Christmas this year...
 

what are you moving heaven and earth to get for your child/children?

the most expensive thing on my daughters list is 100 dollars and its this

http://www.celticdesade.com/upload/raptor.jpg

his renegade from Jurassic Park will respond to your touch and to sounds in the environment. If you touch it’s face it will nuzzle your hand. The Roboraptor features three modes of play: Hunting mode, Cautious mode, and Playful mode. Roboraptor is in stores now.

Details: The Roboraptor runs on six “AA” batteries, for the robot, and three “AAA” batteries that go in the remote. He has twin infrared sensors which allow him to avoid obstacles while roaming around your house. He has touch sensors in his mouth, on his head, and on his tail. His reaction to being touched will depend in what mode he is currently in. In Hunting mode he’ll roar and bite and gnash his teeth when touched. In cautious mode he’ll make noises and retreat warily. In playful mode he’ll do a little wiggle and depending on which sensor, will also nuzzle your hand or play tug of war with your finger if you put it in his mouth.

she's gonna freak when she gets it....but Im evil....its not coming from santa, it will be one of those late in the day gifts when we do the gift exchange with Dave's parents

My wife is already done Christmas shopping. It's quite sickening. My daughter asked for (and will get) a Little People/My Loving Family dollhouse. I'm sure she'll play with it all of two times before it gets sent to the closet.

That always depressed me about gifts and whatnot. They usually only get played with for a week or two. Or how about when the boxes are more fun than the presents? Ugh!

Man, I don't have any kids, but I remember christmases when I was a kid- I didn't get everything I wanted, but my parents would always set up everything on the floor so I got to see it all sitting out. I remember one year I got all this Barbie stuff- if you had just left it in the package, it wouldn't look like much, but "Santa" set it all up- so when I went into the living room on Christmas, half of the floor was covered in presents!

My mom got a little annoyed with it because the set had little plastic place settings for barbie, and she'd find little plastic forks and spoons and knives all over the place for years afterwards....

So, yeah, think about setting up all the fun stuff on the floor.. makes it look like more :)

I have no idea what to get my kids for Christmas this year... they don't need anything and we don't have room to bring anything else into the house...

I'm sure they'd love dad's day... time alone with dad to do whatever they wanted.. with you.. (I know I would have loved that when i was a kid)

Time - the best gift of all.

My oldest will be almost 3 this Xmas, so it will be our first real "Santa" Xmas. Grandparents and aunts are providing most of the Santa gifts. I might buy a few things, but we spent most of our Xmas money on the adults in our family

I get to find out what the kids get when they open it.

My wife and I have an understanding.

I give her money. She spends it.

I do get to buy the stocking stuffers. Now where did that coal catalogue go...?

I have a 12 yr old, that is insisting on getting nothing but gift cards from various stores, the only exceptions are to be a iPod Shuffle and a Dog. Of course the past 2 years we have agreed to do the same with both sets of her grandparents and single Aunt. Every year, about 2 weeks after Thanksgiving, we start hearing reports that gifts are being bought and not gift cards, they get deemed "impersonal" so each year she ends up with a bunch of shit that she never plays with. My wife isn't in the clear either, she agreed to and spent the last week before Xmas buying gifts...

Hopefully this year we can do it...

My son wants everything he sees on tv. He is getting a Power Ranger Megazord thing, and some Power Ranger things.

My daughter is getting scrapbooking supplies. I hope we can scrapbook together after the holidays.

When our daughter got to the age to "understand" santa...we told every adult in our familly (because of our budget) that all gifts we bought were for her...we were no longer exchanging with the adults....to Me, christmas is for kids....I still do that....Amanda's christmas comes before anyone else...even me and Dave

It's hard to tell what will keep a 2 year old interested for more than a few minutes. I figure some toys, maybe some books for us to read to her, and some nice clothes (that she'll take right off after we put her in them).

The cool think about 2-year-olds is that they don't really know what's going on and don't complain if they get clothes, books and a couple of neat toys.

