Christmas Shopping 2010

[northriver]

Regarding the Easy Bake: My niece has one and has only used it once or twice.

On a related note: I just bought an Easy Bake Microwave Kit at Walmart for $24, but I had a coupon for $5 off, so paid around $20. I actually like that it is mostly disposable with several mixes, cookie cutters, measuring spoons etc, unlike the oven which is a big "thing" that requires storage space. Walmart had two, one was cookies, one was cakes. I think I got the cakes, which was a little more expensive.

If anyone has used the Microwave Easy Bake Kits and thinks it is a waste of money, please let me know and I'll take mine back! I wasn't sure about this item but was lured in by the $5 coupon.

 

[Erin1700]

Is Aqua sand on anyones list?

My kids want this and the reviews are mixed to the extreme. My guess is that yes it works but when you try to get it out, all of the colors mix together???

Let me know what you think, please!

 

[rskbh00]

I was online shopping for AG doll accessories at Target for my daughter last night and found new stuff I did not see there a couple weeks ago. They now have a laundry set, baking set, cash register & grocery set and much more! So now I just need to wait for Thursdays check and I can finish up my youngest daughters shopping then on to my other 2!

 

[Nettaboo]

Hi Everyone.. I don't know if anyone posted this but I wanted to share the Black Friday Ads that have come out.

http://www.black-friday.net/toys-r-us-big-toy-book-ad-scan.html

http://www.black-friday.net/walmart-toy-catalog-ad-scan.html

 

[Nettaboo]

We have the Wii and the PlayStation 3. My husband is a gamer and he is basically the user of the PS3. We love the Wii for family games and someone mentioned the Just dance game..we have the 1 and the 2 and it is one of the BEST games ever..Everyone loves it from the kids to the Adults we had a get together on Saturday and played all night.

We had a houseparty.com party for the PS3 move and it was pretty ok but they don't have enough games to compete with the Wii.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Ok...I missed the whole conversation about She Bop and Turning Japanese...I vaguely remember these songs, I really need to look them up and see what they say, but I am halfway afraid too!!!
Ok..update on my end for shopping...Have several Legos that I had bought a while back for DS11--I got him a few more than I usually do(it was buy 2,get the 3rd halfprice) and He will be 12 in May and I know that he just looooves them now and may not in a year or so---so, he will get a lot of use out of them now. DD and I need to go back over the AG wishlist...i reaally want to order it today so it will be in by next week and I can have that marked off my list. DS14-remember he only wanted the Mac? Well...I have been looking at even the refurbs and they are all still way up there...so... brainstorm!! I don't know why I didn't get this earlier?...I think I will just wrap a reaaaaally big box and put an evelope with some $$$ and a card in there. Not an exorbent amount, but roughly what I spend on them each year...I always try to keep it pretty even....and tell him this is the downpymt on his laptop!! He can save for the rest....he has a little bit of $$$ saved up already and this is a great age to learn to work for what you want. And I mean that as going toward something big...he has worked and saved for other things before, but not as long as this might take. I think this will be so good for him...I remember working and saving starting before his age-it sure teaches you the value of a dollar! *Geez...that really made me sound ancient, didnt it?!!*
So....we are leaving for Disney in less than 3 weeks and this will get me finished...now I just need to start buying up baking goods for our friends gift baskets and decide what to get a few of our other family members and that'll be IT!!!

 

[edzL]

Is Aqua sand on anyones list?

My kids want this and the reviews are mixed to the extreme. My guess is that yes it works but when you try to get it out, all of the colors mix together???

Let me know what you think, please!

If it pans out, I think we have an upcoming Moon Sand review soon. They seem to be selling very well too so I guess either everyone wants to try that, or likes them. Not sure which it is though yet

The reviews I have seen on aqua sand does look mixed. No hands on but I'll see if we can get something on that as well!

....

He likes the Star Wars Lego sets so I may pick up some more of those.

....

BIG BIG one or just a regular one?

