Annual Christmas Hits/Misses thread - 2008

[writermama]

I don't see another thread like this yet, so I have the honor of starting this thread for the second year in a row.

No misses this year. Hits:

DD1 -- age 5 1/2, Kindergardener
M&D Dollhouse (the one Amazon was selling for $47)
Classic Slinky
Retro versions of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders
Scarf made by grandma
Hanna coat, snowbibs and hat (she put them on and wore them around the house pretending she was out shopping)
Surprise hits were all of the toys listed below for her little sister

DD2 -- age 2 1/2, soon-to-be preschooler
M&D Basic Pattern Blocks (we had a hard time getting her away fromt his long enough to open other presents)
M&D Shape-sorter clock
M&D Grill and Food (surprise gift from cousins)
CandyLand Castle game (another Amazon score at $5.99)
Learning Resources Gears! Gears! Gears!

Grandpa -- age 75, retired engineer
Learning Resources Gears! Gears! Gears! beginner set -- we'll have to get some of the advanced sets for him now.

And once again, the biggest hit of all was the pile of wrapping paper and boxes when it was all over.

[MarisaSF]

HITS
*DD (age 4.5)
-Fancy Nancy dress-up doll and several Fancy Nancy books and accessories
-Leapfrog Globe (also a hit with DH)
-Zingo
*DS (age 1.5)
-Duplo Tubes experiment set
-Thomas the train Fire Station
*Both
-Crank wind-up flashlights (3-pack from Home Depot). Make great stocking stuffers and were a handy last-minute gift for another kid.
-Magneatos (the whole family enjoyed this!)

MISS
-Remote-control Thomas Train. It's loud and it scares DS. I actually think it's pretty cool (but loud) and assume he'll grow into it (says age 2+)

[94bruin]

No real misses (except that DD was obviously more excited about the toys vs the regular clothes she received.)

DD 3.5

*Loved* the cinderella dress that "Santa" brought. She wore it all day. Bought it on sale after Halloween.

-Chicco doll stroller
-puzzles & puzzle book & book
-Vtech Write and Learn Letter Pad - sorry to say. It was gift from a friend, but she's been playing with it all day. The noise is buggin' me. I think it'll be great for the car (that's where all our battery-operated toys go.)
-clothes for her Corolle Calin doll

She got a glider from us (ordered from Costco.) We are about to move, and it's been raining, so we haven't assembled it yet. Don't know how she'll react once it's put together and the weather is more conducive to bike riding.

ETA grammar

[Neatfreak]

Hits (DD is 4.5 years)
- Leapfrog Tag Reader (particularly the Olivia storybook and the National Geographic animals cards)
- Soap shaped like popsicles from etsy
- Tinkerbelle outfit for dress-up
- Ponyville playsets

Can't tell if there are any misses yet ...

[pb&j]

DS, 3 y.o. -
Hits:
-Grandpa's hand-me-down digital camera. Much better than a "kid" camera.
-Little Tykes basketball hoop
-Tinkertoys
-Empty boxes

Misses:
-Moon Sand. In all fairness, DS had a good time playing with it. But DH and I were cursing the cleanup. Frakkin' colored sand everywhere, even though we did our best to keep it contained by putting it in a roasting pan on the floor. This was given to DS by my childless sister, and is one of those things that seem like a fantastic idea to people without kids. I plan on regifting to her when she has kids of her own.

DD (1 month):
Hits:
-Teeny tiny tutu. Cutest (and most impractical) thing ever. Love it!

Misses:
-Piles of sleepers w/snaps in size 0-3. The sentiment is lovely, but most of these will never get used, as DH and I are snap-challenged, and DD is already closing in on 10 lbs.

Grownups:
Hits:
-Buffs. www.buff.us - "The Original Multifunctional Headwear"
-Citrus fruit from the county I used to live in in FL. Gah, when did we get so old and boring? But seriously, the grapefruit was out of this world.

[caleymama]

Grownups:
Hits:
-Buffs. www.buff.us - "The Original Multifunctional Headwear"

DH has one of these! He rec'd it at a 50K he ran this year.

[essnce629]

Not really any big misses here.

DS (5 years old)

HITS:
Snap Circuit Jr. set
Wedgits-To-Go set
Bakugan starter packs
LEGO Agents set
Magic School Bus World of Germs science kit
VTECH Kidzoom camera (he's been taking pictures and videos all day)
Wii LEGO Indiana Jones video game

MISSES:
Touchabubbles (Bubbles that get hard after you blow on them. They didn't really work that well. There's still some on our Christmas tree though!)
Wind-up robot bug (Last minute present daddy found online)

[bubbaray]

Hits for both girls:
Bitty Twins
Rose Petal Cottage

Misses for DD#1
Leapfrog Tag reader -- it reads the whole freakin' page, not one word at a time if they are stuck on it. Sigh. And, of course, I got her ALL the books (not for CHristmas, they are stored).
Moonsand -- nice thought, but it was our CLEANING LADY who gave it to her (I'm grateful, she d/n need to get them gifts), but come on -- its a freakin' mess in a box! Kinda funny it was the cleaning lady who gifted it, LOL.

Misses for DD#2
Costco Bristle Block set. She can't seem to figure it out. Hopefully she will. ASsuming she can pry the pieces away from DD#1

[elliput]

Hits-

FurReal Butterscotch pony- I was really worried about this, but DD took right to it and was lovin' on it the whole day and again this morning.
Wooden Train
Green Toys tea set
M&D Castle and figures
Anything TinkerBell

We haven't had a chance to actually use the easel yet, but she seems pretty excited about it.

She doesn't seem that enthusiastic about the second Automoblox car, but that is more for me anyway.

No real misses here.

[BeachBum]

While we've opened all the gifts, we've been so busy everything hasn't been tried out yet. I'll try to edit my list as we learn more.

DS age 3
Hits:
Nilo table
pop gun
Fur Real friends, parrot
Rock Band (not for a game system, it's a amplifier that plays songs and a belt buckle type thing that you strum--we find it ridiculous but he had his heart set on it)
Playmobil add ons
Plasma Car
Playdoh ice cream set--lots of fun to let the doh twirl out. Cute little dishes and cones

Hits with Caveat:
Mighty World playsets-- DS really loves them and has really, really enjoyed playing with them. The caveat is that one box was missing 2 essential pieces--and the other set has already has two things broken. Mighty World is similar to playmobil... ETA: Emailed MW and they were nice and are sending the missing parts out ASAP.

Misses:
Fridge Phonics World Builder (leapfrog). He looked at it for 1 minute and said I could "give it to some other kid".
Tag-Just not that interested.
Candy Land Castle-It says 3+, but this "game" is so easy that we should have had it at 18mo-2yrs, when DS was learning his colors and shapes.
Kid Kraft space center train set--apparently I just don't have a train kind of kid
Playdoh dentist set--It really only has molds for the teeth--boring and hard to get them out


Still Not sure
Legos, tinker toys--It seems my kid just doesn't like to build...maybe he'll grow into it.