Do you think its wrong to get second hand toys for Xmas

[DammitJanet]

Thing is haozi...this year...toys are hosing big time.

I did get one thing today when I was out for keyana. Remember those little potholder looms? I picked up one of those for her. I had one of them when I was little and I loved it. Maybe she will too. They also had a set to make candy jewelry that looked interesting. Im thinking about that. The age on it was 8 but what 8 year old still wants to make candy necklaces?

 

[Hound dog]

Well, Janet..........

Don't feel bad. I just went a leeetle nuts on xmas. D@mn layaway. lol

Walgreens had a pretty darn good toy sale going on........buy 2 of their 6 something toys and get the 3rd free. I did that 3 times. lol Nice stuff too. Then went to walmart and got Darrin and Brandon done, got one or two things for Connor. (that age group is awful for boys this year) Went to kmart got Kayla and Alex and Evan started, finished up Connor.

Alex is my tough to buy for this year. I think I'm gonna go nuts. He may be 10 but he's really hovering at about 4. And unless he likes something specific......there just isn't much. I did get him this matchbox airport for his hot wheels. (and I'll probably have to buy him some hot wheels too) I figure all boys like cars. But he's obsessed with spiderman and batman. So I'll have to wait and go to Toys R Us.

Kayla got the new Ultimate Easy Bake Oven with some packs for it. A Disney princess bank.

I think it's bad I already forget what I got Evan........but with so many boys they all start to run together. I think I picked him up a black & decker chain saw for kids. oh and a truck and trailer set.

 

[DammitJanet]

Is Connor just over a year? does he like balls? There is this adorable thing by Vtech that is a bowling center but the pins are animals and stay connected to the toy. It is 18-36 months. Im pretty sure a baby a year old could figure it out...lol. I got it for Mikey because he loves balls. It teaches ABC's or at least sings the song...lol. Also says the colors and animal names. Its only 19.99 or so at walmart and you can add stuff to your layaway there. Just take the toy back to layaway and tell them you want to add it to your list.

 

[1905]

I know every black friday cvs has all their toys buy 1 get 1 free, they have Disney stuff and fisher price, some of their stuff is junk, but I go and scout it out beforehand. They do this every year, I'msure they'll do it this year. I was just at cvs and they had the halloween stuff 90% off. They had a ton of those glow necklace and bracelets. I got a big bag of those rubber spider rings, bats and skeltons for 50 cents, those fuzzy socks you wear as slippers for 29 cents, they don't say hallowen on them, just they are orange, green and white....for 29 cents, stocking stuffer! Plus I got these witch tights, a hat, a glitter cape, green hair color spray....the whole costume was 3 dollars, it's for next year. They did have decorations and toys. They had Russell shorts and t-shirts for 90% off...I got 6 shorts for 50 cents each. I spent less than 8 dollars, seriously, you may find some some treasures.

 

[Hound dog]

I'll have to take a look at that Janet. Thanks.

I've got to sit down and make a list of what I have for whom and then start again. I'm having issues because there is so many cute things out there for Aubrey this year......and dang it to heck, she's only gonna be little once. I didn't get to do kayla at this age at all, so the boys might have to look the other way if Nana gets a tad out of hand. lol

I'm attempting to shoot for one biggish gift then some smaller ones. I need to scout out cvs, I don't think I've even looked at their toys but ours doesn't seem to stock many.

I did pick up some spider webs and a jug of fake blood at kmart off their 90 percent off halloween rack. Looked at the costumes that were outrageously cheap but......not really anything any of the grands would care for.

 

[HaoZi]

CVS Black Friday Flyer and Ad Scan 2011

What CVS is planning for black Friday, starting on Thanksgiving. It's a 3 day sale.

 

[Hound dog]

OMG! Died and gone to heaven..................

And the toys look pretty good too.

Did you see all that stuff that is FREE due to getting the same amount back in extra care bucks??

Sort of makes up for this weeks blah sale. lol

 

[buddy]

I am so regretting re-reading the updates on this thread. I now have this going thru my head:

baby alive soft and sweet, she can drink she can eat......

 

[DammitJanet]

lmao.

okay lisa...tell me what is so cute out there for Aubrey because we share a same aged child! Maybe I am just lost.

 

[HaoZi]

Uhhh....Zhuzhu pets?

 

[1905]

CVS has the best stuff for free....those phillips earbuds are only 99cents, the toiletries that are free last my difficult child all year, he gets an entire stocking full of razors and toothpaste etc.....He just had dinner with us tonight and he was out of all that, I gave him a ton of the freebies from my stash. He was in heaven. He just ran out of his supply from last Christmas. He doesn't know about coupons, he would just pay full price.

I know that circular is going to say buy 1 get 1 free toys!

 

[DammitJanet]

You know, when those electronic hamsters first came out I wanted to get them for Keyana but then I thought carefully. I have a dog who loves to chew up everything and I realized that those would fast become dog toys...lol. I have no idea if the little dog she has at her moms house is the same as our dog but its a little yorkie so Im not gonna chance it. They sure are cute though.

They have a ton of little collectable stuff now that doesnt look fun to me. I mean tiny stuff that maybe should come out of gum machines but is now sold in the toy store but who am I to say what 7 year olds like?

