Looking for the best gifts for this holiday season? Toy store owners from Annapolis and Ellicott City are ready with suggestions for fun games and toys that don’t have to cost a lot. Holiday shopping is almost always stressful—and this year, with money tight for nearly everyone, is no exception. But the key to this specific reindeer game is to have a strategy, have a budget—and buy the best.
“We tend sometimes to go overboard in terms of quantity,” Jeff Franklin, owner of Franklin’s Toys in Severna Park, said. “Think more of terms of quality… think in terms of enduring interest.”
John Gallogly, owner of All Time Toys in Ellicot City, agreed. “Look for things with ‘unlimited playability,’” he says—meaning there’s no predetermined end point. Action figures based on movies, like Star Wars and Transformers, are always great, he said. Plus, he pointed out, they allow kids to interact with someone else while they play. “There are a lot of more constructive things than video games,” he said.
- Qwirkle, $24.95: It’s “ a wonderful family game,” Franklin said. This winner of the 2007 Parents’ Choice Awards features tiles with six different colors combined with six different shapes, which players use to make matching rows.
- BananaGrams $14.95: This year’s hot game is a bit like Scrabble®, but instead of forming words with tiles by taking turns, the players play independently and at the same time, making for a fast-paced, zany time.
- HEXBUG Robots, $10.95 – $21.95: These robots reverse direction and back up when they run into something or hear a loud sound. You can pick from five different colors and body styles.
- Snap Circuits, $29.95 – $94.95 : “It’s basically an electronics kit, but all of the components are in little modules,” Franklin explains. Plus, “all the parts are labeled so that kids get to understand what goes into” making the “gadgets.” The $29.95 set makes 100 different projects, and the $94.95 set makes 500 different projects.
- EZ Roller Ride-On Toy, $109.95: The EZ Rider is a small vehicle that children steer with their feet. “It’s so sturdy that I can sit on it myself,” 155-pound Franklin said, and “it’s really low to the ground so it’s not at all dangerous.”
Avoid “feeling under pressure to provide ‘x’ amount of stuff or that one really hot thing- there are a lot of great toys out there for children,” Franklin said, “I always think that shoppers should really try to have fun..”
By Marissa Miller
