A warm welcome to everyone coming from Moms Favorite Stuff! I hope you’re enjoying the festivities leading up to Toy Tuesday, December 8th.
If you’re just now joining us, we’re having virtual play time (or a blog hop) and sharing our favorite toys, toy trends, and places to buy them for the best bargains of the year.
After my tips on making Christmas Day more fun for everyone,
learn how to enter to win a $250 gift card
AND a $500 in products to your favorite charity or school!
I have 3 boys, two of which are only 22 months apart. There can be some serious competition and disappointment on Christmas morning if I neglect to keep a few things in mind while toy shopping. Therefore, I thought I’d share with you my philosophy on Christmas toy buying which makes Christmas morning more fun for everyone.
The Tip Junkie’s Christmas Toy Philosophy: Limit your gifts to 4-8 (depending on cost) for each child. Make sure there are a variety of good quality toys so nothing breaks and there’s plenty to do throughout Christmas day. This ensures no one is disappointed or is bored an hour after opening presents.
1. First, know what your child wants. I take into consideration my boys’ wish list and their likes and dislikes. You can have the best variety of toys imaginable but if it doesn’t cater to their special interests then it’s still a no-go.
2. Next, I like to make sure my boys each get:
- Something to build
- A video game to play
- A toy for their imagination
- An item to build on whatever they are collecting
- Something to play with outside
- A board game
- A big gift from Santa
Any of these qualities can be combined for one toy. For instance my boys’ favorite Christmas gifts have combined “something to build” with “a toy for their imagination”. Having a wide range of toys expands their uses, creativity, play time, and excitement throughout the day.
Things to Build:Â Marble Run, K-nex, Bionicles
Favorite Video Games: My Sims Agents, Star Wars Legos, Mario Kart
My Favorite Toys We’ve Collected:Â Anything Star Wars, Imaginext, Legos
From Santa: Santa gifts are usually large and go for the shock value. I don’t go overboard on price but I do try to make it fun and unique.
Other options to consider:
- Art supplies: to paint, draw, or create. Play-Doh, Pixo’s, and craft kits
- Electronics:Â MP3 player, DS, radio, spy gear, watch, Funkeys, computer game
Entertaining Toys:
- Zoom-o (surprisingly fun for $10)
- Anything Nerf
- Air Hogs (the new ones are more durable)
5. I try to keep things fair:
- The same number of gifts or price range for each child.
- Size matters with boys! So I make sure each kiddo has the same number of “large” wrapped gifts. Even if I have to put a toy inside a larger box. {{evil laugh}}
- Same number of items in stocking and I try to have larger items next to stocking for shock value when the boys come down the stairs.
So what’s your toy buying philosophy?
Feel free to leave a comment which automatically enters you to win a $250 gift card. Details below.
Huge thanks to Bill Me Later for organizing such an informative and fun play time. Feel free to check out all the blogs participating and their favorite toys and money saving deals. They’re worth the read.
What is Toy Tuesday?
Toy Tuesday will occur on December 8th and is a one day sale event held over on Bill Me Later’s website. You’ll find all kinds of amazing deals to wrap up all your holiday shopping from these stores:
| Toys R Us | Walmart.com |
| eToys | Mercantila (trampolines) |
| FAO Schwarz | Drugstore.com |
| Little Tikes | HP.com |
| Overstock.com | MacMall |
| Step 2 | and moreÂ… |
Bill Me Later wants to get YOUR attention and to do so they’ve not only come up with a really fun campaign that introduces you to some new bloggers and new toys, but they are putting up some serious CASH and discounts!
Bill Me Later has made it really easy to enter to win a $250 gift card AND $500 in products to the winners favorite charity or school. They aren’t messing around and are taking good care of everyone involved. They’re buying some toys from Wal-Mart for my boys AND they’re paying YOU some hard core cash to get your attention.
A $250 gift certificate to FAO Schwarz and a
$500 product donation to the school or charity of winners choice.
Share what toys you are most excited about giving this year
or your toy buying philosophy in the comments.
This giveaway will only last until midnight Saturday (CST).
P.S. Toy Junkie’s, tomorrow head on over to Bargain Briana for her toy tips and another $750 in giveaways.
I’m making my children special reading pillows, and the older ones are getting small MP3 players to listen to audiobooks while they follow along in the book. The older ones are also getting new watches. My 3 year old LOVES football, and will be getting child size football pads and a helmet. My 17 month old is getting her first baby doll with a special moses basket and a couple outfits and blankets.
My kids are a little older now but we still adhere to a couple of family guidelines. Quality ~vs~ quantity, “Want, wear, need, read” and we add a fifth “fun”. Some sort of game. This year we went on eBay and found several older games that are hard to find. Those will be coming from Santa.Then there are the family traditions. The most important is the one on December 1st. Each child/grandchild gets a new holiday pillowcase and a Christmas book to add to their collections. It’s great fun to read the stories throughout the month. Each child has their own bookplate so they can keep their collection together and take them when they leave home.
I like buying toys that will last more than a few months and encourage the child to thing!
I’d love to buy a bike for my 1 1/2 yr old!
This year is going to be a really low key Christmas at our house. I was laid off at 8 months pregnant and have been unable to find another job! In an effort to stay debt free during these hard times, we are not giving gifts to anyone but our 11 year old… and he has been very understanding and has asked for only a Nerf ammo box. I hope to be able to buy him a few more items also, but I will be very excited to just give him the ammo box that he wants. He understands that this year Christmas morning will not be like previous years, he’s such a good boy!