Where do you buy children's books and any good deals for FP Laugh and Learn home?

[greentea]

1, I'd like some touch and feel board books and other nice children's books to start buiding my 6-month-old's library. Where do you you usually buy books for your children? Any good deals for now?

2, I want a Fisher Price laugh and Learn home for my six month old for the Christamas without breaking the bank. The following is the product link @ TRU
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2265260&CAWELAID=107519127

Any good deals?

Thanks!

[swrc00]

I find the best bargains for board books are at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Homegoods. They always have great titles at great prices.

I bought DS's Laugh and Learn House for $30 at a consignment store. I don't know if you are open to a used one but I would check any local consignment stores or Craigslist. That aside I do have to say as much as DS (13 months) plays with it it would be worth buying a new one.

[tracerx]

I get books for my kids from sortfloorbooks.com, great prices. Some have remainder marks but they are all in great shape. Prices are really great too.

I got our Laugh & Learn home from Craigslist. Again in excellent condition. I think I paid $25 or 30 for it.

[ett]

For B&M, the best places for board books are Marshalls/TJMaxx/Homegoods or Borders with their weekly coupons. Online, sortfloorbooks.com and bookcloseouts.com carries overstock books for good prices. Most of the books under $10 on Amazon are part of their 4 for 3 promotion, which is a good deal if you are looking for specific titles. If you don't mind buying used, I've been getting lots of lots of books at my library book sale. I've found tons of books that are in like new condition. Consignment stores/sales prices vary and some have better books/prices than others.

[happymom]

For the Laugh n Learn home- if you want to buy it new, I think your best option is waiting until you have stackable coupons at Babies R Us. Some BRU will also accept Buy Buy Baby coupons. It was on sale for $70 from $80 for a while, but I think that sale is over now.

[traciann]

The best touch and feel is the Usborne That's not my series. Dd likes the Lion and Puppy.

I paid full price for my L&L Home, and I agree it was worth every penny full price. I don't see them go on sale much, so any % off is a good deal. Its such a great toy my 4 year old loves it as much as my 12 month old.

[ahisma]

I like Amazon 4 for 3 for books, we probably do a 50/50 split between that and the local bookstore (not a $$ deal there, unless you count the hours of free child entertainment at story hour, LOL!)

Also, I've had good luck with books at Tuesday Morning. It's not the place to find specific titles, but if you have the time to be picky you can find some nice options.

[citymama]

Also try your public library to see what books you like before springing for them on amazon.com or elsewhere. I like the amazon.com 4 for the price of 3 or Borders with coupons. Also like supporting our independent bookstores when I can!

[ourbabygirl]

1. Yeah, I would recommend all of those places listed, as well as Goodwill and Savers (great prices, and I can often find nice hardcover kids' books there) and Half Price Books (if you have those near you).

2. Got our L&L Home last summer at a woman's garage sale that she posted on CL. Got it for $20, and all if was missing was the mail and a few of the balls. You can order those from FP- I think it was about $6 for me last summer? DD is 14 months and has played with it several times a day for the past 5 months...

[Seitvonzu]

we got our laugh and learn home at toys r us... i waited for a fisher price sale and stacked a 20% coupon and maybe a 5 dollar off coupon? anyhow- i got it for something like 42 dollars (i can't exactly remember...it was a grandparents gift, i just did the shopping)

so good deals are out there, but maybe not in time for christmas. i do agree that this toy does tend to be worth it to people, even if they buy full price. the "extra" pieces were important in our house-- especially the mail. i'm lazy and it probably would have taken me FOREVER to order them :) good luck!

[WatchingThemGrow]

I love collecting like new books from yard sales, then clorox wiping them 2x. But, go make a list of things you like at B&N, Borders, etc. then keep an eye out at all the places listed above plus yard sales.

Got our Learning Home for $25 on CL 3 years ago. Best money ever spent.

[Mikey0709]

I just saw the Laugh & Learn home on clearance at our Sams Club for $40... this was in Exton, PA yesterday!

[schrocat]

I get my children's books from Costco, amazon and sortfloorbooks. I also shop at Borders when there's a 40% or 30% off coupon. Costco has great prices on books for the young ones but they change out what they have pretty often so it's like a treasure hunt shopping there.

[Mommy2Abby]

I've gotten some good deals on books at cbomc.com (Children's Book of the Month Club) - after their starter deal (something like 6 books for $2), you have to buy a few books (I think maybe 4 over 2 years), but you can often get at least a couple of them very discounted with your starter deal so they're pretty cheap overall. And then they have lots of sales (just recently they had 50% off all books plus free s&h). They don't have every title, but they have some pretty good ones, and I find it easy to browse the site... I've definitely gotten some neat books for DD through them. (Oh, and you don't have to accept their monthly delivery - you just cancel before they ship.)

