>This Season’s Hottest Toys? Bah Humbug
>Dear Toy Manufacturers,
I used to think you were benevolent and slightly whimsical, doing your best to manufacture unbelievably wonderful toys that small children could dream about at night while waiting for Santa to fly over their rooftops. Now, though, I just think you’re greedy.
Because while the network news anchors and the newspapers and magazines all are telling us that we are in a financial crisis and people are out of jobs and omigod, we’re headed for another Great Depression, you have the gall to air continuous Christmas season commercials for this…
…which, last I checked, was $200 at Wal-Mart. On sale. Thanks to all the ad time you bought on Nick Jr and the Disney Channel, my daughter now is convinced she can’t live without this electronic pony. But she’ll have to. We’re not poor, but we’re also not spending $200 on a stuffed animal, even if it moves and makes noise. In fact, I don’t know many sane working parents who would. And as a result, I’m foreseeing an awful lot of disappointed little girls this Christmas.
I’m assuming now that you don’t want little boys’ emotional psyches to go unscathed this Christmas season- That’s the only way I can explain Kota the $200 Triceratops, which was on prominent display this past weekend at Target. You wouldn’t have believed the number of kids standing around the Kota boxes, gazing longingly at them and imagining how fun it would be to have one of their very own waiting for them under the tree on Christmas morning.
Thanks, Playskool.
I can only guess that this recession is hurting the toy manufacturers too, and that’s why you’re slapping excessive price tags on even your most ridiculous toys. Take Baby Alive, who actually poops in her own little potty. Punky’s not a big baby doll fan, but after seeing the Baby Alive commercial a good 2,547 times, even she was convinced she needed one to add to the 1,700 other baby dolls currently collecting dust in our playroom closet. Fine, I thought to myself. What’s one more babydoll?
And then I saw the price tag. $50 on sale. For a baby doll that poops.
No. Thank. You.
Thank God Bruiser is only one, and not old enough to go for the overpriced toy hype. We can stick with simple stuff for him, like a classic Elmo doll, which is going this year for just… SIXTY DOLLARS.
It’s enough to make me want to head over to FAO Schwartz and spend my Christmas toy money there. They might be hawking stuff like this $380 mini-chopper with training wheels…
…but this is the kind of thing we expect from FAO Schwartz, a company that at least has the good grace not to advertise its super-expensive stuff between episodes of Dora the Explorer and Yo Gabba Gabba. When Playskool and Fisher Price start charging average parents way more than they can afford for the season’s hottest toys, and they do it during a recession? I get annoyed. Really annoyed.
I dream of having old fashioned Christmases with my kids and giving them classic toys and gifts that mean a lot more than the price tag.
You’re making that harder than ever.
Yours in pennilessness,
Lindsay Ferrier
>My daughter got a Baby Alive doll for Christmas last year from her grandma. Creepiest. Doll. Ever. By the way, it was $30 on sale last year, but it didn’t come with the toilet. I guess that extra piece of plastic makes it worth an extra $20.
>I couldn’t have said it better myself.
>My daughter (now 6) has been begging for that damn horse for a couple of years now (it’s been around that long – this year it’s in a different color, brown and white, named S’mores). I refuse to pay $200 for a toy that just STANDS THERE and makes a few noises (ditto for Kota the dinosaur). So, once again, I will hear the disappointed sighs this Christmas morning because Butterscotch/S’mores/Kota is not under the tree. Gah. At least she’s as creeped out as we are with the pooping doll. No Baby Alive at our house.
>Not one of those toys will be appearing under our tree.No way. No how.Scary.
>My 3 year old son disappointedly told his father that the dinosaur wasn’t real after looking at the Target ad (meaning- not alive.) God bless my husband for assuring him, “Yup, they don’t really sell that.”
>Right on, Lindsay… it’s driving me nuts!Eva shouts, “I want that!” over that stupid Disney Princess nursery and kitchen each and every time she sees the commercial.I’m going back to PBS… I can’t handle the pressure!
>When we are looking around the toy aisles,my daughter cries for all the electronic toys that talk, vomit,surf on the internet- when she gets them, she only plays with them for 1 day! So we said that’s enough. She is only getting toys that fuel activity or imagination from now on. My giveaways for handmade toys ends tonight. Come by!http://nowenteringmomville.blogspot.com
>Toys like that are absolutely ridiculous. They are not only too expensive, they just don’t hold a child’s interest. It may sound old-fashioned (uh, I AM a grandmother) but kids still love puzzles, blocks, art materials and books. And they love any kind of board game you will play with them. And those are much cheaper as well!!
