Update: 5 yr old boy birthday gift: stomp rockets or rush hour jr?

[MommyAllison]

What would you give? He has a brother 1 year younger than him, they have a huge backyard w/lots of tall pine trees and are outside basically all day from spring - fall. I don't know if they have stomp rockets, but am 99% sure they've never seen Rush Hour Jr. Given the way they like to play, I'm leaning towards stomp rockets, but don't want them to just be frustrating because they get stuck in the trees the first time they use them. They have basically every outside toy known to man, and are rough and tumble boys. :) Thanks!

ETA: Thanks everyone! We ended up going with Rush Hour Jr, and it was a hit. The party was yesterday, and his mom just emailed me this afternoon to say he'd been playing with it all day. I do think he'd have loved stomp rockets too, but he wouldn't have been able to play with them much for a month or two (we are buried in icy snow here), and I think the set would have gotten broken & scattered pretty quickly. They just have a *ton* of outside toys that all get thrown in a big deck box none-too-gently. Thanks again!

[justlearning]

It sounds like a Stomp Rocket would not work well in their backyard. We own one and there's no controlling where it goes. And yes, it would be frustrating to have it get stuck in a tree. Do they have a nearby park without trees where they could use it?

I know others moms' kids on here like Rush Hour Jr. but my 5-year-old does not at all--it's been a waste of money. I even took it with us on a plane ride and he wouldn't do it for more than a few minutes. And he's only done it once at home (right after he got it) and that also was only for a few minutes.

When I go to parties, I always like to ask the mom what she think her child would like and then get that.

[BeachBum]

My son is 5 and we have both.
Even if they have stomp rockets, extra rockets would be good.

My son does like RHjr. But it is something we play together. We watch and encourage him to solve the puzzle. He would never just go in his room and do it.

I think either would be a good gift. I'd give RHjr just because it's different.

[hellokitty]

Stomp rockets, it's more fun that rush hour jr, but rush hr jr is good too, lol. It's just that if given the choice, my boys will go for the SR over the RH any day, b/c it's an active, physical toy.

[ohiomom1121]

Sounds like they would definitely like the stomp rockets. We have both and my son loves Rush Hour Jr but he LOVES mazes and is really good at them. He finished jr. In a few days and we got him the original one. My (older) DD gets more frustrated with it but loves the stomp rockets!