Fingerlings and Other Hyped Up Toys

Hottest Toys? Maybe NOT

It is now the day after Christmas, people have built their children their lego sets, barbie houses or whatever they got for Christmas that needed to be built. 

For today's post, I wanted to talk about why I do not give into toy crazes and the reason my daughter doesn't even ask for those toys. By crazed toys, I mean toys like Fingerlings, LOL surprise packs, and Hatchimals. 

If you have no clue what toys I am talking about: Fingerlings are little animals that sit on your finger which react to sounds touch and other things countering with monkey sounds themselves.

Photo from Toys"R" Us

Starting in November all Motherhood Groups on Facebook were filled with Mothers asking for these little toys. They sell for $15 but people bulk bought them off the shelves and tried to resell them for as expensive as $45. CRAZY!!  Sure enough, by midday photos were posted of these Mothers complaining about the quality of these Fingerlings, where the little hands are rubbing off exposing the Monkeys main color. Complaining about the noises they make, or now the day after Christmas revealing the truth that the fun only lastest a few hours and that the FIngerlings are sitting in the corner untouched.

Again, exactly why I don't buy the hottest item on the shelf! I will explain in the end how I have taught my kid to thoroughly think about her wishlist and my reasons why I don't give in to hypes.

Next one on my list is LOL Surprise.

Photo from Target

 It's a big round plastic container in glitter style that carries mystery dolls and their accessories and I have also heard that it has around 10 Bath fizzies in it as well. This thing retails for around $70 and you can bet that before Christmas people bought these off the shelves just like the fingerlings and tried to sell them for double its retail value. Again crazy to me. If you look at some of the reviews people are leaving they are absolutely upset about how much they spend and what they got in return. However, I have noticed a common theme with people every year. They buy the hottest toys and are just disappointed with them but next Christmas comes around and this happens again and again and again. People have also said that the figurines or dolls are quite small and that them and their accessories can fit in someone's pocket. So truly is it worth going after all these hyped items?

Last for this post are the Hatchimals that have come back for the second year.

Photo from Target

Hatchimals, where to begin. Last year my daughter saw these on TV and came to talk to me about them. So what I did I went and watched videos of people who had some. Came to find out they weren't quite as great and at the time we had a Furby so there was no need for another one of a similar kind. These guys also retail for around $60. The same thing happened both years, people buying them out like crazy. However, there were many issues with them where these things wouldn't hatch and people had to break them out with a hammer. I already saw a post today of someone asking for help because theirs wasn't hatching. So really was this purchase worth $60.

The reason why I don't give in to hypes is that for the longest time we were really financially struggling, and I mean struggling. I can't afford to buy everything that comes on TV. We chose to have Gifts that serve a purpose, having a gifted child who needs brain stimulation and who needs to be challenged on a daily basis, we needed gifts that are also educational. I never got to shop in her "age range" because she would get bored so fast. So when my little kid at the time came and said I want this or that we asked her what would you do with it. I am not saying that we were successful with this all the time, there have been times where I did buy random things or things she saw on TV but they did land in the corner untouched. There was one year that was super bad and that's when I decided that I will only buy useful and educational games or toys. Now we buy board games, but not your regular old school board games but games like Takenoko, the board game industry has come so far and we all play together and have a ton of fun. We also buy a lot of Magic: The Gathering. This year Santa brought some Cooking Sets and my kid actually made dinner tonight and her love for cooking was ignited, her grandma got her a cooking class which starts tomorrow.

All I want for you all to be more mindful of your money and really think about the gifts and what they can do for your child. Think ahead just a little bit, yes if they want these they will be super excited to see them under the tree but more than likely after a day or two they will be in the room, laying in a corner. Money doesn't grow on trees as we all know once we become an adult and have bills to pay so why not remember that when all these hyped up toys come out?!?!

xoxo, Nicole