>Considering we are ALMOST homeowners, have 3 kids, a stack of bills piling up…Christmas is in desperate need of downsizing for our family this year. I figured; same amount of toys, but not as many high ticket items. Guess again…even the toys on my list that I thought would be inexpensive are in fact $40 and up. Guess less toys it’ll have to be! Stupid toy companies!!
>I totally agree – that stupid horse is ridiculous – now if it would actually carry my daughter around and save my hips I might consider it. The only item I have spent over a $100 for is a Barbie Jeep and we refused to but the stickers that said Barbie (of which there were like 50) on it – ha!
>Lori, my daughter got a Dora trike a couple years ago from the same gandparents and we refused to put the 8000 Dors stickers on it too.
>My daughters BOTH love that damn pony! I am trying my best to avoid TV until Christmas. We’ll still do videos/movies and PBS Kids Tivo’d (they LOVE Martha Speaks and Super Why) but it will be minus the hype.
>Ha! Wait til they start asking for cars!I dunno what was wrong with my kids they never really wanted that kind of stuff. But science kits were big..we had many fun days of making stink bombs heheheh
>I feel your pain. Both my boys want the dinosaur. Regarding Elmo though, my youngest wants one desperately. I, too, refused to pay $60 for the latest model. I really do not think a 2 year old will know the difference between that one and the $25 last years model I picked up.
>My 4 yr old waves at everything she wants. It’s sort of like a new fangled automated Santa list, she points at something, it gets added.Our kiddies are going to have a rude awakening this Christmas morning. We aren’t poor but we aren’t rollin’ in it. Add to that, we leave next week for Disney so the funds will be depreciated come the 25th. And what is wrong with a modest Christmas? My kids have TONS of toys. We’d literally have to get rid of old toys to make room for new toys (no, really).Thanks Lindsey, you’ve helped me determine it’s a modest Christmas this year. And when they whine, and we know they will, I will stuff some old fruitcake in my ears as earplugz.
>That Baby Alive doll is JUST WRONG. Since when is poop a selling point?
>First of all, I saw the commercial for that pooping doll, and it made me so happy that I have boys! Secondly, I saw the dinosaur today at Sam’s Club. It’s cool looking, but NO WAY am I spending that much on a Christmas gift! I so agree with you.
>I just don't understand the reason a parent would spend $200 on any one item for a toddler/preschooler. My 5 year old just got a FurReal Cat ($40) from a godmother & she's played with it once in the 6 weeks she has owned it. Yep, wise investment if you ask me. I'm sorry, but their attention spans do not warrant that kind of spending. We are scaling way back on Christmas this year & I'm going for clothes, books, art supplies, etc. Things that I know she will actually use or play with. I'm tired of toys that just sit around & collect dust.
>Since my kids were over indulged by grandparents when they were small, I made them go thru all of their toys before Christmas and birthdays..anything they had not played with or had out grown, was donated to the Salvation Army. At least the house wasn’t over run with lonesome, unplayed with toys.
>FYI Costco Wholesale have the Elmo for $39 and a scaled down version of the horse (still moves its head and neighs) for $40 something.
>Please do not let my in-laws see any of these toys. My house is not big enough for all that crapp, I mean stuff…..Here’s some lovely stuff you can win though that will be way better than all those giganormous toys.Mom~E~Centric (www.momecentric.com)Mom is Teaching (www.momisteaching.com)Education Uncensored (www.educationuncensored.com)
>Amen.I was never a fan of the hottest toys.My mother-in-law prided herself in getting them for the grandchildren, like she got extra points for doing so. I would have preferred 2-3 toys and the rest clothes. Does that make me scrooge?
>Holy crap, Koda’s only $200. It’s £300 in the UK (about $500 to you).Seriously, toy shops might as well just take us out the back of the shop, kick us around for a while and then take our money. Sure the toy will only break a fortnight after Christmas.
>Thank you. I hate how commerical Christmas has gotten. My son is still pretty little, but I will never (NEVER, NEVER) buy this stuff for him. I’ll buy him presents, but nobody needs a $200 stuff animal.I guess I’m a mean mom. Maybe I’ll even make him work in a soup kitchen or something like that over the holidays…
>I am NOT showing ANY Walmart toy ads to my pet rock, Seymour; I so am not laying out $200 for a battery-operated triceratops that probably poops and requires additional carbon offset credits to maintain it’s green status as an endangered toy species.
>My sister got the Baby Alive doll for Christmas – 38 years ago. Back then it didn’t come with the toliet. She cleaned it’s “poopy” diaper once and never fed it again.Creepy then. Creepy now.
