Someone Else’s Kids

Parents, are you buying the idea that there is a shortage of Nintendo Wii units this holiday season as the media is reporting and seveal bloggers are telling their tales of trekking all over town from store to store only to end up Wii-less?

I have been coming across articles saying that people are paying 650.00 for them. That raises a whole different issue of paying outrageous sums above retail price for holiday toys, but that’s another blog post.

I have a friend who just bought a Nintendo Wii about three weeks ago and I have seen plenty on store shelves in several different stores.

If you were being paid an outrageous executive salary to run a company that had one of the most popular items on the market in its industry, wouldn’t you think you could manage to produce enough units to meet the retail demand…especially in light of the fact that every unit sold then produces profit over and over again because of all the individual games that will be purchased for it?Nintendo wii, video games, wii, wii shortage

You know how I love contests, especially those with lots of prizes. Overstock.com (a site that I always check when making online purchases because you can often find the best prices there on items), is having a Chirstmas contest in which those who enter are actually selecting their own prizes! Now, that’s an idea that I definitely like. But wait, there’s more…

This contest also gives you a chance win the gifts of your choice not only for you, but for five of your friends as well! How awesome would that be? Imagine being able to give five of your friends a gift this year worth up to one thousand dollars (yep., $1000.00) It’s called the All I want for Christmas Giveaway and you better hurry because it starts on December 3, 2007 and runs through December 7,2007.

As soon as I finish typing this entry and posting it, I am heading over to the site to enter for today. I almost forgot to mention, you get to enter every day for the five days so make sure you do that for the maximum opportunity to win. My only problem is going to be deciding which prize to try to win. Should it be 37-inch plasma TV? How about a new computer or high-end digital camera?

What would you choose? christmas, holidays, overstock, overstock.com, xmas

Parents, how would you like to find a toy that your kids actually wanted to use every day and that gave them exercise? How about one that also required no batteries or electricity so it cost nothing after the initial purchase? One, more thing, what if it only cost fifty or sixty dollars to begin with?

I was reading a magazine today and came across just such a toy. It’s called the PlasmaCar. It’s a ride on toy for kids. They sit on it and move the steering wheel to power the little vehicle. There aren’t even any petals or chains which could get the kids pants and socks dirty like on a bicycle.

Although the design is definitely child-sized, the website says the toy can hold up to 220 pounds on smooth surface and 120 pounds on a flat surface. There are videos on the manufacturer’s website of adults riding them too.

Check it out and you may decide to put a PlasmaCar under your tree this year.
child, children, dad, father, fatherhood, mom, mother, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, parents, plasmacar, raising children, raising kids, teenagers, teens

Would you like to get 20% off a purchase of $100 or more from a new Christmas costume site? Wouldn’t that discount do wonders for saving a good chunk of your budget for Santa suits, elf costumes, angel costumes, and Mrs. Claus outfits?

Forget making them yourself for the next community event, school play, or even household holiday party. There are different Santa suits & Christmas costumes to fit any budget or production. Visit that link and take a look at the detail of the costumes. I had no idea there would be such a variety of different Santas available. Also, they are surprisingly affordable. Some of them look like movie quality outfits to me.

When you use the discount code of santa20, you can save that additional 20%! That will leave plenty of money left over to buy hot chocolate for the elves and reindeer food for the reindeer!child, children, christmas costume, dad, father, fatherhood, mom, mother, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, parents, raising children, raising kids, teenagers, teens

A Beautiful Holiday Story

It’s the holiday season and time once again to enjoy that annual favorite – egg nog shakes from McDonald’s.

A couple days ago, Matthew went out at 11 PM on a cold, rainy, foggy night in search of a delicious shake.

Observe at drive through…

Matthew: Two medium egg nog shakes.
Employee: That’s one medium egg nog shake.
Matthew: Yes, egg nog shakes, but actually two of them.
Employee: OK, that’s two medium egg nog shakes then.

Matthew watches the monitor in amazement as it flashes through different items, quantities and totals…at one point indicating as many as four shakes and a total of over ten dollars on the screen…finally settling on the correct quantity and item - two egg nog shakes.

Matthew gets the items and drives home. He gets home and tastes the items for the first time - discovering….that he has received two (not the adjective I really want to use) blasted coffee shakes.

The Endegg nog shakes, mcdonalds, shakes

Educational toys are the best of both worlds when it comes to parents giving gifts to their kids for the holidays. Combining learning and fun will instill interest in both and inspire kids to seek out both together in the future as well.

Luckily for parents and kids, many educational toys actually top the list of must-have items for the Christmas season. In fact, one of the big names for younger kids is Dora the Explorer. In fact, you might recall that last year, that character and line of toys was given top honors by the toy industry when it was named property of the year.

Another good one is virtual pet Tamagotchi which I have a funny story about. It illustrates that parenst may end up playing with it more than the kids.

I was conducting a corporate training session and one of the participants had brought her child’s Tamagotchi with her while she traveled to the training. She was “babysitting” it for a few days and it became the hit of the training with the other participants!educational toys, learning toy

Did you know that there was such a thing as list of the worst holiday toys of 2007?

I was just thinking that it was time to research and work on some entries detailing the best toys of 2007 and the first thing I came across was this worst toy list. Doesn’t that just put you in the proper holiday spirit?

Of course, it is good to take note of possible problematic toys, especially at this time of year. We’ll get on to more festive ideas in the next entry when I talk about educational toys.child, children, dad, father, fatherhood, mom, mother, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, parents, raising children, raising kids, teenagers, teens, toys, worst toys

It’s always interesting that certain brand names practically become synonymous with their industries or products . For example, Kleenex is a registered trademark for a brand name of facial tissue and Band-Aid is registered trademark for a type of small bandage.

It’s not only common in the offline world, but in the online world as well. When someone says, “search engine” chances are you thought of a particular one whose name people are constantly misusing as a verb these days.

Anyway, what about when you hear the phrase “online classified advertising?” What comes to mind? A short time from now, it may no longer be the one you are thinking now that a new player has entered the online classified ads arena.

There are two things I like about the site. The first is that it’s free. Anyone who wants to advertise a product or service will appreciate free advertising. The second major thing that I think could be come its main attraction is the fact that ads can be posted countrywide or narrowed geographically. That is such a huge difference from the big name in the Internet classified ad field. On the other site, they actually forbid people from posting to more than one area which of course makes no sense whatsoever for an Internet company as a Web-based company ought to realize that Internet-only products and services need to be advertised everywhere, not just on the space devoted to one small city or geographic area.

I can’t wait to see if the name WebCosmo becomes as widely known as the competitors in whose cyber backyard it is staking a claim.
classified advertising