Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Holiday gifts: hits and misses?

DD8 is very excited about the Snap Circuits Extreme set she received (she played with Snap Circuits, Jr. until she broke it recently). She also LOVES the Lego Friends sets and has been building them, then rebuilding - complete with a pink and purple Mars Rover ("Mom, look! I can make it Curiosity or Sojourner!").

DS5 is busy staging a battle between the Lego X-Wing Fighter and Tie Fighter.

They have also been working nicely together on a large Global Puzzle. Ah, the sounds (or lack thereof) of busy children...

Hits:

DD loves her teepee and a standing art easel and art supplies. She basically only comes out of her teepee to eat and to draw on the easel. The chalk ink pens seem to be the favorite new art medium.

We also upgraded her bath toys and bathrobes.

The squishy human anatomy model is a huge hit with DD. Her father finds it rather disturbing and I must admit, it's a little creepy (both the object and DD's affection for it).

Misses:

She hasn't played with her Goldilocks and the 3 bears dollhouse. I thought it'd be a big hit but I guess she just isn't a dollhouse person.

Books and clothes do not make good Christmas gifts for DD, at least not yet. She wants to choose her own clothes and she "gets" new books from the library almost everyday so not much excitement there.

Overall, we did well this year. We didn't buy any big toys but got her items that are appropriate to her developmental needs. I also got over the fear that other people might walk into her playroom and think that I'm pushing her to grow up too fast and that helped a lot.

For DS2, expected hits:

- 3 Bruder trucks I bought used off Kijiji for $13 each (they usually retail $80+ apiece, and I bought spare parts to refurbish them).

Unexpected hit: a set of Lego from my parents. I honestly didn't think DS had sufficient dexterity to graduate from using Duplo, but apparently it's no problem for his baby hands.

Miss/not played with yet: a magnetic wand, a prism (was summarily slammed on the kitchen floor, to my chagrin)

He's literally been playing non-stop with these four hit objects.

DS3 loves, loves, loves his bozo the clown bop bag.

Setting it near the stairs and doing a leaping kick/tackle is a favorite move.

DD9 has loved her iPad, telescope, and loom band kit (I made out of a plano box - loaded it up with a bunch of bands) and Legos.

The only gift she seems to be disappointed with is some remote control ball that her grandparents got her that does not seem to work as it should.

I spent much of today organizing DS' new toy acquisitions.

Conclusion: He's more interested in modifying the toys to be something else.

Hit or Miss?

Hit for DD (just turned4): "chokeable" legos (as opposed to Duplo), & coloring pens/pencils (metallic)

misses: everything else. She just wanted the legos.

DD(18 mo) hits: a stackable metal xylophone & everything her sister got

Oooh, please review these as you use them. We have MindBlowing Science (pretty good) but I'd like to get DS some science kits for his upcoming birthday. I ALMOST got the triops kit.


DD asked for books, but I didn't get her any for this reason. No one throw things at me. We are totally out of bookshelf space! And our library is great, and we go there a lot. I will selectively buy favorites or sometimes really popular series (I did buy some Warriors books, which were too hard to get in order at the library when she was obsessing over them). And of course we have lots of classics.

My kids are older, but the biggest hits this year:
- Game called "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night". It is a board game where you are given the first line(s) of a book and have to name the title or author.
- String of Tardis lights for dorm room of the college student.

Being totally free from the whole gift culture is a huge hit with us.