Annual Christmas Hits/Misses Thread - 2007

[writermama]

I haven't seen one yet, so I'll start.

No real misses this year and some unexpected hits.

DD#1 4 1/2

Hits:
Orchard
Cariboo
Leaping Frogs
Dress-up trunk (Costco)
Lincoln Logs
Richard Scarry Best Word book ever
Alex water flutes
M & D Cardboard blocks
Box of Hanna Christmas print underwear (who knew?)

Eh, but will grow on her:
Haba Amelie doll
Sled from Santa (no snow now)

DD#2 17 months Hits:
Haba fantasy blocks
Plan toys Pull along snail
Stuffed kitty, Stuffed dog
Alex water flutes
M & D Cardboard blocks

Surprise Hit with both:
Mr. Rogers wooden blocks (I posted in bargains about these. I thought they were nice basic blocks, but had no idea they would be such a huge hit.)

And the biggest hit of all, the undisputed champion for 4 years running:
The giant pile of wrapping and tissue paper when it's all over

[LD92599]

I originally bought the one from Target by Imeginext (sp?) but then DH & I were in Costco and spotted the one there....it's a HUGE HIT! Another hit is some type of crash/spin Matchbox or Hotwheels set from my Aunt & Uncle. It's the only toy rec'd here requiring batteries but he's loving it.

Our DS is funny in that he'll open something and if he already has it proudly announces that he already has it - could be a car from CARS or a simple matchbox - and he's usually right that despite the collection we have, he does have it.

I'm hoping the magnatiles are a hit once we open them; same w/ the lincoln logs.

Laura

[buddyleebaby]

Magna-tiles (to my relief) were definitely the big hit here. All unwrapping stopped after DD1 opened them as she proceeded to play with them for well over an hour. She built all sorts of things and was very proud of each of her creations, and I truly was impressed at what she as building. DD2 sat and played with them too- by laying them flat on the floor.
It was very cute to watch.
We went out and when we returned home, it was right back to the Magna-tiles.

Other hits-
Duplo Block Zoo (for both girls- from my mom)
Hats (For dress-up- intended for dd1 but a hug hit with dd2)
Wooden train set

Misses-
My sister got the girls "butterscotch the fur real pet pony". Have you seen this thing? Dd1 was terrified of it and asked me to take it out of the room. Dd2 approached it until it moved, then she ran away screaming and climbed into my lap.
My sister is returning it and I am so glad they didn't like it! lol.

[o_mom]

Mostly hits here.

Biggest hits:

Shake 'n Go Crash up cars (4yo)
Car-nivores (2.5yo)
Hot Wheels track (4 yo)- just a simple single loop track that clamps on a table or shelf. Not too complicated and easy to put back together when the other two destroy it.
Lite Brite (4 yo) - DS1 has made three pictures already, I just have to find refills now.
Wheel Pals mat/cars (2.5yo) - one of Jo's great bargains (I think?) - like $3 shipped and quite a bit for the price.
Hop Balls
Viewmasters

Not so great, mainly our fault:

Flashlights that DH picked out - one broke within an hour and the other the 2.5yo keeps taking the batteries out of. I wanted 'kid' flashlights and had some picked out (Manhattan Toy), but noooooo... he knew better (how do I put an eyeroll smiley in here)

Animal towel for DS2 - I got these on clearance 9 months ago at Target. Apparently I didn't notice there were two sizes and DS2's is 'infant' size, so the hood is in the corner and it barely fits around him. Of course he loves it so we will be trying to dry him with a tiny towel until I can find a suitable replacement. Ugh.

Most everything else fell in the "Not super exciting, but I know they will get good use" category (books, bank, blocks, ornament)

[kijip]

Toby woke up at 4:30AM, checked to make sure Santa had eaten his food and then looked at the tree and said wow, then climbed on to the sofa, curled up and fell asleep with me and J on the sofa for 4 more hours (thank goodness).

When he woke up, he took his merry time unwrapping things.

Biggest hits:

-Decorating set for the dollhouse (the dollhouse, his main Santa request, goes without saying but the decorate set just made his day, literally).
-Uncover the Human Body (http://www.amazon.com/Uncover-Human-...8646453&sr=8-1)
-Books on planets (picked these up used at the last minute when having Xmas eve lunch break at my little brother's very pt job at a children's book store- its always the tiny, last minute stuff he seems to like a lot often times).
-Bike (He just sat and sat on the seat next to the tree grinning ear to ear)
-This little stocking stuffer with a tiny model of Charlie Brown's tree and Linus's blanket and a tiny version of the accompanying book.

