Toy shopping

Toy shopping

Here it comes – that time of the year. The time of the year when all kids are starting to make their Christmas lists and making sure their parents are up to date on all of the newest technologies and toys. It is also the time of the year when stores put more emphasis on advertising and making sure that everyone knows that their prices and sales are better than their competitors.

For some parents, such as myself, it is the season for toy shopping. I don’t enjoy it. My daughter has already started noticing all of the toys that the TV stations are advertising. She can’t write very well yet, but she’s made sure that I have already started a Christmas list for her. So it begins, toy shopping. Some parents will do it solely online. Some parents will wait in huge lines when the stores announce that a brand new, ever so popular toy hits the shelves. I have several friends who start doing their toy shopping the second that Halloween decorations disappear from the stores. Usually, they’re completely done with everything by the time Thanksgiving rolls around.

Toy shopping can become rather competitive too. Those who have camped out on sidewalks in the rain and wind just to get one of the few toys that the stores have on the shelves for a few seconds, know exactly what that means. Friendly banter that takes place while waiting in line disappears the moment those stores open their doors. Suddenly, it is every man for himself and people are diving across the aisles for the last toy on the shelf. Toy shopping can become a total nightmare. If you’re lucky enough to get the great deals and hot toys online, toy shopping can be a piece of cake. That’s how I tend to do my shopping. On Black Friday, I can be sitting happily in my house, wearing my comfortable pajamas and getting all of my presents delivered right to my doorstep. I usually get the same sales that people in the stores are getting, I just don’t have the advantage of examining the toys in my hand. However, I also don’t have to carry around heavy packages, fight for parking spaces and spend entirely too much
time waiting in lines.

So, when my daughter adds a few more things to her Christmas list every time she watches TV and circles some new toys in the flyers that the stores place in local newspapers, I’ll be able to scope them out on the internet. And all of my toy shopping will be done online.