 

[Hound dog]

Littlest Pet shop. Aubrey is bonkers for them. And they're not as teeny now as when they first came out.

The baby dolls are sooooo darn cute this year. Not necessarily the ones that do anything, just the ordinary snuggle up love em baby dolls. And of course all the accessories. The play kitchen stuff (go to kmart I nearly cried over the kenmore stuff they have!)

The Olivia dollhouse playset. (you'd have to know the show it's one of her favs)

The furniture for the FP dollhouse Nichole got her.......... Shoot I could go nuts with that alone. lol

Walgreens has a pet carrier with supplies with a puppy that barks that is adorable. Ten bucks. I had to put that back today or I was going to run out of money. She goes nuts for this stuff.

The barbie laptop. I don't know if this one is in stores, someone here has it on cheapcycle and I'm chomping at the bit. But she plays on her parents computer so I doubt it would appeal to her.

Kmart nearly did me in..........easy child had to drag me out of the girls section. Way better than walmart. I nearly went nuts on kayla too......but like I said, easy child drug me out of there.

 

[DammitJanet]

I have the doll house and most of the furniture still. Not getting anymore now at least until she comes back fulltime. By then we will probably be restocking it for Mickey. I actually bought way too much furniture for that doll house when my dad bought her the house. I loaded it down with furniture. Now my little dog has chomped on some of it and some has been lost over the last two years but what we will probably need to most replace is the dolls. I can do that when she is either wanting to play or Mickey gets older. As of now, the house just sits closed up in her room right now.

I am still just thinking thinking. LOL. I do have a feeling there will be something electronic in her gift list, just which one is the question. I am going round and round in my mind. If I had a fortune it would be the ipad. sigh.

 

[Hound dog]

Aubrey is so easy because she's her mom all over again. Since Nichole is me all over again...........it's like I can read their minds.

Aubrey loves anything to do with playing house and mommy, animals, crafty things, plants, drawing (she's quite the budding artist). So I literally could walk through the little girl isle and fill up two carts without batting an eye if I had the money for it.

Darrin, Brandon, and Connor are equally as easy because I spend so much time with them I know what they like and want.

Katie's kids are much tougher. Kayla isn't bad. But the boys function much younger than they are and they tend to hyper focus in one area. I did last year manage to get Alex to branch out from his super heros to military toys thanks to Darrin. But it gives me a narrow window to work in which makes them much harder to shop for, especially Alex.

 

[susiestar]

Lisa, if you are not on freecycle, find the one for your area and join NOW. Have Nichole do it also. then post in both places about batman/spiderman toys for a special needs boy. You will probably get some great stuff. At least here you would. Last year there was a post from a woman wanting rescue heroes stuff. thank you had outgrown it but not gotten rid of it, mostly very lightly used because he had so much from bdays, gparents, and what we found at yard sales. The woman wanted it for his birthday in Nov, plus ideas for a rescue hero party. You can't find RH party goods anymore because they only made them maybe the first 2 yrs they were out. WHich was years before the birthday party we had for thank you wtih that theme. So I gave her my ideas and boxed up all the RH toys and videos, plus threw in a box of other vhs tapes my kids had outgrown. I got a huge hug from a woman bawling her eyes out - her husband had worked at a factory that closed here and his new job paid half of the old job. She was thrilled and apparently told her son the toys were from a boy in town who wanted to share them because he had loved htem but outgrown them. He called and thanked me on the phone (the little boy) - wanted to thank thank you but he wasn't home. It was super sweet.

We get a LOT of stuff like that going on with our freecycle. People are cleaning out for xmas toy drives, so if you post on freecycle you may get very lucky.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Susie... I love the personal-connection approach, too. Our kids have a hard time letting go of stuff. So its really hard to get stuff "out the door". Lately, we've been asking them "who do you think we should give this to?"... and its amazing the people they think of who could really use it... but our kid feels better because it was a "gift" to a "friend" (even if its a neighbor we don't know well, its still a personal connection). Makes it easier to let go.

 

[susiestar]

As far as secondhand toys, the kids rarely care unless someone has taught them to care. They focus on how they can have fun wth the toy, not who made it and how much it cost to get it. My kids have more fun iwth the gift baskets/kits we put together than the store made ones. They are always wondering where the rest of the gift it when it is a store gift basket or kit because the ones we make have enough to do a lot with. They also prefer experience gifts and magazines because those spread the holiday out instead of having it all lumped on one day.
They have a lot of magazines for $5 to $10 per year - far less than the reg subscription price through the magazine, but you get the same thing.

 

[Hound dog]

Susie that's a great idea for Alex! I'm always giving away on there, I rarely think to actually ask for something. lol

 

[DammitJanet]

Well forever I never asked for anything for xmas but last year I asked for my ereader and got it. This year I am asking for a specific bluetooth headset for my phone because I have tried the cheap ones several times and they just dont work for me. The one I want isnt that expensive (about 30 bucks) but it fits over the head and the boom piece comes down in front of my mouth. I dont much like the ones that go just over the ears because I think my ears are shaped funny or something.