The "toy" for Christmas 2011

[piggeh]

I enjoy celebrating christmas but its also a lot of hassle. I like being with close family and the meal, spending time together etc. when it comes to extended family its quite boring!

Plus, now I have a Season Ticket, there's the whole 'football or family' boxing day debate..

I might give people a clearer idea what I want this year. I guess facebook will be good for something.

currently thinking:

Ico/Shadows of the colossus
some jeans (I dont trust my family with their tastes for shirts, jumpers, etc!)
erm, some socks..
maybe random household stuff given I just moved into a flat..

 

[Scrutinize]

Not really, you dont see the point at all.

Everytime I've ever celebrated Christmas / Birthdays and whatever else, it has only ever been a case of 'I am buying you something, therefore you must also buy me something'.

And I have chosen not to celebrate my birthday for a very long time. I dont even tell people when my birthday is anymore and it worked a treat with every one of my birthdays simply going completely unnoticed for the last few years (even my family forgot that it was my birthday several times, and I was actually glad that they did because I dislike the attention).

But it wasnt my choice!

I followed the crowd, and only did what was expected of me by others. I never 'made my own Christmas', I only ever got to do what other people made of it and expected, and that was nothing more than gift giving.

In truth, this says more about you as a person, your friends and your family than it does about Christmas.

 

[GreatAuk]

If I was a parent I think I'd prefer to get a physical 'toy' for a child because then I'd be able to see the child enjoying it as opposed to an Ipad which would be more difficult to watch and join in, and the mountain of toys you could get for the price of an Ipad would be big enough to avalanche over at least 2 Christmases. Also, as long as they are still in good nick I would have no problem giving my hypothetical child second hand stuff - I would hope that opening the box wouldn't be the biggest attraction of a toy.

Also, much as I disapprove of the expensive fad items which 'all the other kids' seem to have, it certainly seems to me that a childs social life would be easier if they just conformed.

Phone/tablet wise I don't really know of any evidence of how such items actually affect a childs development, so can't really comment on whether it's OK to give them such gadgets at young ages, but tbh I'd have thought a cheap phone quite early on would be useful for keeping in touch in unexpected situations, and might help them stay in touch with friends. I'd only hold back on the expensive smartphones until later because I'd be worried about them breaking it or using too much data or something. To me, tablets are a fun gimmick, but don't really see an advantage in getting a child glued to one screen instead of getting them to use different screens for TV, internet, and playing music, and think it might be better if they got used to using a wider range of devices. It's not as if they do anything that great anyway tbh. Also, that would be more of a family use item to me anyway rather than getting tablets for everyone in the family - just seems a bit wasteful.

Top of my list will be lego technic. I have a fair collection already, but adding another few motors and gears wouldn't hurt.

 

[bhavv]

Top of my list will be lego technic.

I wish I could have had moar Lego / Knex as a kid :x

I had none of the former, and a cheap low number set of the latter.

 

[fredrik]

I love Christmas, it is the wonderful festival that we should not miss in our life. I like the food survived and provided in this festival which is one of the most divine thing!