We have a pretty lengthy review of one of the BIG BIG ones if you're interested (the clone turbo tank) :

http://www.zoolert.com/wordpress/2010/10/16/the-new-lego-clone-turbo-tank/

....

DS14-remember he only wanted the Mac? Well...I have been looking at even the refurbs and they are all still way up there...so... brainstorm!!

I assume by refurbs you mean the ones on the Apple Store here :

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals?mco=OTY2ODY3Ng

That's where some of the deals can be had.

Have you considered an iPad? I don't know the budgets, or if he needs a "real" computer, but, maybe? Just throwing it out there as an idea.

We have the Wii and the PlayStation 3. My husband is a gamer and he is basically the user of the PS3. We love the Wii for family games and someone mentioned the Just dance game..we have the 1 and the 2 and it is one of the BEST games ever..Everyone loves it from the kids to the Adults we had a get together on Saturday and played all night.

We had a houseparty.com party for the PS3 move and it was pretty ok but they don't have enough games to compete with the Wii.

Just dance is where it's at.

It's quickly becoming the active parties choice of game over Rockband

Yea.. I kinda feel the same way about PS3 move from what I have seen, but, no hands on. It just seems... Not quite there all the way? Kinect on the other hand is a completely (seemingly) different experience.

Hi Everyone.. I don't know if anyone posted this but I wanted to share the Black Friday Ads that have come out.

http://www.black-friday.net/toys-r-us-big-toy-book-ad-scan.html

http://www.black-friday.net/walmart-toy-catalog-ad-scan.html

There's Kmart too :

http://www.zoolert.com/wordpress/2010/10/23/kmart-toy-book-2010-let-the-scans-begin/

But, that's old news being what like 4 or 5 days old now

I don't know about everybody else but I love having an "expert" to help answer my questions Please stick around!

I saved your quote for last to end on a high note. Thanks!

We also got a bunch of new stuff in from Hasbro to try out.

I snuck a peek at Bop It Bounce (read : tore it up in the wee hours of the night and started playing) and it's pretty fun I have to say.

A bit different than the typical Bop It line of toys since its more about an interaction with a ball and variants on games with that... (how many times in 60 seconds can you do it, how long inbetween bounces can you go, etc) It's pretty fun. I see it hanging out on the coffee table for a while. It has some staying power.

 

[jerlove]

Hey guys, I see alot of people are doing the same as us, Disney for Christmas!! Its a great thing but i feel slightly bad when the tree is empty till Christmas morning after Santa visits! I know they are lucky to be getting the trip but does anyone have any suggestions for my "empty tree syndrome!!" LOL.

 

[Perditamarie]

Any reviews/experience with the Loopz game?

http://www.amazon.com/Mattel-T5118-...=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1288135643&sr=1-1

 

[edzL]

Any reviews/experience with the Loopz game?

http://www.amazon.com/Mattel-T5118-...=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1288135643&sr=1-1

Ok.

Who are you and why are you taunting me? Who sent you? Who told you to set me up?



When I went to the Toy Fair and walked around the Mattel Booth, I INSTANTLY focused on what at the time was a non functional unit. It was next to Red Rover and they were really promoting that (which, by the way is a great Hyper Dash like game).... I stopped the girl mid pitch and said, tell me about this Loopz

I've been in love with it ever since.

Simply put, it's a 3D Simon of today.

It has lots of different modes. Simon type mode, music mode, "reflex mode" where you try to keep up and others.

We have a poor quality video review here :

(it was the first one)

http://www.zoolert.com/wordpress/2010/10/01/loopz-in-action-video-five-year-old-versus-loopz/

I gotta say, honestly, as I type this out, the Loopz is STILL sitting on the family room coffee table.

Let me know if you are interested in more, but check out the video to get an idea of how it works.

What else makes it cool is you can play two players sitting across from one another.

So, the best way to describe it is a modern Simon.

* disclaimer - since I have been talking about this since the Toy Fair back in February this year, it's kind of my "sleeper hit toy" of choice. So, I am a bit biased.

