Christmas 2017

[Alexle2007]

Ok, on to my predicament.... My 11 year old son. Wow... he is fully into the MEH stage and is making it very hard to know what to get him. I am not joking when I say 95% of his answers to any given question is a shoulder shrug and he then turns and walks away! I thought I'd have at least a few more years before we hit this stage. Last year he was still into Legos, books, video games. Now I have no idea. Anyone else care to share what your preteen boys are into?

My sixth grade son has no idea what he wants either. He still has a ton of Lego sets from last Christmas to put together. We finally started on the Death Star that he had to have last year. He mainly plays with his Lego men and did ask for more figures so I plan to try my best to put some together for him at the Lego store. He also has all of the other Pirates of the Caribbean Lego pirate ships so I plan to get him the newest one. And then there are the <stupid> Pokémon cards and he wants to look for rare ones. (I blame DH for this obsession.) He is currently really into Harry Potter so I'll getting him some HP for his room redo. His many gifts though will be trips since we are surprising him with Universal in mid Dec and then spending Christmas in Punta Cana. I have already made him well aware that there will be less under the tree and since he now knows the truth about Christmas and Santa, he is perfectly fine with it.

 

[amcc]

If anyone sees a discount for the shop disney site, please post. I’ve never bought from there - do they ever have discounts or sales site wide?

 

[wenrob]

If anyone sees a discount for the shop disney site, please post. I’ve never bought from there - do they ever have discounts or sales site wide?

shopDisney? It’s the Disney Store just rebranded. Same type of sales. Week before last they had 25% off on holiday stuff. This week is Sketchbook Ornaments and something else. Sign up for their email notifications.

Do you happen to be an AP holder? If you are it may be worth your time to check out the Shop Parks app. You can use your AP discount with it.

 

[bitty246]

Honestly, I think you have a few more years of Legos, books and video games. That was the bulk of my DS's list until he got into high school and started adding clothes to his list in addition to those other items. He is a freshman in college this year and will still be getting a Lego set, video games and books, LOL.

Does your DS still like nerf guns? New basketball or football? What about an indoor basketball hoop, either over the door or stand alone game (if you have the room)? Brand name hoodie, shoes or socks you normally would pay that much for?

He still has Legos from last Christmas he never opened and a coding set that is collecting dust. Never really played with the Nerf things he's gotten over the years. For as tall as he is (6' at 11!) he is not athletic or interested in the least. I definitely think books and video games are going to be on the list, but that's all I got right about now. I'm not kidding when I say he is just meeehhhh about everything! He doesn't even care what he wears. He thinks if his pants and shirt are both red (no matter the shade) they must match. His 8 y/o sister makes him go change if I don't see him first LOL!

Oh well... I'm not going to stress about it. I'm sure something will come up, I just need to be patient.

 

[bitty246]

My sixth grade son has no idea what he wants either. He still has a ton of Lego sets from last Christmas to put together. We finally started on the Death Star that he had to have last year. He mainly plays with his Lego men and did ask for more figures so I plan to try my best to put some together for him at the Lego store. He also has all of the other Pirates of the Caribbean Lego pirate ships so I plan to get him the newest one. And then there are the <stupid> Pokémon cards and he wants to look for rare ones. (I blame DH for this obsession.) He is currently really into Harry Potter so I'll getting him some HP for his room redo. His many gifts though will be trips since we are surprising him with Universal in mid Dec and then spending Christmas in Punta Cana. I have already made him well aware that there will be less under the tree and since he now knows the truth about Christmas and Santa, he is perfectly fine with it.

Glad to see I am not alone! This sounds like my son exactly! Although he really hasn't touched his Legos in a while. He used to like Pokémon but seems to have moved on from that as well. I tried desperately to get him to love Harry Potter as much as I do, but that seems to have taken root in my daughter instead. Hahaha!

He has not openly acknowledged a disbelief in Santa yet. I'm sure he's just humoring me, but I still love the tradition of it. I wish we did have a trip on the books, it would be super convenient to put a Magic Band in a gift box! It sounds like it is going to be an awesome time for you and your family. I look forward to travelling during the Holiday when our kids are a bit older.

 

[MomToOne]

Can someone help me out here? I want to get something 'techy' for my 7 year old DD. I am lucky on the days I can get my smart phone to do what I want it to do so I am the last person that should be buying anything based on technology. Anyhow, she has a Kindle Fire that she really likes playing games on. When I asked her favorite game is Temple Run. She likes playing Disney LOL games on our PC. Her favorite class in school is keyboarding. She is not really into arts and crafts or legos. She is the middle child and often gets lost in the shuffle so I would like to get something that is totally her. The only problem is that she's not really into anything. Any suggestions?

Sounds like she is at least somewhat of a game player, so at that age I'd go with a Nintendo DS - there are various flavors (2DS, 2DS XL, 3DS, 3DS XL), at different price levels. DD isn't a gamer by any means, but she loved her DS at that age. It's a different experience compared to playing games on a tablet.

 

[jen7233]

Well, I picked up the new Monopoly board game today at Walmart for one of my kids. It's got the new game pieces no more shoe! For my other kiddo, I bought the Electronic Battleship. So, I'm now two presents for each so far. They didn't ask for the games, I just picked these up because they've been on my radar.

Aside from presents, is anyone planning on new decorations? I'd really like to get a new door wreath and other outdoor decoration hoping for a good Black Friday deal for this.

