Toys R Expensive : But Parents’ Urge to Spend Doesn’t Always Pay Off
Frances and Don Pollock learned a lesson about buying expensive toys for their kids after the basketball fiasco.
The Alhambra couple bought their daughter Ariella a $60 basketball hoop for her second birthday. It’s been more than a year and she still doesn’t play with it.
“Not interested,” Don says with a sigh. Instead, Ariella spends hours in a hand-me-down sandbox that cost the Pollocks nothing.
The Pollocks’ experience is by no means unique. Parents tell story after story about costly toys that collect dust on nursery room shelves while their kids play with the Tupperware.
For millions of new parents, these stories may serve as a guide.
Many of today’s parents--particularly older parents--feel compelled to buy expensive gifts for their children, says David Stewart, professor of marketing at USC. And as the baby boom generation creates its own “echo boom”--there have been more kids born in the last four years than in any four-year period since the end of the baby boom--that translates into lots of toys.
But in what may be a personal finance dream come true, parents say the “magic” toys--those that last for years and get daily use--are often the least expensive. Indeed, some of the best toys aren’t toys at all--they’re household products that have been “discovered” by the kids in dusty closet corners.
“Children under a certain age don’t need a lot of purchased things,” says Heidi Brennan, co-director of Mothers at Home, which publishes a monthly journal called Welcome Home. “But the impulse to buy is great--even when the budget is straining.”
Reasons vary for the often lavish spending on expensive toys. Some buy because they can--they started their families late in life and have the financial wherewithal to drown their children in trinkets.
However, other experts say that some parents buy even what they can’t afford because they feel guilty about working long hours and not spending enough time with their kids. Or they’re looking for the “magic product” that will command their child’s attention long enough to give the parents some respite.
Some parents are responding to growing demands of children who are being inundated with advertisements from a burgeoning array of kid-oriented media, ranging from cable TV networks for the young to magazines gone gaga, such as kiddie versions of Sports Illustrated and National Geographic.
Nonetheless, “free” toys--such as those old paint brushes in your garage and a bucket of water--can amuse a 2-year-old for a substantial period, parents say. And if you’ve got a cupboard full of plastic ware, leave it open one day and watch how long a 1-year-old will spend pulling everything out and examining it, says Brennan. Dress-ups--another word for Mom’s and Dad’s castaway clothes and shoes--can captivate kids over the age of 3.
Indeed, says USC professor Stewart, the issue is “play value” rather than raw cost. A 50-cent toy can be a waste if it immediately gets tossed aside, while a $50 toy that lasts through two children and several years of play can be a great bargain.
What’s the key to finding toys that will captivate your children for hours? Parents say it’s searching for products, whether bought or found, that allow children to use their imagination.
“The toys that do the least are the best,” says Christopher Lucas, a father of four from Virginia. “The kids are done with the ones that do everything in a matter of minutes. They go: ‘Wow. That’s neat.’ But they can’t do anything with it.”
Among the great low-cost toys: a $1 box of chalk. Some kids will spend hours drawing on a sidewalk and washing it off. And many mothers maintain that the best investment they ever made was the $3 or $4 they spent on a big box of crayons and a ream of plain paper.
It’s worth noting, though, that coloring instruments--pens, crayons, chalk and paints--require substantial supervision because many children have liberal ideas about what can serve as a canvas. In other words, they’ll write on the walls and the furniture if you’re not watching.
Books, which range in price from a few dollars to about $10, are also cited as bargains by active parents. Babies begin to look at brightly colored board books (the sturdy cardboard kind) as early as 6 months. And, while their taste in reading does evolve, they’ll often return to the board books when they start to read. Better still, parents don’t need to buy a bookshelf full of literature. They can borrow dozens of books at a time from the public library for free.
Want to amuse a baby for more than five minutes? Get a 59-cent bottle of bubbles and blow a few in the baby’s direction. Balloons, which can be purchased by the dozen for less than $1, can be blown up and batted around too. Those $2 balls you can buy at the supermarket also get high marks from parents. However, both bubbles and balloons require supervision. Left alone, young children may drink the bubble solution or put the balloons in their mouths.
Blocks, Lego building sets and indestructible plastic bath toys all get rave reviews from parents. The cost of these toys ranges from a few dollars to more than $25 for the more complicated Lego sets. But parents say they are unbreakable, get passed down from one kid to the next and amuse boys and girls for hours.
Cheap Fun
Here are some inexpensive products that will amuse kids ages 6 months to 6 years.
Toy Price Balls $1-5 Balloons (pkg. of 25) 1.59 Books 1-10 Bubbles (pkg. of 6) 1.99 Cars 1-5 Cardboard boxes Free Chalk (12 colors, eraser) 1.99 Chalkboard (incl. white chalk, eraser) 2.49 Crayons (set of 48 Crayola) 2.49 Coloring books 1.09-2.49 Dress-ups Free Jump ropes (set of 4) 2.99 Magnets (large alphabet) 4.99 Markers, washable (set of 8) 2.99 Paints, washable (set of 16) 3.99 Paper (pkg. of 100-500 sheets) 1-2 Puzzles, cardboard 1.29 Safety scissors 2.99 Sand toys (bucket, sifter, rake, shovel) 3.99 Yo-yo 2.79
Source: Toys R Us
