 2nd year birthday- hes now 4 and its been one of our best purchases to date! in the summer we can take it outside... its a huge hit for partys/play-dates! In the cold months (we live in WI) we can bring it into the den, theres just enough space, and the kids can burn off energy!

I bet once the new wears off it wont get played with every single day. When that happens you can let the air out and put it in a closet and drag it out for special playdates, cold rainy days when you need some help or for a fun sprinkler day outside this summer.

Fold-up Thomas the Train tent. Hate it as I hate all Thomas stuff. We live in a small apartment and it literally takes up all the space between my sons' beds. Thankfully it folds flat and stores well in the closet. They love it so much I decided to just go with it. These are the things that create those magical childhood memories...

If I had a spare room, I wouldn't mind having that in it. I agree with the others that it's a great way to burn off energy in the cold months. Having no spare room, the moon bounce could not fit in our house. We have a big plastic bouncy ride on zebra (well, not big compared to the moon bounce, but...) that is a total eyesore in my dining room and that I desperately want to get rid of, but my 2 year old got a lot of use out of it last winter when I was on maternity leave with the new baby and not able to get out in sub-freezing temps much. And we just pulled it out of the basement again for the baby, who's now 14 months and could use some good indoor activity. But in the spring, the zebra has a date with Goodwill!

our friends were stuck with a giant air hockey table for their 2 and 4 year old kids.. the second they stop playing with it they are getting rid of it.

I try to remember that he's only little once and much too soon, all this large loud obnoxious plastic stuff will be gone. <--whoa, just teared myself up there

That said, I swear as soon as I even think about getting rid of some large loud plastic beast, it becomes my son's mostest favoritest thing in the whole world again. :sigh:

Nope, I'm still picky. But in my defense we have a tiiiiny house with no spare room, in fact it will be two kids in the bedroom soon.

If I had a spare room I would put an ugly bounce house in it. But generally speaking, the kids have a nice amount of good looking toys. No kid, at any age, has to have hideous toys.

We inherited a huge, plastic Playskool mobile and received as a shower gift an ExerSaucer (the same one the cute kid has on "Up All Night"!). At first I dreaded using them since they are so big and bright and juvenile-looking. But then the baby came along and she *adores* them both. So they stay. I figure, she'll outgrow them soon enough, and a bit of ugly in the nursery and playroom are an acceptable tradeoff for a baby that is happy and stimulated. It was the right decision for us, though I *totally* understand the urge to purge the really juvenile-looking stuff, especially if you're dealing with a very small space.

Our DD has a huuuuge tent in her room. She and all the kids love it.

They're only small for a little while, have some fun. And, this stuff is not "ugly" to the children (or to me - it IS a toy after all, why does it have to look refined?) Lighten up and loosen up!

I am an artist, and some of my activities are blatantly ugly. I just try to consolidate the ugly processes before people come over. Same principle. I feel very sorry for people who are so afraid of living in a mess that they can't make a mess. How sad that someone would ever consider trading a fond enjoyment or a full learning experience or simple functionality over a (probably uptight and boring) color scheme. That is the epitome of bad design--choices that make life inconvenient, or lack play or joy. Who decided that that was beautiful?

We have friends who have a trampoline in their spare room (very high ceilings). Let's just say that their house is high on every kids' list to visit. They could pend forever on that thing, and it is great in the very hot weather (we don't have very cold).

I would imagine that if you purchased this for your kid you would be considered the best mom in the world. or at least in the neighborhood. Awesomeness.

I can't imagine something like this in my home... especially with my preggy belly, I wouldn't be able to get around it. I have a friend, however, who basically just purchased a mansion and they got a trampoline for the playroom from grandma for Christmas. They will be getting lots of visits from us throughout this winter!

I used to have a policy of swiftly donating toys that were too big, loud, obnoxious, etc, but that has gotten harder as my kids get older. They're now 4, 3, and 18 months, and the older two definitely notice when things go missing. I would still get rid Of items that we are blatantly opposed to, but I find myself keeping more unattractive toys than I did before. All that being said, my grandma got the kids a child- sized Thomas the Tank Engine folding table and two chairs. My initial opposition to it was because it is so ugly, but now it is because there are only two chairs, which ALWAYS causes a fight. I am grateful it folds up!

This is too funny and timely following a post last week about why are all baby toys so ugly/not modern and the majority of people agreeing to get over it, its for your kids and not forever.

Same goes for this. If you have the room, rock on (and sneak on it when the kids are asleep!)

The days can seem very long when you've got lots of bright, noisy, plastic toys underfoot. But the years zoom by and before you know it those little kids are out with their friends or hiding from you in their bedrooms. When that happens you wont be saying to yourself 'I just wish they hadn't had so many big toys.' Besides, happy kids are never ugly. Kids who are sleeping soundly (from all that exercise) are down-right beautiful.

I think my 9, 7 and 5 yo's would bust this in minutes - but I'm tempted to go measure my basement. What fun!

I don't think it's ugly at all. To know/see your kids having so much fun with it makes it the prettiest place in the house if you ask me ;)