They haven't been inundated with TV ads and the like so they are much easier to please.

I'm going to keep it that way as long as possible. I have a theory that you can raise a well adjusted kid without McDonalds, Barbi, MTV and Yu-Gi-Oh!, but it's just a theory.

We have no kids but do buy for close friends and their kids. As of now we have bought all pressies except for those for us(typical) Dunno what to buy for each other, maybe as maleficent suggested .....time? Us time..good idea!

For their first 4 Christmases, we were able to keep the gifts to one big gift, two small and a teddy bear. The teddy bears appeared from Santa until they were about nine.
We still try to keep it the same with some clothes and stocking stuffers as well. With 3 grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends, they get inundated anyway.
This holiday will be extremely hard because of financial setbacks. Still not sure how it will play out. In addition to my own kids, I have seven nephews and a niece, all over the age of 15 and the oldest is 24 and engaged.

Last year, my one niece that I don't want to put thru a wall. had asked for that for christmas.. She's 12 and said she didn't want or need anything but wanted to spend some time with her favorite aunt (Ok, the only aunt who's nto old enough to be her grandma) I took her window shopping on fifth avenue in new york city (we took a limo into the city - which was really no more expensive than a cab to go pick her up - two train tickets into the city, and cabs) Then after window shopping we had high tea at the plaza -- it was actually a lot of fun spending the day with her - and she honestly would have been perfectly content just baking cookies. (that was her birthday present)

Kids don't always need stuff -- they actually do appreciate time -- especially when adults are busy.

Supposedly something like that dinosaur above but in doggie form. She's been asking for a puppy, mind you she's 4, and I'm terrified of dogs, so I figured the electronic pooch would be the compromise. Has anyone seen an electronic pooch? I'm not sure if they even make one.

You might try one of these:http://www.hasbro.com/pl/page.viewpr...ys/default.cfm


I had Tekno the Robotic puppy a few years ago - it was a gift to teach me responsibity without killing a goldfish or anything... Tekno was a good puppy he barked on command and got fed and other stuff... until the episode where i left the country for 12 weeks and left Tekno unattended... I Came home... turned onthe puppy and it growled and it and things that I had never seen light up before -- light up... it was creepy.. I took it's batteries out and never touched it again..

Hey Mal, I checked out that link, and it's exactly what I was looking for! I guess it's time to make a trek to Toys R Us just to make sure it's what she would want. I just need to keep in mind that I can't leave the country for 12 months and leave tekno all lonely..I wouldn't want my daughter freakin out if it starts to 'act' funny...haha

Well this is my son's first Christmas, and my first to have a child to buy for and so I was prepared to go all out! Then after thinking about it for a while I decided a nine month baby won't even know what Christmas is, will probably be more intrested in the paper and boxes (like most at that age seem to be) and will receive numerous gifts from grandparents and other family and friends, so hubby and I decided on only getting a few things and all consist of lights flashing and music playing :crazy:

Once he's older he'll probably get everything he asks for :D

Very smart, and good for you! However, you might want to not get so many NOISY toys, because that's what they'll be after a time...

...and think twice about battery operated toys. They work great until the batteries dead, and then you never seem to remember to get enough batteries as you need...

Spoken as the father of 4...

I actually bought the little pooch for my daughter. It went on sale at toys r us for 14.99, which was a lovely surprise...but now I've ended up buying her more things hahaha.

A few years ago, my family (brothers and parents) came to our place for christmas. My wife and I bought them (and us) circus tickets. All up tickets for 9 people (7 adults, 2 children, 3 generations). It was a really great day out. You don't really need to get presents that you bring into the house or that last...

When I asked hayley what she wanted for xmas she said all she wanted was One of the bells from santas sleigh. I assume she got that from the Polar Express. But i made arangements to get a Border Callie Puppy. So what i think i am going to do is Tie the Bell to the dogs collar.

