The last scrap of cellotaped wrapping paper has barely been vacuumed out of the carpet following the holiday frenzy when we have to start thinking about gifts for the boys’ birthdays. Simon will be four on February 1 and Tristan will be six (!) on March 7.
Care to share any inspiration (or horror stories) on your Christmas gift experiences this year?
In our house, the big hits were Lego and Star Wars. My mom got the boys those light-up, colour-changing Light Sabers that go whoo-oo when you swing them around, and the boys absolutely love them. Tristan got a ridiculously complicated Naboo space ship Lego set, which is too complex for him to build by himself but has kept him and Beloved busy in the building and rebuilding. Simon got a whole bunch of preschooler-appropriate action figures – more than a dozen, maybe as many as twenty when you factor in the Superhero set Granny gave him.
Outside of that, the classic game MouseTrap has been a hit. I figured I’d have to help them with the set up at least for a couple of months, but to my surprise and delight the boys were playing it by themselves within just a few days. Simon seems to like it the best, but he needs Tristan’s help to play. Altogether a fun choice.
I got a giant bucket of Tinker Toys from Costco, thinking about how much Tristan loves to build stuff with Lego, but I have to admit that they were a bit of a bust. We spent a while one afternoon building robots, but I remember Tinker Toys being more fun and easier to work with. Meh on the Tinker Toys.
The best reaction of the Christmas season was the look of astonished delight on Tristan’s face when they opened the table-top air hockey game from Granny. Simon gets a little frustrated with losing to his big brother rather constantly, but I’m sure with not much practice they’ll be evenly matched.
Another big hit was the Little Tykes Digital Camera. (I only picked this one up because it was half price at Costco, and boy am I ever glad we got it!) It takes surprisingly good pictures that you can easily dump onto your computer. We haven’t actually printed any out yet, and probably won’t, but it’s fun for the boys just to take the pictures and see them on the laptop. So far, the winning photos seem to be Tristan’s series on the cat running away from him all over the house, and a lovely portrait of the toilet (thankfully empty) by Simon.
Those were a few highlights from our Christmas bounty. In general, Tristan seems to have a fondness for building toys and artsy stuff like drawing, while Simon favours board games and action figures. So — any recommendations for the birthdays coming up?
I’m not sure – it may still be a little old for them, but there is a Lego Star Wars game for the Wii. It’s very cute and very fun. And it would blend their two loves well 🙂 It might work for Tristan – My friend bought it for her 7 year old son.
I know my other’s friend’s 7-year-old (and she) is very into Webkins or whatever they’re called (can you tell I only have contact with children’s toys on a very limited basis?).
Transformers are also a big hit with both boys. Trouble and Sorry were favourite board games of mine when I was about 7. And my fiance’s niece loved the game Elefun when she was 4. So that might be good for Simon – you have to catch the butterflies pushed up by the elephant’s snout with a net. I got bored within minutes, but she could go for ages.
Suze, you strike me as someone in touch with her inner child, even if your contact with actual kids is limited!! Yes, forgot to mention, the boys did in fact get Star Wars Lego for the Wii for Christmas, and while it *is* too hard for them, they seem to enjoy it. I keep hearing about that Elefun game, and considered it for Simon — might have to check that out. Webkinz — but, that would mean I have to share my computer!! Bad enough I have to share it with Beloved! 😉
First of all, I have to thank you for the suggestion of Superfort! The girls totally love it. I had hoped that having a fort-building kit would stop them from using the couch cushions, the blankets from their beds and the dining room chairs to make a fort, but I’m finding that they are combining the old building materials with the Superfort kit to make Megaforts, lol. It’s a great toy that totally involves their imaginations and is building up some engineering skills. It was the hit of Christmas.
Both of my girls like to play board games now. Rae is totally into Candyland, after shunning it for a couple of years now. Both girls love Sorry, and they got Kerplunk for Christmas, and it’s just as fun as I remember it being. We haven’t taken the cellophane off the Perfection yet, but I think that one will be a hit too. They both like Uno, which is great, because we can all play it together and I don’t find it as mind-numbingly boring as repeated games of Candyland.
Jigsaw puzzles are big around our house too. Good luck, I hope you get lots of good suggestions.
We do like Elefun, though it eats batteries fairly quickly and takes an inordinate number of C cells.
Hi Dani, I have two boys as well (just turned 5 and 3.5). We recently got them a ‘starter’ Rokenbok set, and they do love it (rokenbok.com). Although, it wasn’t inexpensive and we spoke to another mother at the store who warned us that she probably could’ve bought a convertible BMW for the cost of all of the components they have purchased over a 5-year period for her sons. She was joking, but barely 🙂 It is fun though.
we got a Trouble-like game, though it has Backyardigans and you move based on colour rather than numbers/counting. Maybe a bit simple for Sarah but she likes it and Sammy loves to pop the (colour) die.
