Need Christmas toys? CHEAP? Try Rent-A-Toy.

[trof]

trof is knackered.
trof began his Christmas shopping today.
6 grueling hours.
trof is an old man. Much older than this morning. Much too old for this.
trof feels as old as Bob Dole, which is perhaps why trof has lapsed into this third person thing.

<blugga-blugga-blugga>
There. Better now.
Anyway...trof's shopping tips for tiny tots.
Not tiny tots shopping.
If YOU'RE shopping FOR them.
<Jebus! Will he EVER get to it?>
OK. Now...
For toys, hit the Salvation Army, Goodwill, whatever charity stores you have. I found GREAT toys for soon-to-be-18 months-old Jack. Toys for like 10 cents on the dollar. Toys that either are, or look, brand new. Toys that with just a LITTLE clean-up will look brand new. Toddlers usually outgrow toys, or lose interest in them, in a few weeks or a month. We're talking very little (if any) wear and tear here.

Added benefits: Jack (and mommy and daddy) are coming for Christmas. They live 1500 miles away. They're flying down. Not much room in their luggage for Jack's toys. So, we'll have several ready for him to play with when he gets here. We'll wrap some for under the tree on Christmas morning. There won't be room for Jack to take most of them home. Jack has a house full of toys back home, anyway, and a short memory. The larger toys that he can't take with him, we'll just return to the store as a donation. Is this Rent-A-Toy, or what? I think I'm on to something here. (Patent pending)

[PunkinPi]

1. sounds like trof is a cheapskate.

:evilgrin:

[trof]

4. trof is.

trof is also retired and now understands fully the term "fixed income". It's just a great way to recycle toys.

[bobbieinok]

6. I think this is an absolutely GREAT idea

...

[trof]

8. It gets better.

When you take the stuff back, you can write it off your income tax as a charitable donation.
It doesn't get much better than this.
WIN-WIN-WIN

[TrogL]

2. Buy some really kewl boxes

and put crappy, breakable toys in them. They're gonna break the toys anyway so may as well make them cheap ones. Kids will break the toys when have a ball with the boxes.

Kittens help.

[trof]

5. Jack loves bins, baskets, and boxes.

He likes to take things out, and put them back in.
At home, he has a ball bin. It's FULL of all kinds of balls.
He like to take the balls out and throw them, kick them, roll them.
He likes to go find them and put them back in.
I bought a small (5 gal.?) plastic garbage can and hit the MOTHER LODE of balls at the S.A. store.
Jack's ball bin is ready for him.
Grandpa-ing is a hell of a lot of fun.
;-)

[SoCalDem]

9. I know you already know this, but....

Be sure you clean and sanitize that stuff well.. God knows who's been handling all that stuff :)

[trof]

11. Yep. The balls are plastic.

They're going in the washing machine. Bet that'll make an interesting noise. We'll clean everything else with an anti-bacterial cleaner.

[SoCalDem]

3. Garage sales are great too..

That's the ONLY way to go for the Grandma/Grandpa toy collection..

They do get bored and if you are far enough that they fly there, by the time they return, he will need "new" ones..:)

You could donate them to a preschool when you are done too..

I used to buy spoons at Goodwill.. My boys must have thrown them away, because I could NEVER find a damned spoon, so for $3, I got 30 spoons.. The bonus... some were actually silver..

None of them matched, but then the ones that DID match got thrown away anyway..

My kids used to laugh at Mom buying silverware at Goodwill, but hey.. it worked fine..

[trof]

7. Funny you should mention that.

I saw a very nice complete set (12 place settings) of silver plate in a wooden case for...$29.95!
Amazing.

[arwalden]

10. I'll Buy Shares In That!!! When is your IPO?

Truly inspired! Genius!

-- Allen

[trof]

12. R-A-T

Rent-A-Toy
Magic Rat will buy shares, I'm sure.