I know what you mean, but don’t tell my SO that. He has somewhere around 20 monopoly variations. We have…star wars,vegas,dot.com,lord of the rings,simpsons,monopoly deluxe, 3 or 4 of the special edition monopoly games, the franklin mint set, animalopoly (from the rain forest cafe),make your own monopoly (you can design your own board and print up cards),monopoly for the PC and a couple others I’m forgetting right now. In case you were wondering, yes he is a tad obsessed.
There’s a Sephora Monopoly version! I know it’s a popular vendor but is it really in the common mind the way some of the other version icons are?
:::::sheepishly grins:::::
I got my son something like this for Christmas (it’s in the shape of a dinosaur). In my defense, he can do whatever he wants with the balls, and if he wants to turn it upside down, put the balls in sideways, whatever, he can do whatever he wants with it. He doesn’t have to play with it the ‘right’ way.
(He’s not quite big enough for it yet, but since he’ll be sitting up in a few months, we figured this would be a fun gift…).
And he does have a dump truck and a toy tractor (my aunt gave us a huge toy box of toys from her trips to yard sales :D).
E.
Q
Target has a line of toys now from National Geographic that look pretty neat. Has anyone tried them?
My 2 year old son already has tons of toys, I plan on weeding them out before Christmas. I try to only buy him “open ended” toys, things like the fisher price little people playsets or a play kitchen. This year for Christmas we are getting him a train set that we can add on to as he gets older.
I don’t like the push a button, make a noise toys either. And I plan to keep him off video games for quite a while yet. My six year old nephew already has a game boy and it’s all he wants to do.
For older kids, how about looking for some fun games? I loved board or action games when I was that age. Or get them something project-oriented like a model, or sports equipment if they are into it. Others have mentioned building sets like Legos and those are fun too. I have noticed lately though they seem to be going more toward single use sets, made to build one model and not the big general use sets like I remember. Or am I just not seeing those? I played with Legos just to make stuff and only built specific models a few times, but maybe some kids like that better. I just hate to see Lego become a model building toy because it is so good for freestyle.
Sephora is a cosmetics/skin/hair/perfume place
Sephora Monopoly "Sephora has teamed up with MONOPOLY to create a beauty-full edition of the classic game where you - GO TO JAIL for bad hair days, ADVANCE TO GO for winning a shopping spree, and pay for your products with Beauty Bucks. It’s every beauty enthusiast’s favorite pastime!
Buy, sell, and trade all the beauty-full products that make Sephora successful as you vie to own the Sephora empire. Stock your stores with beauty products and hire store directors and specialists, while ensuring that your store has all the essentials like water and electricity. Learn the basics of the beauty business from the beauty authority! "
Check out your local museums. I’ve been buying fabulous toys from the London Science Museum for years. The little critturs love them (as do the grown ups!).
For 3 to 6 year olds, might I suggest GeoTrax from Fisher Price. My three and four year old sons love it. They spend hours putting together different configurations; what they call “big cities”. The pieces are durable. Not one has broken, even under the stress of being stepped on, thrown, and dropped. They are great toys.
Well, I managed to track down a Snoopy Sno-Cone machine online. They have the older style ones all over ebay for $60, but I managed to find a “new” one online for $12 (plus some outrageous shipping costs). My wife says she loved hers as a kid, so we decided toget one for her niece, I didn’t realize these things were so scarce.
There’s plenty of good toys out there. I should know, as I have a nice selection of them stashed in our bedroom closet waiting for Christmas morning. Did a lot of shopping at a local specialty toy store, Larson’s Toys and Games, and a little bit of shopping online, mostly at www.highlights.com, www.constplay.com, and www.oompa.com.
That ball popping toy that Nava mentioned is extremely popular, and for what it’s worth, I have never seen a child use it for its intended purpose (put the ball in, watch the ball come out; repeat) for more than half a minute. My children managed to figure out how to disassemble the damn thing and make it shoot Legos across the room. I do not consider this particularly unusual behavior. But then I also have very little patience for people bemoaning the state of children in today’s society, particularly based on a survey of toys available on Amazon.com, for crying out loud.
