For all the gifts we gave each other, to get them all to work, we need:
26 batteries
Sadly, I have a single AA (without stealing from existing toys); I thought we had a big box of AA’s in the pantry, no dice. I’m off to the 7-11 to get reamed for some Duracells.
Your post reminds me of something I heard in the drugstore yesterday. It was Christmas eve morning and the store was packed. Who knew that was the happening place to be on Christmas eve?!
Overheard:
One shopper: How about batteries?
Companion shopper: Yeah, batteries are always good.
I was all :dubious: . People buy just batteries for other people on Christmas?
But seeing your post, maybe it was a good idea. 
I think, for the first time in the history of Christmas, we didn’t exchange any gifts that require batteries (unless you count my little brother’s iPod).
I put batteries in my husband’s stocking. You can never have too many batteries.
I’m fixing to go to Walgreen’s for batteries. A lot of batteries, of varying denominations.
:smack:
Drugstore employee here to tell you that Christmas Eve is our top sales day every year, followed by Valentines Day and Mother’s Day. But we’ll be putting out the Valentine’s stuff tomorrow, in case you want an early start. :rolleyes:
4 AA’s, for one toy.
All the other toys don’t need batteries (we went traditional, lots of non-battery toys he’s now full up on Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, Woody Click, books, etc).
Heh, my kid’s 8, just try going sans batteries at that age – an MP3 player (Shaker), a robot dog that you plug the MP3 player into that moves and lights up, a tiny indoor helicopter (whose controller takes 6 (!) AA’s), a microscope (a pretty cool one, too), and on and on and on.
OTOH, he got a latchhook kit (really! he loves crafts) and marble madness and other non-battery things.
None–particularly noteworthy since we have kids. They’re only two, though; this may be the last year we can go powerless. Fortunately, we stocked up on rechargeables when they were babies.
I don’t have any batteries in my stockings.
For skiing on Christmas Eve day, I had battery warmed boot insoles, battery warmed gloves, battery powered goggle fan, battery powered GPS, battery powered cell phone, battery powered EPIRB, and a battery powered helmet MP3 player, but no batteries in my stockings.
I feel left out. Sniff.
I gave gifts requiring a grand total of nine AAA batteries (three in each of three identical gifts.) I included a pack of four AAA batteries with each package.
I received no gifts requiring batteries. I did however receive two rechargeable AA batteries and two rechargeable AAA batteries, with a charger that handles both.
I got and gave books, videogames, and clothing; no batteries. The only battery powered gifts anyone gave each other that I recall were the laser pointer my brother got; his old one broke recently ( he uses it to play with his girlfriend’s dog, who loves the chase-the-red-dot game ).
Totnak was the only one who got gifts that required external batteries (flodjunior’s iPod has its own, of course), but he got a lot:[ul]
[li]a Wii with two remotes, for a total of 4 AAs (actually he also got one after-market recharger set),[/li][li]a radio-controlled car that needs 4 AAs plus a 9V for the remote,[/li][li]an Operation board game that runs on 2 AAs, and[/li][li]a mini air hockey game that needs 2 Ds![/li][/ul] D-cells. Wow. We don’t have any of those in the house - in fact I was only vaguely aware that they still existed - so we still haven’t tried out that. Anyway, that’s a total of 11 batteries, and all for one kid.
A hint for next year, for those of you who live near an IKEA store: they sell boxes of ten AAs for cheap, and the batteries are in our experience just as good as name brands. Nice stocking stuffers for kids in the everything-takes-AAs stage of late childhood.
Whoops, I lied. My husband reminded me my mom sent us an RC helicopter that takes SIX AAs.