Jr. Monopoly is a big hit here, too, once Sarah learned how to play.
My friends have Elefun and says it eats batteries. And if the batteries aren’t fresh, it doesn’t work well at all. That being said, the kids still like it.
my 7 year old got his first webkins for christmas and it’s been a big hit. i bet tristan would love one. simon might not be old enough yet.
Okay..my Luke is 6 1/2 and Ally is 3 1/2…Luke loves games…we found a jr Superhero yahatee game from last year is still a big it..Trouble is a classic and this year he loving Connect 4. Luke also got a digital kid’s camera for Christmas…we got him a kids scrapbook set to go with it. I just plan on printing the pictures off on regular paper. Luke loves anything with cutting, drawing and writing. Plus he is a great way to kick start their reading and writing skills…which Luke is already doing in 1st grade..still can’t believe that.
For the 4 year old…simpler games…like fish, old maid and war. The kids got a card pack for Christmas that was Rudolph themes. So instead of asking for a 5 or a Jack…they asked for Clarice or Hermie or Bumble…Bumble is actually the old maid in that game. It was siimple enough that our 3 year old could follow it.
Good luck with the gifts/birthdays.
Hey Dani! I’m officially late! OMG! I’m soooo ready to have my baby already! Anyway, how about getting STAR WARS LEGO for the wii? It’s so much fun! My two year old loves watching some parts of it. He’s also big into construction and so any sort of workstation, tools, etc. he loves… don’t know if your youngest is out of that stage, though!
Favorite gift for our boy who turns 4 on Jan 22nd? The Whoopee Cushion that Santa tossed in with his stocking stuff at the last minute. The baby loves it too, but gets frustrated that his little fist isn’t large enough to make it blart. Luckily, I find such things just as funny as Tommy does.
He’s also spending a lot of time playing with two foam sword and shield sets that he picked out himself with a gift certificate. The more traditional toy that he’s played with the most is a castle set from Fisher-Price Imaginext. It has lots of trap door and drawbridges, etc that are activated using the little knights’ feet.
This was a huge hit at our house http://www.amazon.com/International-Playthings-G02232-Lift%252dOff-Rocket/dp/B000NNBFRQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1199932002&sr=1-2
I know it says 18-36mos, but we got this for a 4yr birthday and my 4 and 5 1/2 yr old are constantly fighting to play with it.
And the Cranium Hullabaloo game gets played almost everyday.
Favorite Christmas toys of My 4 YO boy: Hasbro Elefun (game);
Quercetti Marble Run with Motorized Elevator (requires parental participation, but very popular around here); Go Diego Go vehicles; Playmobil Eagle Castle; Ravensburger Snails Pace Race (game); …. Yes, he’s still an ‘only’ and had a BLAST shopping for him!
MM loves Balloon Lagoon, Theatro Olivia, Pin Art, and Fabric Pastels (crayons for shirts!)
Constant faves in our little collection of family & friends: Webkinz stuffed animals ($14.95 at Chapters) and Mobilia (Castle and Fire truck especially).
Thanks for the tip on the Little Tykes Camera, I’ve been looking for one and wasn’t impressed by the poor reviews coming in for the Fisher Price version.
Happy Birthday Boys!!
Not sure if you already have some of these or not…the little chunky Star Wars figures. You can get 2 of them for around $5-6 a package. My boys (5 and 7) love these. Just when I think we have collected them all, we see new ones at the store.
Another hit here is the Playmobil pirate sets. They have so many different sets. My boys get hours of enjoyment out of these.
I thought for sure my 7 year old would love knex building kits, but he opened a bucket of them on Christmas and said “Oh they have these at the youth center (after school care)”. I asked if he enjoys them and he said “No, not really”. So now we have a bucket of them and they are sitting in the closet unopened. Sigh.
Playmobil, Blockus (although that’s a game we didn’t start playing until kindergarten), and Traffic Jam (or the safari version of it) are all very popular here. Santa splurged on a Quadrilla Marble Run, which is too complicated for the kids to build and falls down when they get too aggressive, but is endlessly fascinating (at least for me). Lego, of course. Trouble, Sorry, and Uno for games (but only Uno on days when everyone is feeling hyper-competitive, because you can play a bunch of games pretty quickly and give everyone a chance to win). Webkinz, yeah, if you’re prepared to fight for computer time (we’ve had to limit them to weekends only). Kid Knex was popular here, and still is in spurts, there are googlier pieces than the big-kid knex. Wilder received Snap Circuits Jr from Santa Claus and is entranced, but still needs a lot of parental guidance to figure it out.
We have January birthdays, too, and I’m still unsure about what the kids will be getting. Wilder has requested Galactic Heroes Star Wars figures, which is the chunky little version — he already has Lego Star Wars and 6″ action figures and the giant Playskool ones they made for about three seconds and I’m trying to decide if it’s all just too much Star Wars!