Enough serious stuff. I have finally gotten my head around the holidays and spent yesterday morning trudging from store to store with a folded up list zipped up in the pocket of my Land’s End down jacket.
Question of the Day: What’s on your shopping list?
Some items on mine. (more later)
For My Brother, Sister, and Cousins Conversation and Booze. We get the grandparents to watch the kids and eat a lot of good food in a nice restaurant.
For My Single Friend Who Always Buys Stuff For My Kids And Gets Gyped in the Present Department Stila Makeup. Eye Shadow Trio Chamomile
For a Three Year Old Boy He’s easy. It’s all about trains, so I got a good deal on an electric Thomas set
For the 6 Year Old Boy This is getting harder. I went to Crap R’ Us and all they have for six year old boys are gameboys and action figures. We’re not totally against video games, but we reserve them for the computer. That way he has to negotiate for time on it and he plays the historic role playing stuff with his father. Jonah has some knight action figures that are pretty nice, but he doesn’t need anymore. And I hate all the action figures associated with the Cartoon Network, like the Power Rangers. Badly made and designed. Legos are always good, but he’s got one bucket of them which is quite enough. We’ll have to think more about that one.
For the Mother in Law I went to Chico’s which is geared for her age and body type. Apparently, the company has been doing well. Big nubby sweaters with lots of doo-dads on them really appeal to that demographic. I just can’t see spending 90 bucks on a doo-dad sweater, so I’m going to look elsewhere.
Apt. 11d 
Fun post!
First off: isn’t the packaging with Stila cute? I didn’t realize Anthropologie carries the line (and with different packaging). I love to go to A. to drool, but rarely buy anything. (I think I bought a notebook once.)
Conversation and booze = GREAT gift!
Electric train: best gift of all!
On to your post question: can’t tell you what’s on my list, but I can tell you where I shop. I’m miffed at Target’s recent handling of the prescrition thing, so I’ve sworn off them. (Sent them an email and everything.) Then caught myself shopping there the other day. I need to work on my boycotting skills.
I won’t set foot in WalMart. What does that leave? Ross Dress for Less, Mervyns (CA store), Marshalls, Costco, and Trader Joe’s (the last two for food). And major department stores like Macy’s (again, I think they’re just the west coast).
(Gone to sleep yet?)
LikeLike
My 2.5 year cannot think about anything else except Thomas and Friends!!
Here’s a tip: AllAboardToys.com has a ton of Thomas stuff (from tracks to pjs to toothbrushes) and a lot of good sales and you earn reward cash for every purchase. So far, they are the best prices I have found for Thomas stuff on the ‘Net. He’s getting all train/Thomas stuff for Christmas!
His sister is another story. She’s into Barbie and Polly Pocket right now….every month it’s a “new thing” she’s into. I usually just wait until it passes…lately, she’s been into wearing princess clothes and dancing to the Nutcracker Suite! cute!
LikeLike
I went insane today on amazon…the same thing that happened last year, where the things I really must get because my older daughter has her heart set on them, went missing off amazon and I had to go looking elsewhere (this year it was the harry potter scene it game; last year it was ‘spy-toys’). The science kit she wanted was not available till January–what’s up with that? And when you select “group in as few boxes as possible to save money” rather than “ship as fast as possible” (which gets insanely expensive), then just ONE ITEM not available until after Dec. 25 sends HALF YOUR ITEMS until the not available until the after Dec. 25 category. That happened to me last year after hours of online shopping and I HAD HAD IT. That happened to me today again and then when I hit the backspace button I thought for a minute I had lost everything.
BTW, have you checked out zazzle? With the new 39 cent stamp, personalized stamps might be a good option for MIL, and they also make personalized t-shirts and nightshirts, which I think I’ve seen my students wearing and if so, they look fantastic. Nothing like the “decal” look. They look like professional (if egoistic) images. I was thinking of getting my MIL a nightshirt with a wonderful old black and white photo of her with newborn DH skeeping on her. I’m also going to use my sister’s own photos from climbing mountains out West to make a card set and stamps for her.