Our one year old has been playing enthusiastically with an empty pop can for 2 weeks now, so I think I'll get a six pack. :)

He just had his birthday recently, and got spoiled rotten, so we're not going to bother too much this year. No doubt his grandparents will, so he's covered.

In the future, we won't be so cheap that that we'll combine his Christmas and birthday gifts. My wife grew up like that, and can't bear to treat him the same.

Wow. Mal, can you be my Aunt? I was thinking a visit to New York would be nice. Let me know when the Limo will be by to pick me up.


Seriously? That's the coolest gift ever. The only way to top this is to take her to Europe for a week when she turns 16.

you can come anytime you want to... :)

you should come for my movie tour of new york city :)

are you sure you know what you are getting into? Border Collies are a little high spirited - -add that to a 2 year old who gets into everything and a 4 year old who's testing limits... you are going to have your hands full...

I cringe when people get animals for christmas.. i'd much rather see people hold off a bit until after the holidays and hte life in the household settles down before brining in a new member... Puppies need a lot of maintenance...

Well, she's only 14 months old come Christmas so there's nothing she wants other than Mommy, Daddy and Grandma really. She's getting a bunch of small things as I doubt any one big present will entertain her as well as a bunch of little ones - board books, dolls, etc.

After some soul-searching, we decided to get the following 'wow' gifts for our kids:

my: 16 y/o son: Sandisk MP3 player (1 GB)
13 y/o son: Nintendo DS mariocart bundle
8 y/o son: Nintendo DS pacman bundle.

We spent the fall term of school really drilling them about focusing and managing their time. All three got excellent report cards (the oldest got 98% in physics!!!, the middle got 100% in swimming - wow) so we relented on the harsh attitude viz the gaming.

Maleficent

Ok berst my bubble why dont you. :P

I have always wanted a dog and this was going to be a gift for me as much at them. But the words you speak do make sence. However all the plans are set already so I must complete the transations.

Chriswin8, if it serves me right, from your previous posts on the tilt. parenting, you've gained yourself two new reasons for extra joy this season...While it seems you are trying your best to make your daughter(s) happy, it might be more of a chore than anything to take care of the pup...You've got two little ones to care for and the likelihood is you'd be taking the bulk of the responsibility for the pup as well.

I haven't done any shopping for Christmas as of even now less then two weeks away. :( This is not good news for me as I have three little ones to try to get things for that they will enjoy.

I was going to get my 6 yr. old her library card for Christmas, but we did that two weeks ago on a day they were all being really well behaved and I needed a day out of my house. So that part is already covered. She loves to read and this is a nice free way to do it without cluttering my house with more books!

6 yr. old wants a Tumble Time Tigger. I wouldn't mind except 3yr. old will have his legs, arms and head broken in NO time. Of course she'd be fighting with our border collie mix who is usually pretty good about it until they get food or something on it...not a rare occruance here. I'd also love to get her some drums, but again no room and to likely to get broken by other sibling. (I hate having to limit her gifts by way of her sister, but in this little house I don't have room to make space for her items to be stored/used)

3 yr. old has no idea what she wants, but I would love to get her a guitar, as she loves her sisters, but has already broken that. The electronic ones are nice, but never seem to last as long as they are worth, even with proper care, I don't want them to think pushing a button is how to make music, I like the whole thing of strings to pluck and play around with to change the sound. She would do best with a huge refridgerator box and some crayons.

4 month old. She is growing so fast that her cloths can't keep up! I just plan on getting her some cloths. But in order for things to seem fair and keep the Santa spirit alive with the other girls, I think I will be trying to get her one big present in the form of an activity center that lays on the floor with toys. I can't believe the price of these things nowa'days!!

I am also the oldest of 13 grandkids, myself and my brothers SO's bring that number to 15, then add my girls and we have 18 people who draw names out of a hat to play secret santa. I have 4 cousins and one brother to buy for. Plus my parents (they are going to get a gift cert. for massages/spa day together...make them spend time...sometiems they forget that owning their own business) and last is my Grandmother. She is our familys' only reason for staying above water and getting a chance to rest our legs from tredding water this year. I have NO clue what to give such a wonderful person. My aunt says a paper shredder so she can shred things such as old bills and other personal items...but I want more! So yeah, I think this is more then anyone was asking to get about the subject, please forgive me if I'm thread jacking, I guess I musta really needed to write some of these things down.

