Alamy
The other day, as I fought my way into my children's bedrooms to put away their toys (and throw a few away to make way for the onslaught of yet more to come from Santa), I paused and thought: "How much is this lot worth?"
Not in terms of how much I could sell it for on eBay – everything is so battered and beaten we couldn't even give it away – but how much it cost us to buy.
Boxes of Lego at £30 each; Scalextric and Brio car/train tracks at £100 each; at least 50 cuddly toys at a tenner a go; countless (incomplete) games, and (plastic) guns and (mostly unread) books, costing anything from a couple of pounds to £20.
And then you've got the Wii, and Nintendo, and the games for the Wii and the games for the Nintendo – the cost of which is so frightening I have blanked it from my memory. And, oh, so, so, much more.
If I'd thought about it too long, I'd have burst into tears and put a padlock on my wallet, but of course, it's Christmas: a time for squeezing our family budgets until the pips squeak.
Our family is not unique. According to a survey of 1,000 parents, the average 3-10 year old's bedroom is filled with a whopping £1,200 worth of toys – that's nearly five times the value of toys we parents had when we were youngsters.
So why the huge increase? Is it because we spoil our children more? Or simply that stuff today is massively more expensive?
The research, commissioned by Playmobil, said one of the driving forces behind the steep increase in the value of children's toys is the popularity of expensive tech and gadgets designed for kids.
More than 30 per cent of parents admitted their child owned a games console, whilst one in seven aged under 10 owned a tablet.
However, a third of mums (and, presumably, dads) said their child's favourite toy didn't require batteries: instead their children prefer classics such as cuddly toys, bikes and play sets.
Jamie Dickinson, Marketing Manager for Playmobil UK said: "It's encouraging to see that despite the prevalence of electronic toys, parents are still championing traditional play.
"Gadgets can be great fun, but when a child is given a tablet or console game, for example, they can only go as far as the game will allow them and for as long as their attention is kept.
"A traditional toy lets children lead their own playtime; whether a princess drives a recycling truck, an astronaut leads a pirate raid or dinosaurs visit a nativity scene – there's no limit to their imaginations."