LikeLike
for the three and six year olds…..BOOKS.
(not to mention subscriptions to LadyBug or Cricket or whichever version is age appropriate)
The six year old is almost ready for (ugh!) HP or you can read the Wizard of Oz to him. ANd they are both ready for Milne (the REAL versions not the disney versions). And how about Noggin (the web site) instead of xboxes or whatevfer. And even in NJ, I assume they play baseball at 6 or 7. I know it is the wrong time of year, but it the first month can be spent “breaking in” the glove.
baseball and books.
Not a bad combination.
LikeLike
Yes, books big time. I was thinking about devoting a whole post to just that one. We were thinking about sporting equipment, but it does seem mean to give him something that he can’t use yet. But maybe a sled would work.
LikeLike
Or, how about indoor croquet?
Or, a table top air hockey game?
Or, a fish tank (w/fish or a frog or turtle)?
Or, a radio/CD player for his room and some CDs (do they still make those book & “record” combos for early readers?)
LikeLike
Or Playmobil – lots of cool sets that 6-year-olds like to play with (Vikings, pirates, knights with castles and dragons). I got some older discontinued sets from ebay because they were in themes my kiddos likes. There’s a new pirate chest that’s portable – it stores the toys inside it, so it’s good for trips.
Zoob – another cool building toy.
Books on CD – Jim Weiss’s stories are terrific for this age group (King Arthur and his Knights, The Three Musketeers, Giants, etc.).
Books, books, books!
LikeLike
I won’t type the whole list here (note: a lot of people are getting ceramics. Last year I was bowl woman, this year? mug woman)…
But for Emma’s birthday (the 26th) I shelled out for a reasonably cheap digital camera (on black Friday, such a deal), picked up a girl-oriented scrapbook kit and scrapbook, and I’ve made her an lj. She’s turning 9, but between fine motor frustrations with writing and the maturity-lag with her ADHD I usually try to buy stuff geared to a year or two younger or she’ll be too frustrated.
Anyway, she’ll have the scrapbook (which she’ll draw in, cut things out, write captions (writing practice!!)…and the lj is a photoblog. I’ll help her with the technical aspects, but it’ll be all Emma, all the time. She likes to see herself on the computer (I’ve made 3 cute icons of the Many Moods of Miss Em) and she and I can work on typing her responses together (spelling practice!!).
I’m trying to decide if I’m nuts. Between black Friday and the party this Friday at Chuck E. Cheese (uuuugh. UUUGH) I will have suffered mightily for this b-day, so she’d better be happy with it or I might lose my mind.
(oh, and I got her a bunch of word-find and other puzzle-type books for Winter Holiday, as she likes to mess with that. Is your 6-year-old into puzzles or brain teasers? Imaginarium has some fun things, and ordering from Amazon means not having to drive in holiday traffic! Oh, and Captain Underpants!)
LikeLike
Thanks all for the help. I am not a huge shopper, so it is hard to get into consumption mode all of a sudden.
The six year old is going to get a CD player, which are very reasonable at Circuit City. $30 or something. We’re looking around for a bean bag for him with the plans of turning a corner of the basement into his chill out space.
Yes, I saw the brain teasers at Imaginarium and will pick up a couple.
Playmobil is an excellent idea. I’ll have to check it out on Friday.
I heard that they have a two person tobaggan at the Christmas Tree store for $10.
I just got back from IKEA. I was looking for jumping around toys for the three year who just diagnosed with sensory integration disorder. Jumping things are good for him. Almost everything was sold out, so I have to go back next week.
The in-laws are getting a combo gift. Black and Decker has a storm emergency kit, which is perfect for their North Carolina shore house. I got my MIL some body lotion and little bowls to make up for the practical gift.
How many hours do we spend doing all this stuff?
LikeLike
My six (nearly seven) year old loves his Playmobil stuff. TJ Maxx and Marshalls often have it at good prices.
He asked for more K’nex, since he already has a metric ton of Legos and Magnetix. Other than that he just wants weaponry, and is doomed to disappointment over it.
LikeLike