Here’s a site that may be of interest. John Deere Tractor-- $47.99. Lincoln Logs-- check. Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots-- in stock. That wooden telephone thing that preschoolers swing around by the cord and split a playmate’s head open with-- they got those too. Get your kid an Evel Knievel Super Stunt Set and watch their face light up with wonder as you try and explain who Evel Knievel was.
Or explain what a corded telephone was! 
All is not lost. I went to the Mattel outlet in Fort Worth this evening and got a cool die cast '32 Ford Coupe, some Polly Pocket dolls and accessories, a punching Superman. Their main line was Barbie stuff, which the girls are still a little young for. They had a lot of empty shelf space, though.
Then I went to Big Lots. I got a lot of dress-up stuff and a Dora puppet and some coloring books.
I didn’t find any toy tractors. I guess I’ll have to let them play with the real one, as long as I disconnect the battery so they can’t start it or run down the battery.
My nephews have the ball-popping game, and somehow the air pressure that shoots the balls out at the top is off on their version. The balls hover at the top for some time before the pressure builds up enough to “pop” them out, and every so often, the air pressure builds up enough to shoot the ball across the room.
That makes it even more fun, because in addition to the “See who can grab the ball before it reaches the bottom of the ramp” game, there’s also “See who can knock the hovering ball off the top” game and the “See how far the ball shoots across the room when the air pressure goes wonky” game and the “Run after the ball when it shoots across the room” game.
By the way, thanks for all of the good suggestions.
As a new grandma this year, I’ve done a bit a shopping for what I fondly call “classic toys” - things where my grandbabies minds will stretch a bit when they pick them up and wonder “what can I do with this?”
Here are a couple of the sites I’ve ordered from:
So far, the favorite toys have been puppets, a dress up kit, wooden puzzles, and a plain old baby doll that doesn’t do anything special but came with dress up clothing.
::remembrance mode on:::
Back when AdoptaKids were small and I had a home daycare, we would institute MUD PIE DAY where the kids would wear their grungiest clothing (or swimsuit) and stay outside almost all day long making mud pies, building mud castles, having mud wars, and generally just getting filthy … the only “toys” they used were old plastic containers to shape the mud, the hose, tonka trucks, and a few army men. We would picnic outside and at the end of the day I would run the kids one by one through the shower AdoptaDad built on our back porch and put them in some clean clothes in time for their parents to pick them up. Those kids had a blast … I miss those days and am looking forward to mud pie days with my granddaughters.
:::remembrance mode off:::
Welcome the the Evil World of Commercialization of Our Children. It sucks beyond measure. And yeah, we had Commercialism when we were kids, but it wasn’t 24/7 of Cartoon Network/ Nickelodean and Playstation, et al.) It was different back then. Somehow.
I boycot Toys R Us (since at least 95, prolly since the late 80’s.) for having a soulless store that has robbed children of their childhood and pushed them directly into consumer driven zombies of Craptacular kiddie films and shows.
I heartily recommend finding a local independent toy store ( book stores too) and treat yourself to a real experience. You will find ones that are OK. Some that are Great and one that will blow you out of the water with fantastically fun stuff you’ve never heard of and you’d love to get as a present. The majority of Indy toystores make their money from Late October until after Christmas. The rest of the year it is a famine.
[Sidebar: There is a doper, whom I forget, who owns a toystore somewheres - Atlanta area? - . If you are still on board, I lost all my bookmarks and don’t have yours anymore. Email me, please![/sidebar]
Until you find one to adore and love and promise to *cherish and support **Forever ***, I humble suggest:
hearthsong Already suggested, great toys.
Magic Cabin outstanding stuff for the infant - 7 years of age with a narrow selection of just a bit older than 8 or 9. I love their stuff and the illustrations in their catalogs. ( I cut them out for my daughter to paste willynilly all over paper.)
Buy two of these for all out Ping Pong Ball Warfare! You know you want too!
The Toy Boat You can start your own regatta or Armada.
Kappla Blocks which are immensely fun and work with with the aboveformentioned ping pong ball catapult in destroying your enemies castle. ( You will need to pick up a couple of Papo or Schleich figures for full out battle. To say I’ve invested more money in these figures than my IRA in the last 8 years would be an understatement.)
Fun Again Games Board games, and not just the run of the mill stuff that is at every Kmart/Walmart/Megastore.
Games By James More games. Puzzles and stuff.
Puzzleusa great selection of puzzles.
