‘Tis time for toys!

I am happy to say that I have managed to simplify my holidays to the point that I buy gifts for only two children each year.  On the other hand, I manage to complicate those purchases so much that you’d think I was making an offering to the King of Siam.  Nonetheless, I like my complications, since they involve research.  I usually rely heavily on the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, which gives me recommendations by age group.  If that doesn’t seem to pan out for me, I might try the Toy of the Year Awards, which offers more general categories.  Beyond that, when I’m starting to get a little desperate, I go for either nostalgia or homemade, or both. 

For some reason, I started heading toward homemade nostalgia early this year, and in my travels, found these precious items in our collection:

Toys for whose delight? Yours!

Any of these look familiar?

I think this is one my parents must have used.

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Recognize any of these?

A cuddly elephant

A Sit 'n' Spin

This is a hootenanny.

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You can find a variety of instructions, with a range of difficulty:

Easy

How badly do you want that hootenanny?

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After all that “research,” I think I may just fall back on the old and timeless gift of books. So I’m off to the Children’s Department, my favorite source of recommendations in that arena.

-Kaarin