Looking for a small HO gauge train set

[ang79]

We signed up to adopt another student in the school district to give gifts to for Christmas. We were given a 5 year old boy and the first thing on his list is an HO gauge train set. He also asked for Thomas DVDs, so he likes Thomas too. There are other toys on his list (transformers, GI Joes), as well as winter clothing, boots, snowpants, etc. DH thinks he'd get the most excitement from a train set. After looking at prices on Amazon I'm having sticker shock though! Where would be some good places to check? We have 2 Big Lots, 2 Ollie's (discount store), and a Christmas Tree Store that I can check locally. We also have AC Moore and I know they carry Thomas stuff, so they have trains like this? I can always print off a coupon for AC Moore but do they have restrictions?

[megulis]

I'm not sure how much you want to spend and if you have a Hobby Lobby around, but they have some Bachmann HO trains and have a 40% off coupon online.

[megulis]

I don't see my edit in the post above.

I wanted to add that I would recommend the Tomica trains from Toys R Us for a 5 yo boy. The HO scales break easily and are intended for 8 and up and some engines say 14 and up. With the Tomica train tracks you can also use Trackmaster Thomas engines.

[ang79]

I found a Thomas track at Kohls on sale, and with the 15% off, Kohls Cash, and Ebates it worked out to be a good price for us :)