Which of Your Christmas Presents Were Successes?

My seven year old has always had legos and never really done anything with them...just standard tubs. I bought her a few Lego Friends sets (the girlie ones) and she has played with them a TON!! After building according to the directions, she came up with her own designs and I like seeing her be creative with them.

Other successes...a wooden table and chair set for their room...let's see...

Oh, the little stinker. My two year old has always LOVED books and loved having me read to her, so I bought her three mini board book sets (the kind that come in boxes) and a few other books...and the stinker won't even let me read them to her. She has looked at them on her own...but I want to read them TO HER!!!! :==(

My 21 year old son loved his gift cards to Best Buy and Hastings.
My 20 year old DD loved her new clothes, especially a faux leather coat I got her. She won't wear real leather.
My 20 year old son loved his flying helicopter Santa brought him.
My 19 year old DD, her new sweats and yoga pants.
My 11 year old son loved his new tablet, a air soft gun he has been wanting for a year and his Halo lego kits.
My 8 year old DD loved her tablet, new coat and some Lego set's she got.
My 6 year old son loved his Innotab2, and the mountain of Legos he got.
My 3 year old loved her Innotab2, and her Mrs. Potato Head. She loves everything else but those are the two that stand out with her.

Here I bought all of the kids tablets and mine get's broken yesterday...such a sad day for me :(

My 10 year old I think his favorite was a chin up bar for him to work out with. And my oldest I think his was the money he got to get is Call of Duty Black Ops 2.

My kids loved everything. It was funny because the neighbour came over on Christmas and asked the boys what they got. My 7 year old excitedly said "Aquafresh Toothpaste!" Really? You got an XBox Kinect with two games, Lego, books, new bedding, a lunch box and hockey t-shirts, yet the first thing you can think of is toothpaste?

The coolest present was for my 7 year old. It was a 'Hawk Cam' remote control helicopter. Unfortunately, it was so good everyone needed a turn. Daddy landed it in the pool. After it miraculously dried out and started working again the next day, Mummy landed it in a bucket of water. It dried out and is still working. Mummy and Daddy are no longer allowed to play with it.

My kids are 8 (boy) and 11 (girl), and this was the happy Star Wars lego Christmas. The lego obsession started last year, and while figuring out how not to have a permanent construction zone in my living room has been a challenge, they play with the legos every day. They build, adapt, cannibalize sets for parts, and come up with long, imaginative stories to go with the things they make. They tend to incorporate what they're reading or watching into the game, which is why R2D2 is now married to a pink dalek they built and traveling the universe in a pizza delivery TARDIS while Percy Jackson and Chronos battle each other with light sabers in the dining hall at Hogwarts...

I have an 18 yr old daughter and you would never guess.... LOL

MONEY $$$ and Gift cards ( 1 major gift card for use anywhere from her dad and me, $100 in her stocking from Santa, Nordstroms, Starbucks, Body Shop, and Hollister) were her favorites along with.... Godiva Santa, Bath and Body products (she LOVES that store), and mani/pedi items.

I SO remember the days when she was 3 and she would go around the house with her grocery cart, play with the easel and have so much fun.. She never did play with baby dolls, she adored her stuffed animals. She did play with Barbie and Bratz dolls. The Barbie Jeep was a huge hit!!

Enjoy and take it all in because time flies... My daughter heads out to college in the fall of 2013 already.... I am SO excited for her and I know I will miss her like crazy as well.

Great question! I love talking about this kind of stuff.

6-year-old DD LOVES all of the art supplies, including the "adult" watercolors (at Michael's), the colored clay, and the watercolor paper, which dries faster than computer paper.

DD also received a play camping set (from Target?) that has a log and a lantern with batteries. The log has a blower that makes the flame rise, and the lantern has cricket and coyotes howling. The pan comes with eggs and bacon, and the sticks allow one to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. She LOVES it.

She also loves the new items we got to add to our Christmas village.

My DD loved her art easel years back when she got it, too. I second the "it's a must" opinion.

For 3 and 5 yo girls, a big dollhouse and Disney princess Barbies. They played all day long, mostly without fighting, which was a first and was my favorite gift.

To KindredSpirit. The camping stuff was probably from Costco. My kids saw it there and were fascinated, but I didn't get it for them. In retrospect, I probably should have. They both love camping.

My son (4 yo) loves his old fashioned big OL tonka truck-type dump truck/dozer. My 9 yo daughter got concert tickets...the look on her face was PRICELESS... the concert isn't til March so we have lots of excitement and looking-forward-to-it.
Oldest got an x box that she's played daily...

Best part they APPRECIATED what they got!!!!

Hubby got a waffle maker (hey he wanted it) and we've used it lots (i'm acutally sick of waffles right now LOL)
Momma's very happy with the ipod docking station I bought myself for Christmas!!!!!!!

My 14 yr old loves his new skateboard. Daughter loves her earflap hat (the kind with rabbit fur around the face/ears and flaps that fold down over the ears and straps under the chin)---she is 11. They both love that daughter got a wireless controller for her for the PS3 and the 007 game they got.

Daughter also LOVES her footie pajamas. And son has used his new sleeping bag twice already. Daughter also loved her Bath&Body Works lotions and hand sanitizers. Her brother gave her a gift card for Aeropostale and she bought a bag full of stuff this week that she likes, too.

They also got an "old school" popcorn popper that they like, but is more of a pain for ME than I was hoping. And yes, it was for THEM... they LOVE popcorn as a snack, and I hate giving them microwave popcorn.