Bruno Faidutti (board game reviewer. ) You will get lost in his site wandering around reading about games you’ve never heard of and now Must Have!!111!!. Two languages: english and frenchie.
Chinaberry Mostly books. Few games and delights for kids and adults. To say ** I (heart) Chinaberry **would be a modest understatement. They changed everything about parenting for me. But, I’ll spare you the Odes To Chinaberry. This time. Make sure you check out their audio collection -especially Jim Weiss - I have nearly all his stuff. He is an awesome story teller, right up there with Jim Dale, of Harry Potter Audio fame.
Front Porch Classics I’ve seen these rather expensive, but not cheaply made, games at bookstores and have liked what I’ve seen. The prices are prohibitive, to a tightwad like me, but they do appear on Ebay sometimes.
Zebra Hall Toys hard to find (expensive) but oh-so-cute european toys or $ toys. Their stuffed aminals are so SQUEEEEEE!
Rosie Hippo Their catalog is B&W, the website is a bit of a nightmare to navigate, but they are a wonderful supplier of natural baby-kid stuff for those who are into the Waldorf-y-Natural Child-Let kids be kids way ( as is Magic Cabin, Chinaberry.)
Vermont Country Store has nostolgia toys and stuff for granny. I love this catalog ( yet have never ordered from it.)
Live and Learn Kinda hard to navigate it, but great, great toys all done according to age range.
Young Explorers Good stuff for all ages.
Highlights Solid stuff from the Magazine that gave us Goofus and Gallant.
Doll Hospital and Toy Soldier Shop This is the toy store that I spent loads of hours in when I was a kid ( my best friend lived down the street and we hung out inside, gaping at everything. And the store was tiny then. Now…its fantabulously great!) The site blows chunks, however. Sorry. Also, if you have a treasured Dollie that is worse for wear, send her here. They are The Doll Doctors.
Two board games that are very popular here at Chateau Ujest are: **Sequence **and Pente. The first is at every Major Store and indy toy store Where you will buy it, right? the second is out of print but available on Ebay for an average of about $10 plus shipping. My 8 year old routinely kicks my ass in Pente
Back to Basics Toys If you cannot find anything you wanted as a kid in here or want in here now, you have so soul and I wash my hands of you and weep for your neices and nephews.
Some Ebay Sellers I’ve put on my favorite seller’s lists
Charis Games and Discgolf. Jandbcards indy games
Lilprinceohance
My Fun Family Store A family toy store.
Yardgames Australia Outdoors and Xlarge games like XL chess ( I want set!)
. One day, when I win the lottery, I’m buying a bunch o these. and then watch the kids all bounce around the yard.
Remember, kids want what they see on TV. You, my friend, are their portal to the Outside World. Lucky You!
You have to not only buy them a cool gift that will be deemed as a Classic by them when they are old farts ( in their 20’s) but you have to sit down with them and show them patiently why this game is so much fun.* It is about bonding and telling stories. * Especially stories involving you and their parental unit that you are related too and how that parental unit always ran over your doggie piece from Monopoly with the Race Car because he was a Douchecough…being Not Nice.
Kids love stuff like that.
Have fun!
If you have any questions, just email me.
If you find Dover Coloring Books grab them. It is Impossible to find non-commercialized coloring books out there.
Also, I have given these Red Farm Coloring Books as gifts to much success and delight. The paper is thicker so it can handle watercolor ( don’t get those cheap ass dot-water colors paints, either. Buy artist grade stuff…it lasts better and gives better color. Not much more money, really. Less frustration.) Hard to find in the Real world. There are about 5-10 Xlarge illustrations per book.
Wouldn’t happen to be part of the Roll-a-Rounds series would it? My daughter just has sets of the balls themselves and loves them. When she was very little she’d just look at them or reach for them. Eventually, she’d push them or try to pick them up. Now she throws them and kicks them, shakes them, talks to them and hides them. She put them in containers, she dumps them out of containers. She got them last Xmas when she was 3.5 months and is now 15 months. And, the balls can be used in any roll-a-round toys should we decide to get any. So your son can absolutely have creative play with a mainstream toy. So there!
My favourite store for challenging and fun toys for my daughter when she was younger was Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s. Unfortunately, I don’t think they ship outside Canada.