>Bravo to you; great post and so true! The damn commercials drive me crazy “mom I want that” ” I want that” over and over and over again! STOP THE MADNESS
>Oh, honey! Just wait until your babies become teens! "All" my daughter wants is "just" a pair of tall Ugg boots ($200), a Juicy track suit ($200), & a "few" charms for her Juicy charm bracelet ($50-$60 a piece). Hmmmmmm. WTF? I used to get a few cassette tapes and an i.d. bracelet. Maybe a pair of Famolare shoes…
>My daughters were just asking me this weekend why Christmas-themed TV shows always show trains and baby dolls under the tree as presents. Where are the ipods? Where are the laptops? I must tell you, though, Fifth Grader has a Baby Alive that she bought with her own money. It is every bit as gross as you imagine.
>I love you. Thank you for saying what I’ve been wondering. But I didn’t want to say anything and reveal my poverty just in case I was the only broke mommy. 🙁
>but you know what is really gross?people are buying that shitevery daygross
>Oh my word I saw that Triceratops the other day at Costco and it stopped me in my tracks. I kinda wanted one. But I’m fairly certain they are not for 32-year-olds.
>thankyouverymuch! I have organized a group of us cheapo moms to do a toy/clothing swapfest. We are meeting up with clothing and toys that are in good (or ridiculously unused) condition and just taking or giving freely. Then regifting the crap out of them. It works. It’s good.
>Here, here! We are having a lean Christmas. For the first time ever, I am actually making one of my children a gift. My three year old daughter is getting felt food made by me. I think she’ll love it.MommyKnows
>My son and I just read a compilation of the Christmas chapters from the Laura Ingalls books. He is only 3.5 but he stopped me cold when we read the one where Laura “wishes” for horses for her Pa, knowing it means Santa won’t bring her anything that year. He couldn’t believe it. Another Christmas Laura got handknit mittens, a stick of peppermint candy, and a penny. She totally thought she was the Queen of England that year. If you are looking to give your child some perspective on what this Christmas COULD look like, I highly recommend this book!
>Perfect!That damned pony is on my daughter’s wish list too!
>Just a different perspective: My hubby reminded me the other night of my own (and his) childhood experiences as a low income kids. This holiday financial pinch is something that low income families have always dealt with. With the recent economic downturn it’s spread to the middle class. I don’t say it’s not disappointing but, marketing to children and high priced toys are not unique to this time in history. I remember the Barbie Dream House which was SO HEAVILY marketed and cost over $100 in 1985! Not to mention Cabbage Patch kids! Somehow even welfare moms ended up desperate to shell out over $30 for a cloth doll in the eighties. My guy is a programmer and we do pretty well for our kids despite living in Michigan but, we don’t have a television (on purpose). I really don’t want my kids to experience the consumer lust which plagued my husband and I as children. Without TV or the commercials, the marketing is pretty limited. I guess dealing with disappointment is an important skill but, no need to put so much drama into toys and having or not having some overpriced junk.
>BTW, $120 in 1985 works out to about $230 in 2008.
>Like RealLiveHousewife we don’t have television either (on purpose). Luckily my MIL runs a riding stable so my daughters have about 20 real live horses to choose from so the idea of a stuffed horse to them is absurd. With that I have an idea, how about finding a local riding stable and giving your daughter the gift of some riding lessons or pony rides? You will come out way cheaper than $200 and it will be educational to boot. Not to mention you would be helping a local buisness that is most likely feeling the crunch with grain prices through the roof and people not riding. Just a thought…
>I’ve looked into riding lessons, and at $40 per lesson, they are a little more than what I’m ready to pay for a four-year-old. Don’t worry, though. She’s not getting the horse, either! I’m still pretty good at persuading her.Her latest Santa requests are black shoes, red shoes, and a box of Christmas ornament balls that are HER OWN AND NO ONE ELSE’S. I think I can handle that!
>Well done.Plastic crap! My kids are having a First Act, Melissa & Doug & Lincoln Log Christmas. Santa's done buying the crap from television ads.
>We charge $40 for an hour lesson too. That is usually for older kids and adults. That is about the going rate. (Much cheaper than owning one…they cost about $120-$150 per horse per month to feed and care for. Times that by 20 mouths and you get the picture) However, we do offer a pony ride for little kids that is $15 for 20 minutes. I was thinking more along those lines for your little one. After an hour on a real horse at 4 she would probably never want to get on one ever again. So in the long run you might come out cheap with one $40 lesson, haha. I bet with the economic crunch you could persuade a stable to do a package deal of pony rides or half hour lessons pretty cheap. Ah…how I wish my girls were still little enough to be persuaded… Thankfully my girls aren’t of the norm and quite little tomboys. They want fishing and camping gear and a couple of Nintendo DS games. I can handle that.