 

[scrapquitler]

http://www.amazon.com/Flexeez-Large...=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1288144963&sr=1-6

Flexeez -- Has anybody seen these? They had a display at TRU yesterday and both my kids fiddled with them and thought they seemed fun. I did buy some (on sale, and because they didn't take down the signs, I got both last weeks sale price - but the large set of 200 get a small set of 70 free, AND this weeks sale price of 25% off....essentially I got both sets for $15 ). I see that Amazon has no reviews yet. This was the first time I saw them, and I bought them on a whim.


Who has them and likes them?

 

[edzL]

http://www.amazon.com/Flexeez-Large...=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1288144963&sr=1-6

Flexeez -- Has anybody seen these? They had a display at TRU yesterday and both my kids fiddled with them and thought they seemed fun. I did buy some (on sale, and because they didn't take down the signs, I got both last weeks sale price - but the large set of 200 get a small set of 70 free, AND this weeks sale price of 25% off....essentially I got both sets for $15 ). I see that Amazon has no reviews yet. This was the first time I saw them, and I bought them on a whim.


Who has them and likes them?

I played with them walking along at TRU.

I think they are a TRU store item, so that's why you aren't finding too many reviews (not fact, but, belief).

If you check TRU, there are reviews though :

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3883604#showReviews

All very positive.

It's one of those cool simple classic type toys. Know what I mean? Nothing too fancy, but, certainly has that smile-factor to it when you pick it up.

 

[Perditamarie]

edzL...thanks for all the info and reviews - it is really helpful, especially since I am picking things up if I think they will be great fun!

 

[Nettaboo]

Ok.

Who are you and why are you taunting me? Who sent you? Who told you to set me up?



When I went to the Toy Fair and walked around the Mattel Booth, I INSTANTLY focused on what at the time was a non functional unit. It was next to Red Rover and they were really promoting that (which, by the way is a great Hyper Dash like game).... I stopped the girl mid pitch and said, tell me about this Loopz

I've been in love with it ever since.

Simply put, it's a 3D Simon of today.

It has lots of different modes. Simon type mode, music mode, "reflex mode" where you try to keep up and others.

We have a poor quality video review here :

(it was the first one)

http://www.zoolert.com/wordpress/2010/10/01/loopz-in-action-video-five-year-old-versus-loopz/

I gotta say, honestly, as I type this out, the Loopz is STILL sitting on the family room coffee table.

Let me know if you are interested in more, but check out the video to get an idea of how it works.

What else makes it cool is you can play two players sitting across from one another.

So, the best way to describe it is a modern Simon.

* disclaimer - since I have been talking about this since the Toy Fair back in February this year, it's kind of my "sleeper hit toy" of choice. So, I am a bit biased.

My daughter JUST pointed this out to me in the TRU book.. and that is what i was thinking it was.. I LOVED my Simon! I am going to get this for her just so I can play with it!!!LOL

 

[reginaastralis]

I just started reading, but I wanted to post that I asked my five year old if she thought Santa would bring her a toy storage container of some sort. She, of course, thought I was crazy.

It's just hard to buy her more JUNK when I see what's in her room ... and I know what she'll be getting from my mom. Plus, her birthday is 1/2 ... so a week after Christmas, she's hoping to have a birthday party where more people are going to bring her MORE JUNK.

Needless to say, I haven't started shopping for her. We moved into our place a couple of months ago, and I had this week off where I started going through her stuff like crazy.

Some ideas I have for her include:
*Princess stuff ... she loves them. I usually try to buy her a dress or two during the after Halloween sales, one for Christmas, one for her birthday. Money is super tight this year, so it might not happen.
*LPS stuff. I plan on hoho bringing her one or two of the big ones, plus I'll buy a couple of pets for her. Plus, I saw on another thread that someone found Disney styled LPS.

