What’s In Your Toybox?
A few of our favorite toys.
I was recently asked to write a guest-blog post for City Mommy, a local community website for moms in cities and towns around the country (you sign up, and access forums for local groups, and so on — a virtual coffee shop for moms). Anyway, I thought for a bit about what I might want to write about, and for some reason, toys leapt to mind.
Just the other day, on my way into James’ preschool for pickup, I ran into another mom on her way out with her son. They were happy to report that they were on their way to Toys R Us for a treat, because the boy had worn his new prescription glasses all day (no mean feat for a 5-year-old!). Said Glasses Boy’s mom: “When James heard me say we were going to Toys R Us, he said, ‘My mom never takes me there.’ ”
True!
Glasses Boy’s mom thought this was hilariously funny. “I told James you probably go there plenty without him,” she said. I just shrugged. Not really.
What I find with my sons — and I know I’m not alone here — is that they’ll rediscover toys they haven’t played with in months. Right now, their latest must-do is setting up train tracks (thanks for those, Aunt Debbie!), and re-creating scenes from “Thomas and Friends” with their small collection of trains (thanks again, Aunt Debbie, and whoever else gave us Thomas trains over the years!). Here’s this morning’s setup:
Hours of amusement (well, an hour at least).
We have what I think is a perfectly acceptable amount of toys, but the vast majority of them — I’m no mathematician, but I’m thinking about 90-95% — were gifts. (That number got a big bump up after I threw the boys their first kid-birthday party last fall.)
So that’s what I wrote about in my guest-blog post for City Mommy. Go take a look, then come back and tell me about the state of your toybox.
June 16, 2009 @ 4:59 pm
I’d say most of our toys were presents too. Even the ones “from us” were usually given as Christmas or birthday presents. Although we did just spring and buy our machine-crazy 3-yr-old 2 Tonka machine (that we didn’t have!) at a garage sale this weekend. Total cost: $10.
June 16, 2009 @ 8:58 pm
Most of ours are either gifts or left over from when the big boys were little and I went on a year-long toy-buying binge, which I came to regret. I hate Toys R Us…hate it, hate it, hate it. We got a $50 gift card there a few years ago and I actually left without spending it–we all got so overwhelmed and cranky! There were just too many options, it was too big, poorly laid-out, etc.
That said, I do have a lot of fun in those “creative” toy stores where they have the dress-up stuff, Playmobil, etc. I just don’t spend much money in them!
June 18, 2009 @ 11:18 am
OK. So here’s what a mean mommy I am, as it relates to two of your recent posts: I purposefully haven’t had many kid parties for my children so that they won’t receive dozens upon dozens of toys that they don’t need. That probably sounds awful, but both of my children have birthdays immediately following the holidays, and so they’re already innundated with a ridiculous number of presents at that time of year. Do they really need more? We requested donations for an animal charity at the last kid party we hosted, but parents still felt compelled to send their children with gifts. And it’s always toys!!
I just don’t get it. People (and this includes family) will ask me what my kids want for a holiday or for their birthdays, and I’ll say that they’re happy with a book or clothing — and it’s true. They really enjoy those things. But the gift giver almost inevitably replies, “That’s boring! I’m not getting them that.” How can you fight such a pervasive attitude?
June 21, 2009 @ 12:28 am
My 3 yr old also has a birthday right after the holidays. To cut down on the toy onslaught (since he gets plenty of gifts from 2 sets of grandparents), for the past 2 years, we’ve done food drives for Second Harvest in Central Florida at his birthday parties — an idea I totally ripped off from another mom. Instead of gifts, guests bring bags of nonperishable food, which we then drop off at the Second Harvest warehouse in Orlando. We’re (hopefully) teaching him about giving back to the community … and (also hopefully) stemming the tide of toy creep, something I ‘m desperate to do as you can see from my own post — Toys R Us Has Exploded In My Living Room (http://www.norinedworkin.com/blog/?p=44)
Norine
Frugal Hack: Let Kids Invent Their Own Toys (Or, It’s Only Dental Floss)
June 22, 2009 @ 11:19 am
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June 23, 2009 @ 1:02 am
This post is so right up my alley. This is a huge issue for me. I really notice my children play better with their toys when they have fewer around. And they appreciate them better too. I would prefer my children make things to play with rather than buy new.
I was so relieved when we moved to Japan because people don’t typically have kid birthday parties here and people just don’t have room for a lot of toys. We still have had to deal with lots of presents from other people, mostly relatives, at birthdays and holidays, and it’s hard – it’s like a losing battle with some of them (like you describe above), who just don’t understand the downside of overindulgence.
I have bought toys over the last 9 years, but very sparingly and with care. The toys we get the most use out of are multiple-use toys – kapla blocks and other building blocks, some playmobil figures, etc. They last through multiple kids and can be used in so many ways.
Now that we are going to be having even more children in the house (number 4 this fall) I am culling through all our clothing, toys, and books because everyone can share and it would be impossible to keep track of things otherwise.
Christine
Confessions of a Mean Mommy » Blog Archive » My first giveaway! Win a LeapFrog Tag Reader
September 15, 2009 @ 10:45 am
[…] you’ve been reading Confessions, you already know I don’t buy a lot of toys for my sons. I like toys, I honestly do, but there are few things I’d spend my money on (and before you […]
Confessions of a Mean Mommy » Blog Archive » Wanting, Wishing, Hoping… What Gifts Will You Give This Year?
December 1, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
[…] written before about how I don’t buy many (or any) toys, which has led to a relatively sparse playroom. That’s changed in the time since I wrote it, […]