>That’s why we don’t watch Nick. We stick with Disney and Noggin, or good old fashioned movies, when they do watch TV.
>And my daughter’s lessons are $65 for a half-hour. That’s what you get when you live in the heart of horse country. *rolls eyes*The lessons were her birthday present, BTW. Her lessons from Christmas to her July birthday will be a Christmas gift as well. 🙂
>At first I wasn’t going to comment on this topic, but have decided to as the a lot of the comments represent what angers me most about moms. Why must we be so opinionated and judgmental? How many references are there to the “scary, ridiculous, stupid, danm” pony? And why is it “gross” that “people are buying that shit?”Many people will not/can not buy the toys mentioned here because they don’t have the money or just stand on principle. That’s FINE. To each his own. We have Baby Alive and the Butterscotch pony. Expensive? Yes. Have my children and every other child who comes to my house LOVED them and spent countelss hours playing with them? Yes? Am I an idiot for buying them? I’d say according to all of you, yes. Why must it be that way? I’m certainly not judging you for not buying them. Am I a better mom for buying the horse? Are you a better mom for not buying it? BTW, punky can ride horses at Cedars of Lebanon for $18 for an hour. She can double with you or your husband or one of your older girls for a discount. You don’t commit to lessons. Just go as often or as little as you like.
>That’s good to know about Cedars of Lebanon. Thanks!And I don’t care how much money you have- I think the horse is a waste of resources. I just do. Particularly for the age group for which it’s intended. That doesn’t mean I don’t like you, or we wouldn’t be friends= I have a very good friend who has bought her child every toy there is. I don’t agree with it, but it doesn’t affect our friendship.Also, you should know that I say this as someone who received pretty much everything I wanted as a child. Everything. It wasn’t good for me, I can tell you that right now. It took most of my twenties to get rid of that sense of entitlement I had grown up with, and to figure out what was really important. Just something to think about…
>Just wanted to let you know Amazon has Baby Alive on sale for $18.99 and free shipping if you spend $25. There’s no way I would spend $50 for that doll but $19 isn’t bad.
>My grandparents were some of the wealthiest people in our county when I was growing up. I watched my cousins get everything handed to them on a silver platter while my sister and I got nothing. I resented it for a long time. See, my mom was the black sheep who was tossed out on her ass at 15 because she got pregnant with me. She is still married to my real dad some 30+ years later and they do nicely for themselves. Quite nicely. My cousins? Not so much. Grandad died. They broke grandma in about 2 years. Now they struggle because they still want to portray the air of wealth and entitlement they grew up thinking they deserved. My sister and I both bought houses on our own before we turned 25. My sister is 24 and owns 2 houses actually. And she herself had a baby at 16 and is a single mom without a college education. You may think giving your children everything they desire is great. But be careful. It came back to seriously bite my family in the ass…What my mom and dad lacked giving us in material possessions they more than made up for by instilling in us a sense of pride. The greatest gift they gave us was the ability and know how to obtain things we want with determination and hard work. If they died tomorrow, my sister and I would be fine. My cousins? Not so much…
>I think you missed my point, Lindsay. I had no issue with your post. As I said, we’re all entitled to our opinions, and needless to say, you certainly are on your own blog. My issue was with the comments and the way people were so angrily (and ignorantly in my opinion) lashing out. I can respect the opinion that the horse is a waste of money. I cannot respect a person who refers to the horse as stupid, gross, damned, etc. I also cannot respect the person who judges ME for buying it when they know nothing else about me. I am not wealthy by most standards, and my children are most certainly not overindulged. Assuming they are because they have a fur real pony is small minded. That pony was the main item my two girls got for Christmas two years ago. They did not get much else from us that year, and I hardly think that makes for spoiled children. In addition, that horse was purchased just a month after my family was told my father’s cancer was terminal. I’ll readily admit it was bought on a whim when my main desire was to try to bring a little happiness into this home. And it did. And for that reason alone I would have paid double for the pony. My dad thought that was the greatest toy he’d ever seen. He died two days after Christmas last year, and every time that pony swings his heard toward me as I enter my bonus room, I am reminded of happier Christmases.
>that pony and the triceratops are both available in Australia too – for $500!! (up until th erecent financial crash caused exchange rate to change, that would be about $450 US, now about $350 a real bargain LOL)