And other than that, I have no idea. I think I might buy her the whole series of the "If you give a..." books, because she's really into them right now, and I might buy her the Laura Inglas Series because series ... maybe some Junie B Jones ... but who wants to only open books on Christmas. Even if they are ones I know she'll like.

I've got her birthday figured out ... we're going to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway when it comes throgh at the end of Jan ...

 

[lovesdumbo]

can anyone help me figure out how these night vision goggle/binoculars all on amazon are any different?
I think this is what I want-Eyeclops Night Vision 2.0 $66.99 free shipping:
http://www.amazon.com/EyeClops-Infrared-Binoculars-Absolute-Darkness/dp/B00357FUB4/ref=pd_sbs_t_5


Aren't these the exact same thing? $59.99 + $5.49 shipping:
http://www.amazon.com/EyeClops-Vision-Infared-Stealth-Binoculars/dp/B0026G8SCI/ref=pd_sim_sg_1

And these look the same too just under a different name? $43.97 freee shipping:
http://www.amazon.com/Spy-Net-Vision-Surveillance-Goggles/dp/B003AUF1XI/ref=dp_ob_title_toy


Any insights would be appreciated!

 

[Speed Weasel]

Just throwing in a user little experience from a home with a 5yr son and 6yr daughter:

On the Wii, we got one last Christmas as the "Family" gift. It has been fun for all. We selected the Wii because of the presence of games geared towards the younger age groups and the interactive play. It is still played frequently today. Keys to success with the Wii:

• Get a Rechargable Battery system for the controller(s)
• Sign-up for a Game Trading site (Goozex, swap.com, etc.) to trade out games that get stale or are 'defeated'.
• Invest in a couple 'core' games. Super Mario Party 8 is the one that my kiddos keep going back to. Mario Cart is very popular, we have it, but it is still a little frustrating at their young age. The Lego games have been popular in our house. The key on these games is group play, and being able to be playable over and over.

On the Easy Bake, my daughter was very excited to get this! She has had fun with it. But as others have said before, the mixes are expensive and very small. She really has just as much 'FUN' helping Mom make cookies in the real oven. Just 'sell' it as being able to use the real cooking equipment...

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I just started reading, but I wanted to post that I asked my five year old if she thought Santa would bring her a toy storage container of some sort. She, of course, thought I was crazy.

It's just hard to buy her more JUNK when I see what's in her room ... and I know what she'll be getting from my mom. Plus, her birthday is 1/2 ... so a week after Christmas, she's hoping to have a birthday party where more people are going to bring her MORE JUNK.

Needless to say, I haven't started shopping for her. We moved into our place a couple of months ago, and I had this week off where I started going through her stuff like crazy.

Some ideas I have for her include:
*Princess stuff ... she loves them. I usually try to buy her a dress or two during the after Halloween sales, one for Christmas, one for her birthday. Money is super tight this year, so it might not happen.
*LPS stuff. I plan on hoho bringing her one or two of the big ones, plus I'll buy a couple of pets for her. Plus, I saw on another thread that someone found Disney styled LPS.

And other than that, I have no idea. I think I might buy her the whole series of the "If you give a..." books, because she's really into them right now, and I might buy her the Laura Inglas Series because series ... maybe some Junie B Jones ... but who wants to only open books on Christmas. Even if they are ones I know she'll like.

I've got her birthday figured out ... we're going to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway when it comes throgh at the end of Jan ...

How about arts and crafts supplies like finger paints, markers, play-doh, things that will get used up.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Anyone have Carnival Games for Wii? The combo with the motion plus is on sale at Target this week. Wondering if I should get that for $40 or just buy a motion plus for about $15.

 

[reginaastralis]

How about arts and crafts supplies like finger paints, markers, play-doh, things that will get used up.

That's where I orginally intended on going ... getting her an easel and a whole bunch of arts and crafts ... however, I found literally, a storage box full of arts and crafts stuff in all of her junk. She is the type of girl who will sit for hours to color and draw and such ...

I'm almost hoping she gets put on the naughty list