Also - as others said, I like buying books at Borders with their almost weekly coupons. Amazon is a good place to buy books, but overall, I haven't found that they discount a lot of the regular kids books.

[coolae]

i got the laugh and learn home for 69.99 (sale at BRU) plus 15% off w/ coupon. i'm sure i could've gotten a slightly better deal (i actually posted the same question on this forum about a month ago!) but didn't feel like trekking around too much!
agree with checking out marshall's. sometimes they do clearance board books for one or two dollars...

[greentea]

Thank you folks for all the great suggestions. I ordered a few Wee Sing books and a couple other books at Booksamillion.com. Wee Sing books are on sale for $1.97 each. I placed the order yesterday afternoon and today I've got their shipping confirmation via UPS! Very nice. They have some children's books in Bargain section if you want to check out.

[poohbear]

Babies r us has the laugh and learn house advertised for 69.99 from 12/6-12/12. You could use the 15% off coupon with that.

[christiedavid3]

I've gotten pretty much all of DS's books at thrift stores, and he has TONS of very nice books. His current favorite is The Polar Express, which I got in mint condition for 45 cents!!!

[happymom]

Babies r us has the laugh and learn house advertised for 69.99 from 12/6-12/12. You could use the 15% off coupon with that.

:yeahthat: And if you have a BBB coupon, maybe they will let u use it too.

[greentea]

That sounds cool! Somehow I was never able to find a tru coupons. :-( I'm still newbie in terms of coupons.


we got our laugh and learn home at toys r us... i waited for a fisher price sale and stacked a 20% coupon and maybe a 5 dollar off coupon? anyhow- i got it for something like 42 dollars (i can't exactly remember...it was a grandparents gift, i just did the shopping)

so good deals are out there, but maybe not in time for christmas. i do agree that this toy does tend to be worth it to people, even if they buy full price. the "extra" pieces were important in our house-- especially the mail. i'm lazy and it probably would have taken me FOREVER to order them :) good luck!

[greentea]

I generally don't mind used books but would prefer to buy Touch and Feel books new. I plan to go to the stores mentioned above and mom2mom sale to see what I can find. There's a big one coming saturday that I'm thinking of going to, but January might be a better time to shop for resale. Thanks folks!

[happymom]

That sounds cool! Somehow I was never able to find a tru coupons. :-( I'm still newbie in terms of coupons.

The one that I have now was given to me at the register when I made a purchase a little while ago.

[PAfirsttimemom]

I bought the Laugh and Learn Home from someone who had posted it on Craigslist a couple weeks ago (after reading recommendations from people on this board). I paid $30. All the accessories were included and it seems to be in very nice shape except for a few minor scratches. I feel a little funny giving a used present to my 15-month-old for Christmas, but he won't know the difference and I'm doing a tiny good deed for the environment by reusing and recycling, right? :wink2:

[greentea]

Kids don't mind gentally used items. It is adults who like fancy shiny new look. I know very well the reason I'm debating between a used or new is really for how I feel. My 6 month old won't care or know! Kids toys are often ridiculously pricy. But when buying gentally used and with a little bit of clearnning, they often look brand new! I bought the famous Leapfrog groove music table for $5 bucks at the end of a M2M sale and it looks new and shiny after wipe clean. (I tend to also wipe clean with diluted bleach to kill any possible germs.)

One thing I prefer to buy new, rather than buying used or borrow from library is touch and feel books. It's hard to find those in good condition. Also I'm concerned about some furry material might hide germ. My chemist DH agrees with me. As to plastic toys or board books, it's very easy to clean and get good deals when buying used. Think about it, with certain amount of money, we can either buy just one item brand new from store, or buy lots of stuff from yard sale/m2m sale. Especially who knows for how long the kiddos will be playing those. I'm considering buying the FP home new is mostly because of its rave reviews and the length of time kids are said to enjoy it.

Greentea


I bought the Laugh and Learn Home from someone who had posted it on Craigslist a couple weeks ago (after reading recommendations from people on this board). I paid $30. All the accessories were included and it seems to be in very nice shape except for a few minor scratches. I feel a little funny giving a used present to my 15-month-old for Christmas, but he won't know the difference and I'm doing a tiny good deed for the environment by reusing and recycling, right? :wink2:

[melonkelli]

I buy used books from the local used bookstore -- they have a great kids section.

We also ask for books from relatives for the holidays -- my kids love books and they're relatively easy to ship.

Library book sales are great. They are often scheduled several times a year and have great bargains for kids and adults. Our local libraries also have sale tables or a small store year round -- it benefits the "Friends of the Library" and they generally have the best of the donated books at rock-bottom prices.

Another great place to get books by the bagful is a local Freecycle list. You don't usually get to pick through them until you get home, but there's always something fun.