Other big hits-

Diecast Cars movie cars
Waldorf dolls (1 boy and 1 girl)
Digital Camera from my brother- so far he has snapped over 300 pictures.

No misses so far as I can tell - he has pretty much played with everything and read every book with someone or another today. Tons of books, too many to list. He was probably least interested in the Hanna vest I got him (outer wear vest) but who can blame him for not being interested in a coat?

And he made a HUGE deal about the orange in his stocking, telling everyone he saw today the he got an orange and that he peeled it himself and ate it for breakfast and that Santa grew it in a greenhouse run by elves on the North Pole. (something he concluded entirely on his own).

[brittone2]

Mints. I kid you not. The child's number one request was "all sorts of kinds of mints" because he remembered us having mints in our stocking last year (altoids I think?). He got altoids and orange tic tacs. Last night before bed I asked him what his favorite present was. He said mints. And he was very sure about it. Lesson learned LOL. The rest of the stuff was superfluous. We actually had to wake him up at 8am on Christmas morning.

He and DD had fun w/ the kitchen, and he had fun w/ the new pieces of his Haba marble track. But the mints were a big hit.

DD liked the Spiel und Holz ring stacker. DS liked the arches I got her. For her bday recently she got the Haba Kugelbahn/Rock N Roll ball track and that's been a really big hit with her, and DS really enjoys it too.

[JBaxter]

Hits

Ryan's room fire station ( much bigger then I expected)
Abacus
Leapfrog globe -- also a big hit for Connor 13, DH 40 & Uncle Reuben 30 LOL
playmobil police boat ( minuse the tiny little guns it came with )



Miss

game for his leapster


So So's

Wooden pirate ship & accessories but I think he is overwhelmed by the day to play with it.

[sidmand]

Wheel Pals mat/cars (2.5yo) - one of Jo's great bargains (I think?) - like $3 shipped and quite a bit for the price.

We got a couple of those too, but they're still in my *gift* closet. DS is 2.5 too (and likes cars and mats and things), but I didn't think of that for him for some reason. I may have to rethink that one! I actually didn't buy DS any Xmas gifts (although I did buy a few Chanukah ones) because he gets so much from the inlaws and as DH says, "every day is Christmas" because he gets way too many toys anyway.

He really hasn't opened/played with any of the gifts, but I was excited to see a Backyardigans Memory Game (we had just been talking to his therapist about a memory game and I said I had asked for games for Xmas adn would wait...didn't know if they had a Backyardigans one!).

Oh, MIL got him some Melissa and Doug cars which were a big hit. He said "cars" and they opened those right away.

Couple of things we already had (you think the Big Y grocery store will take returns without a receipt? We now have three singing Tyrones from the Backyardigans! One I got on some great deal at Amazon [which has also been in the *gift* closet] and two more came yesterday!) and a Fridge Phonics which I'm hoping to exchange for the Word Whammer....other than that not too bad.

DS did really enjoy the motorcycles that came with this year's Hess truck (not so much the truck, but definitely the motorcycles!).

I did get him a case to keep his "Jay-Jays" and "Thomases" (they're all Jay-Jay and Thomas) and he does like that.

[mshen]

Hits:
Imaginarium wooden coffee maker. I bought this on clearance from TRU 2 years ago and it's been sitting in the closet. And DD LOVED it! Been serving us coffee with lots of sugar all day.
Ryan's Room Fairyland Forest. It is cute and DD says "dollhouse" all day!
Discovery Channel teaching robot. Most battery-operated toys annoy me, and this is no exception. But DD loves pressing buttons and hearing it talk. It also walks, so she would make it walk, and pretend to be scared by it.

Misses:
Hello Kitty watch from my single, childless SIL. She meant well, but 2-yr-olds just aren't into that yet.
M&D lacing shoe from another single, childless friend. Not sure how useful that is, but she certainly didn't care for it yet.

[o_mom]

We got a couple of those too, but they're still in my *gift* closet. DS is 2.5 too (and likes cars and mats and things), but I didn't think of that for him for some reason. I may have to rethink that one!

It really is nice - the mat is cloth which is nice, most I have seen are plastic. it could be thicker, but is working OK. The cars are bigger than I though, about 4-5" long. For some reason I was picturing the smaller wheel pals, but these are a great size. For $3 I'm not complaining!