 

[100AcreWood]

Sounds like she is at least somewhat of a game player, so at that age I'd go with a Nintendo DS - there are various flavors (2DS, 2DS XL, 3DS, 3DS XL), at different price levels. DD isn't a gamer by any means, but she loved her DS at that age. It's a different experience compared to playing games on a tablet.

That's a great suggestion. My kids love their 3DS. My dd9 loves the Cooking Mama games.

 

[grumpy28]

Aside from presents, is anyone planning on new decorations? I'd really like to get a new door wreath and other outdoor decoration hoping for a good Black Friday deal for this.

We need a new Christmas tree. Our old prelit tree, quit working last year. Hoping I can find a new, tall tree at a good price.

 

[mommy2twingles]

We need a new Christmas tree. Our old prelit tree, quit working last year. Hoping I can find a new, tall tree at a good price.

Watch Home Depot. Both my mom and I got trees there on different years that were nice and a great price

 

[grumpy28]

Watch Home Depot. Both my mom and I got trees there on different years that were nice and a great price

Thanks for the tip!

 

[wenrob]

My list is coming together in my head, now I just need sales to start happening.

I just bought older DD a Disney Stock gift card for her stocking at Target. They had Apple, Facebook and I think Google stock as well. I thought it was a unique twist and she will love it. Plus it opens up a future gift possibility buying a framed certificate later.

 

[wenrob]

Oh I also bought the Rustic Wood editions of Jenga, Monopoly and Connect Four on sale plus a 40% off Cartwheel. They’re super nice! I might go back for Scrabble.

 

[bitty246]

An unexpected windfall came my way yesterday that I think my son DS11 will enjoy. My company hosted an event at a local Entertainment Complex. They gave us each $40 preloaded card to use which doesn't expire. A coworker gave me her card as well! Since video games and lazer tag aren't my thing, I'll just put it in his stocking and take him and a friend for a day of pizza and games. Yay!

 

[grumpy28]

I just bought older DD a Disney Stock gift card for her stocking at Target. They had Apple, Facebook and I think Google stock as well. I thought it was a unique twist and she will love it. Plus it opens up a future gift possibility buying a framed certificate later.

Can you tell me more about the disney stock you bought? Where did you buy it? How much was it? This could be an awesome gift idea for my DD, but I am clueless about it. TIA!

 

[MomToOne]

Aside from presents, is anyone planning on new decorations? I'd really like to get a new door wreath and other outdoor decoration hoping for a good Black Friday deal for this.

We've always traveled for Christmas, but always stayed at either my brother's or my parent's house, who would have a tree and lots of other decorations.

But now that both of my parents have passed away, we are still traveling but staying in a hotel this year (other siblings have claimed the available space at my brother's and honestly, I'm good not being with that much family 24 hours a day!). I promised DD we would decorate the room a bit to make it more Christmas-y, so I got this tree from Kohl's last week to bring with us:
https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-2334886/3-ft-pre-lit-led-snowy-concolor-fir-christmas-tree-in-burlap.jsp?skuId=3-ft. Pre-Lit LED Snowy Concolor Fir Christmas Tree in Burlap&search=2334886&submit-search=web-recentsearch

I ended up only paying $21+tax when I stacked the sale price at the time, Kohl's 10 off 50 in home code, Discover 10 off 30 code and Kohl's 30% Chargeholders code. I'm really happy I pulled the trigger early and got it - it's a pretty nice tree, a lot better than anything else I could get in that price range! A bit bigger than I expected but I can still get the box into a duffle-sized suitcase (yay free bag check with credit card!). I'll store it at my brother's for use in future years.

I want to get a few other decorations that I can also put up without destroying hotel property I'm looking at sticking with a natural theme to go with the tree - I have a burlap "Be Merry" banner in my cart on Amazon that I'll probably get, although I may just make one myself copying the design. Then I still need to find a few more things that are relatively flat and easy to pack!

 

[wenrob]

Can you tell me more about the disney stock you bought? Where did you buy it? How much was it? This could be an awesome gift idea for my DD, but I am clueless about it. TIA!

It and other stock cards were hanging with the gift cards at Target. It’s for $50 + $6.95 activation fee. On the back it tells you to go online and provide your info and card number. I googled it for you, this is it:
https://stockpilegifts.com/products/gift-card-for-disney-stock
If you go up to the menu it explains how it works.

 

[mommy2mrb]

We are moving in June cross country so have been in process of dejunking and paring down stuff. Will be donating our old lighted tree to DD high school (private) as they can celebrate Christmas and the kids have fun decorating the trees and school. Going to donate some ornaments etc too.

Going to just use DD smaller tree this year, we aren’t hosting Christmas this year so not going to go all out with decorations.

 

[grumpy28]

It and other stock cards were hanging with the gift cards at Target. It’s for $50 + $6.95 activation fee. On the back it tells you to go online and provide your info and card number. I googled it for you, this is it:
https://stockpilegifts.com/products/gift-card-for-disney-stock
If you go up to the menu it explains how it works.

Thanks so much for the info! This looks really cool!

 

[Alexle2007]

We need a new Christmas tree. Our old prelit tree, quit working last year. Hoping I can find a new, tall tree at a good price.

I found the best prices after Christmas. I got a 9 ft tree that looks so real (I didn’t even want to decorate it) for like $150. It was originally over $600. We have a 2 story foyer that is looks beautiful in.