Happy Holidays!

Well I made the call this morning and told them that I wouldn't take the dog. :( (I really wanted a dog too.)

Your wisdom is strong, your advices has not led me astray as of yet. I guess I will heed it again.

Hmm... what about say Fish, hamsters, or ferretts...

EDIT:
Spelling issue

I honestly don't think a dog is a bad idea... I would just wait until your household settles down... Puppies need a lot of attention and training, I just don't think it's fair to the dog that he wouldn't get the attention he needs.

Fish are good... Hamsters -- not so much wit the young one... Ferrets can be a little smelly..

We are heading out today to get our 15 year old christmas presents. I must admit that when she was 8 it was much easier, cheaper, and more fun to shop. If I can reminence for a moment...
I went to Toys R Us and got her Betty Spaghetti beauty salon and all the accessories to go with it, puzzles, Barbie dolls, a microphone for karaoke, a jump rope, board games, and some other things that I've forgotten. Then grand total was about $150. She was so excited when she came in and saw everything set up under the tree. It was also fun for JJ and I to set it all up. And I must admit that I enjoyed spending the morning playing with her. :)

Now, as a 15 year old all she wants are DVD, CDs, and incense (in her words with a hippyish scent). She also 'asked' for an i-pod in the way of "I need a new portable CD player or a thingy like that"

So today we are out to Virgin to buy a ton of CDs and movies and then to the Apple store for an IPod...not as fun for us, but hopefully she'll like them.

That's not that expensive, and seems like a pretty cool toy. In any case, re: the quoted material, I particularly enjoyed this as a child. On behalf of Santa, my Mom would lay out the gifts for my two brothers and I in a spectacularly warm fashion. Not kill the surprise but make the whole situation just look nice. In any case, with whatever Santa brings, I'd recommend doing the same.

(Mind you, gifts that we gave to each other and received from others would stay wrapped, and on Christmas Day would be opened in our 'nuclear' family)

All my 7 year old wanted was a sit-n-spin... At just about 5 feet tall, we told her she was WAY too big for a sit-n-spin, they don't make them for old people...

So I made one... :) http://home.comcast.net/~chamaeleontidae/sit-n-spin.jpg

Oh that is awesome!!! the wood on it is beautiful... I really hope it's something that she treasures forever...

Chamaeleontidae that is beautiful!!

Thnx...

It's amazing what you can do with a table leg a couple pieces of plywood, and wood... It works well... Um... I mean Beta testing was successfull... :D

I'm not sure if you're daughter believes in Santa or not, or if this wonderful toy is going to be coming from santa - but I think it's so cool the trouble you went to for the one thing that she wanted -- and she's getting it to... This will be a memorable christmas for her - and 20 years from now, she will remember the sit and spin that was specially made for her.

She does still believe in Santa, though I think she is starting to question... I thought it would be a good Santa present, but my wife wouldn't hear of it. She wants me to get the credit for building it, and frankly, I'm good with that... :thumbsup: Though I would have been just as happy if she thought it was from Santa.. I just wanted to make her happy.

That is so beautiful. She'll so cherish that, even more when she's older.

I think fish are far more appropriate, since at that age it's really going to be your pet (read: responsibility) and you might as well get something that is low-maintenance. Of course it's not fuzzy or touchable, but still pretty.

Stuffed animals are great at that age, though. Why not get her a stuffed animal doggie? MUCH easier to take care of. Unless, of course, you WANT a dog, and the responsibility... and you have the time to take care of it (the kid won't do it).

That's so awesome of your to do for your daughter! What a great dad. :)

Hey Mal, thanks for the doggie suggestion. My daughter loves it--I mean looves it.