As of Friday, holiday shopping season has kicked off in earnest and parents will be trying to figure out what their children want and try to contrast that with what mom and dad can afford. If you avoided the crowds on Friday like I always do - as if the world has the shopping frenzy plague - then you will be slowly getting the nerve up to hit the stores in the next few weeks.
With being a parent myself, hopefully this article will give a perspective other parents may find helpful since my son is almost 14 now, I figure a bit of been there, done that advice might be helpful to those with younger children.
In these economic times, with wage freezes or overtime cut out at many companies, it is difficult for parents to come up with the additional cash in their budgets to purchase gifts, especially with technology toys, the price can be pretty steep.
In my own household, the really big ticket items like video game systems end up generally purchased by grandparents or our son would likely still be playing my husband's old Super Nintendo or the used Nintendo 64 we purchased when he was about 5 years old.
But when our son was small, say from 1- to 6-years-old, buying Christmas gifts wasn't so painful to our wallet, even up to 10 years old was easier. A video game or two here and there but he still liked action figures and LEGO blocks at that age, the last three Christmas season's our bank account has practically screamed for mercy though.
Way back when (was it really just 10 years ago?), we could literally buy dozens of gifts for under the tree and maybe have spent $100 total. But once he came of "video game age" the amount of presents in comparison to cost ratio really went up dramatically. Just two newly released video games will wipe out that $100 plus some in many cases.
What are parents to do when they are on a budget, especially in the current economic climate? As a parent I know how hard it is to see disappointment on a child's face when they receive only one or two presents and the rest are necessities like clothing because let's face it, the clothes you bought them to start the school year, probably don't fit anymore. Though sometimes parents just don't have a choice. Video games in particular are expensive, right? I may have a solution for you though.
If your pre-teen or teen is anything like mine they tend to be too good at video games and may tend to race through a game and finish the entire thing within a few days or weeks of getting it and then they lose interest because what more is there to do? They finished it, on to the next game.
So, perhaps a video rental account would be the perfect gift for them? GameFly, www.gamefly.com offers a service much like the online movie rental service NetFlix, with prices starting at $6.95 a month. Parents can sign up for an account, decide how many games can be rented at once (charges vary per how many are rented at a time) and give their child a card informing them of the gift. On (or before) Christmas day, have the child help fill out the list of games they want to rent and begin the schedule for them to be sent out to your home.
This could also be a great way for your child to try out games before buying them, just in case they do not care for it after they get it. The monthly fees are much cheaper than buying new video games on a monthly or every few months basis, as I tend to do with my son. It also prevents having that $50 game you bought three days ago come to this: "Oh I finished that game yesterday, it was way too easy. I'll probably trade it in for credit for a new game at (insert store name here)," at a loss of $20 or $30 making you want to grind your teeth to dust.
If you have a younger child who isn't quite ready for video games, buying toys - especially for the first time parent - can be a little overwhelming and new parents might want to keep in mind that the toys that make noise will generally drive parents to the brink of insanity.
I seem to recall a Barney Banjo from when my child was around 2-years-old. It wound up in our closet at one point, because it kept going off at night and keeping our child awake. He complained, so we brought it into our room. We soon learned why he was complaining when it began playing music at random intervals all night long. I am unsure what my husband did with it after that, but I never saw it again and the child never really asked about it again.
So, when presented with things like Elmo Live (Avg. retail $60), which is the newest in the Elmo line of extremely popular - albeit, noisy toys - or the new Fisher-Price Disco Dancin Wubbzy (Avg. price $35) another toy in that same genre, parents may want to think twice. Perhaps consider how much they can stand to listen to it first. If you think your ears can stand it, then by all means go ahead and buy these for your child, they are extremely popular for a reason, children do love them - but parents should also be able to love the toys as well - especially if paying anywhere from $35 to $60 for the things.
In general, for young children I tend to feel that learning toys are the best bet. Children between the ages of 2 and 5 soak up knowledge like sponges, so getting them learning toys can give them a nice head start and often they won't even know they are actually learning. Things like the LeapFrog Tag Reading System (Avg. cost $50) (my son had one of the first versions when he was small and adored it) are great for small children and it really does help them learn to read or the new Fisher-Price Smart Cycle, (Avg. cost $90). When I saw this advertised on television, I actually thought it was a really cool idea and thought for a second, too bad my son isn't that age again. The cycle combines a beginners video game format with exercise and learning. In an age where children spend less and less time outdoors playing for various reasons, (safety, apartment living etc.) an exercise based game like that, may be the perfect choice. For slightly older children, the LeapFrog Leapster 2 (Avg. price $70) is available or the LeapFrog Didj (Avg. price $90) may be good choices up to 10 years of age.
There are also trendy toys available for the age groups of 6 to 10 for girls. Gifts like Hannah Montana dolls and toys and High School Musicial 3 dolls and other toys (prices vary by item) and these Disney backed giants are extremely popular right now. And also for girls, Barbie has been a popular choice since the 1950's. I grew up playing with Barbie dolls and the wonder of dolls is the child's imagination driving how they play.