Husband hasn't had a chance to use his new golf driver yet, but I'm sure he will love it when he does (he's been sick and it is raining, too).

Wish I had a few to list LOL
Actually for my 4 year old the biggest successes were two toys I found at a resale. He sees an old movie and decides he wants a toy from that movie. So I lucked out BIG TIME finding two of these things and spending $8 total.
My two year could care less about any of it! The teenager....MONEY :)

Lego Friends sets for our 7 yo twin girls. HUGE hit!!! They also loved the Blingles craft kit. They have added lots of bling to their stuff like their brushes, jewelry boxes, craft cases, etc.

Our 9 yo son loves the Star Wars lego sets and the Bop It XL.

Oh, BTW, we have used the Magic Erasure on our craft table when the kids get a little crazy with the crayons.
Works great! :)

My 2 yo daughter loved her Nenuco "Sleep with me" baby doll and Princess Cozy Coupe. She gets her purse and "Baby", jumps in the Cozy Coupe and goes "places" (beach, store, work, etc). It's adorable.

My 2 1/2 year loves her miniature Hello Kitty stuffed animal, her ViewMaster (old school!) and new books!

I was really worried about this year's shopping. I was on a walker for 5 weeks, & relied upon cyber shopping. Naptimes at my daycare were spent online, & I ended up with excellent ideas.....many of which I would not have considered if I'd been hitting the stores.

For my daycare kids, normally I do books. This year, I simply grabbed what caught my interest....sturdy Tonka trucks for the boys, art supplies for the girls, & a "climbing bear" which my husband made (last year for the kids) for the new toddler girl. It all worked & was well-received. :)

& I have to add: for all of the adults, I thought outside of the box. I put together many gift baskets, adding in specialty items to the mix....& all were hits. Thank you, Groupon/Amazon/Barnes & Noble/& many obscure little websites!

"Santa" surprised our 6 year old son with a set up fish tank, wrapped. He loved it!

The Dream Light. I purchased that thing very reluctantly and she turns it on and sleeps with it every night.

my kids loved their la dee daa dolls (they didn't even have them on their lists). loveddd novi stars dolls. loved their furreal biscuit pups. hubby loved all the different kind of knives i got him, from shun, to wusthoff, to ceramic kyocera. he loved his personalized wall calendar.
i got a pir of one size fits all gloves from lane bryant. he did not know that is not a store for underweight people if weight was what he was shopping for. but after christmas sales made up for his oversight.

My daughter (age 2) loves the Little People Princess Castle. She plays with it all the time! It comes with Cinderella and Snow White, and she has now gathered about 15 other little people from around the house to play too. This was definitely the biggest hit for her!

My son's favorite (age 5) is the Wipeout game for the Wii. He also has been putting together his many new lego sets and is having a great time playing with those.

Our son (20) was thrilled with his shot gun (.887 Remington Nitro 12 gauge shot gun, pump) and fraternity badge.

Our daughter (24) was thrilled with all her apartment stuff that she got. Pots and pans, knives, bowls, perfume. She also got a leopard print apron that she had asked for. It is really cute!

My girls are 16 and 17 with friends ages 16 thru 19. Sucess... ipod touch, tickets to Warped Tour, ear buds, itunes gift card, fuzzy socks. The pj's didn't fit, so instead I told them I would return the pj's and they could use those funds at the clearance sale at Bath and Body Works. That was a fun and sucessful shopiing trip the day after Christmas.

My boys (6, 3 and 1) love their new Imaginext castle, Imaginext T-Rex, pirate ship, True Heros army playset, and Thomas the Tank engine expansion tracks. They are all Scooby-Doo obsessed, so we got them a set of posable figurines and the Mystery Machine to ride around in.

My dad (kid at heart) loved his present more than anyone--I had him for our family Secret Santa, and I got him a telescope (under $100) after hearing him talk this summer about how he always wanted a nice telescope.

My son who is 6 and autistic loves his LeapPad2. He has been playing with it everyday since Christmas and loves that he has his own "computer."

My daughter who is 9 loves playing chess. It's not my game but she and her daddy(my husband)play it quite often. She's actually becoming quite good and has corrected other moves while playing.

DD is 4 some hits included:

Books (Pete the Cat, Good Knight, Skippyjon Jones, I Spy)

Craft items

Dinosaurs

Dream Lite (unicorn, specifically)

Bendaroos

SS 23 liked his Dr. Who travel mug

SD 18 liked her strawberry socks from ModCloth

Three of my grandsons (ages 10, 11 and 14) loved their beyblades-tops you pull and let go. My two 10 year old grand daughters loved a subscription to American Doll magazine and make your own bouncy balls.
Another 14 year old grandson loved his Psych T shirt and the 17 year old grandson loved his Dr. Who t shirt. My husband and I also took the crew to see Annie at our nearby theater. All 16 of us from age 10 to 88 loved every minute of it. We had ice cream cake back at our house and played Pit.

Inexpensive android tablets (less than $70), backyard trampoline, high top converse ( I have two boys), remote control truck & car controlled by android tablet

My husband loved his collage picture frame of all the kids from when they were itty bitty up to now.
My 18 y/o can't wait to wear her new cowboy boots.
My 8 y/o is anxiously waiting for guitar lessons so he can learn how to play his new box guitar.
My 4 y/o has been carrying around his Dream Lite since Christmas morning.