Pick that perfect gift that kids really want
“I want that!”It’s a common mantra as children create wish lists each holiday season. Every year, kids have a couple of “hot” items on their lists, which parents go nuts trying to track down and often end up paying a premium price for. Certain that they have fulfilled their child’s gift wish, many parents report that within a week or two, their kids go back to tried-and-true favorites.
Experts say children believe they want the toys that are glamorized on television commercials, but later find that these toys just aren’t quite as exciting as anticipated in real life.
Instead, toys that encourage imaginative play are the best choices for long-term play value. “Playing with toys such as building blocks will foster creativity because children can invent different kinds of objects, like a car that flies or a helicopter with wheels,” says Maria Sera, a professor at the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development.
Generosity may be a hallmark of the season, but this year many parents are looking for ways to give their kids the toys they want, yet still keep holiday budgets in line. With long lists of recipients and limited funds, it is important to search out quality toys with value prices.
Stephanie Garrett, a mother of four from Tigard, Oregon, is one among many parents looking for high quality and high value. Her three boys — ages 4, 7 and 10 — all wanted popular building- block sets, yet Garrett stuck to her toy-buying budget last year. She found the solution with Best-Lock, whose building-block sets retail at about half the price of other top-selling brands.
“It’s wonderful that that I can still buy my children something they will enjoy and that uses their imagination, but that costs less,” Garrett says. “They play with their sets all year long!”Best-Lock’s Stephen Minsk says, “Especially now, parents are looking to make their toy-buying dollars go further.” With an extensive military line of authentic-looking attack helicopters, tanks, aircraft carriers and battleships, Best-Lock building blocks are interchangeable with other brands.
The bonus for parents? Building blocks are great for a child’s development, meeting standards for toys that encourage thinking, problem solving and creativity involve hand-eye coordination, and are conducive to parent interaction.
Easy on the wallet, Best-Lock’s well-made toys are the best value on the shelf — a 55-piece set retails for $2.99, a 300-piece military set is available for less than $8 and a 450-piece military set with a plastic storage tub is just $19.99, while an enormous 1,000-piece set is priced at only $29.99 — and the blocks are available through a variety of catalogs and at stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, K-B Toys, J.C. Penney, AAFES (on U.S. military bases worldwide), Sears, FAO Schwarz and H·E·B Grocery Stores. Browse Best-Lock’s online catalog at www.best-lock.com.
In addition to finding Best-Lock toys at traditional retail venues, a variety of major airlines are part of a licensed line of airplane sets, which sell at airport retailers throughout the United States. And, at John Deere dealerships, there is a range of licensed John Deere items, which are new to the Best-Lock line this year.
So while this holiday season kids may initially yearn for expensive, flashy hi-tech games, parents can be reassured that tried-and-true playtime classics such as building-block sets are the long-term favorites.