For boys of the same age group there are various radio-controlled vehicles available in prices ranging from around $10 and up and superhero staples like various Batman toys (prices vary by item) based on the extremely popular summer blockbuster. Star Wars toys seem to never go out of style either, from action figures to LEGO sets.
Speaking of LEGO sets, the classic LEGO blocks or the cooler looking Bionicle blocks (prices vary by item) are still popular with children. Again, it is the child's imagination allowed to run wild and speaking as a parent with a child who enjoyed LEGO blocks it is great fun to play along with your child using LEGOs.
For older children that I call "video game age" around ages 10 and up, the popular choices this year are Rock Band 2 - release date Dec. 22 (Avg. price for game $60 but has add on items like stand alone guitar or drums that can run as high as $90 each), Guitar Hero (like Rock Band 2 has add on items and can run as high as $190 for the bundle system) and the WiiFit (Avg. price $120) has proven to be popular with pre-teens through adults. The prices on these games are budget busters though so you may want to check store ads for the cheapest deals. Also with the popularity of things like the WiiFit for example you may find it out of stock.
For pre-teens and younger video game players the following games are popular this holiday season.
Wii Music (Avg. price $50) - Unlike previously mentioned music games, Nintendo's Wii Music is less about mastering the specific notes within a tune, and is more about understanding the rhythm and tempo. Players tap out the rhythms by shaking the Wii Remote, or mimic playing wind instruments. My son who is in band is particularly intrigued by this game.
Star Wars: Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels for the Wii (Avg. price $50) - Based on the Clone Wars cartoon from Cartoon Network and the latest animated Clone Wars movie the game is focused on fighting with lightsabers. Boys and girls of all ages will get a kick out of holding the Wii Remote like a lightsaber and waving it around to do battle with an assortment of characters taken from the popular Cartoon Network television show. Like many recent Star Wars games this one is rated "Teen" because of the "Fantasy Violence" portrayed. While there's no blood or dismemberment, the entire goal of the game is characters trying to beat the stuffing out of each other.
For the young pre-teen girls on your list the Littlest Pet Shop (Avg. price $38) - Designed for Wii, DS and PC, offers young girls a chance to guide newly pets through the sweet world of the Littlest Pet Shop, adorning polar bears and turtles and all kinds of cuddly creatures in fuzzy hats and sunglasses. The Wii version includes multiple themed areas including Winter, Jungle and Garden while the DS versions are broken out into these separate worlds.
Pre-teen boys or girls may both enjoy My Sims Kingdom (Avg. price $40) - Designed for the Wii and DS. Last year's MySims was a huge success on Wii and Nintendo DS, but for the sequel, the developers decided to make the game into a guided adventure with a medieval-themed narrative. In MySims Kingdom, children play as a "wandolier," using a magical wand to assist the king by restoring the land and building items for the people. Players will even be able to visit a number of themed islands during their quest, and just like other Sims titles, characters can be customized.
Other pre-teen games my son would highly recommend are any version of Animal Crossing (Avg. price $45), LEGO Star Wars Saga (Avg. price $20) and any of the Harvest Moon (Avg. price $50) games.
For teens, popular video games this season are Prince of Persia (Avg. price $56) - Made for the PS3 and Xbox (to my son's disappointment since he has neither game system). This game was popular on older gaming systems and has been newly redesigned and updated for the new game systems with 3D imagery but with an interesting hand drawn style.
In the popular war game category Call of Duty World at War (Avg. price $30) is available this season for the DS. The original Call of Duty World at War for larger game systems is rated "M" for mature, but the DS version is slightly lighter fare and rated "T" for teen. While it maintains a World War II storyline and features plenty of casualties and firepower, there isn't the level of graphical gore or battle intensity, though the "T" rating is noted for "Blood," "Violence" and "Mild Language." There is some educational or historical value that teaches players about the war and uses Morse code in the form of a minigame. Of course, shoot to kill is still the overall goal, so if that type of game isn't for your teen you may want to pass it by.
Racing games are popular with teens as well and Need for Speed Undercover (Avg. price $60) for X360, PS3, PC, PS2, Wii, PSP, DS may be a good choice for your car loving teen. The game is an arcade-style racer in a wide-open city environment. The player is an undercover police officer attempting to bust the criminal underworld in the fictional Tri-City created for the game. Teens who are really into cars or racing will probably love this game.
Other items besides video games for the teens and young adults on your shopping list may be electronic gadgets such as iPods or MP3 players. The Apple iPod is extremely popular but if they are out of your budget range Creative Labs MP3 players may fulfill the same need at a lower price.
Another popular gift for teens and young adults are digital cameras. This past year, the price of good digital cameras has gone down a great deal. Some cameras can be purchased for as little as $50 but the quality may not be very good compared to other brands. Polaroid has a 5 megapixel digital camera with 3x optical zoom for around $80 and Kodak has several models under $100.
I also noticed in my research for this article that several of the popular discount stores have Windows based laptop computers with decent memory and hard drive packages under $300, and with the addition of a wireless network card, this could be the perfect gift for a college student or soon to be college student.
This article certainly did not cover every single popular item that may appear on wish lists this year but hopefully it will give parents a starting point or at least some idea of how much to budget for certain toys or games.
Now I'm off to see if I can avoid re-mortgaging my house for Christmas this year.
