Two years ago, when we asked Tyler what he wanted for his birthday and Christmas, he started rattling off the names of the latest popular toys and characters and I had no idea what he was talking about. I figured my parents and in-laws wouldn't either so I came up with a solution that has worked really well. A few weeks before his birthday, we take Tyler to the store (usually Target or WalMart but occasionally Toys R Us) and have him choose 10-15 items, then we take pictures of him holding each one. I upload all the pictures to Costco or Snapfish and then send out an email with the toy names and the link to the album. I CC all the grandparents and they reply back when they purchase an item so there are no duplicates or buying a Bionicle he already has (because they all look alike to me!).
Tyler gets exactly what he wants, the grandparents don't have to guess what is "in" that year, I don't have to explain what a Bakugan is and everyone chooses what fits their budget.
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Great idea! Too bad they don't make birthday registries for this exact purpose.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't want to run around the different stores, I think Amazon's wishlist is really great too. They also have a universal wishlist button that you click, even when shopping on another website, and it adds that item to your amazon wishlist so everything is all in one place. I do most of my shopping online anyway, and this has really streamlined the process for me.
ReplyDeleteP.S. You have the best blog title ever!
This is a great idea, thanks. It makes me sad that my inlaws aren't so happy when you offer suggestions.
ReplyDelete