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Hello! Needing some advice again! I have 4 kids, 2 of which are highly destructive. This has made shopping for birthday and Christmas gifts very difficult over the last few years. Even my two children who are not destructive never seem to have toys last long because the other two get to the toys and break them as well!I am starting the annual looking for deals for Christmas gifts. We are on a tight budget this year and will not spend more than $500 total for the four kids. I've thought about foregoing individual gifts and just getting a family gift- but as I think of the long since neglected Wii we got them last year which was apparently not NEARLY exciting as the 5$ snow boots Grandma got them (GRRR) I'm afraid I'll disappoint them again.So, any ideas? Should i stick with second hand stuff and dollar stores so it doesn't frustrate me when they break it all by Dec 27th? That's still a waste of money...but they do LOVE having something to open on Christmas morning.What do you guys do for gifts for destructive children???
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Our 8 yr is destructive too. He likes to see how far he can "push" toys before they break (then wants me to fix it). What works for him are Hot wheels, Lego's, K-nex, stuff toys, the old transformer toys ( would have to buy it used,the ones they make now break way to easy) bouncy balls,Tonka trucks, books.
I'd recommend checking out the website [url=http://www.funandfunction.com]Special Needs Toys | Teaching Special Needs Children Equipment | Child Therapy Toys | Autism Toys[/url]. It's designed for special needs kids but plenty in there is fun for "normal" kids and it's all fairly indestructible with great prices. Other ideas would be [url=http://www.timberdoodle.com]Timberdoodle Co - Homeschool Curriculum, Homeschool Program, Resources, Education, Homeschooling Materials & Books[/url] and [url=http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com]The Schoolhouse Store[/url]. They also have good prices and some indestructible stuff. Classics already suggested like legos, hotwheels, etc. can be great too, but my son tends to lose or break the special pieces or sets for those (like the car wash, race track) so we just stick to the standard blocks and plain 'ol cars now.
I do things like sheets in prints that they like, special blankets for their beds, nifty socks (which they all like, and I can often find at the dollar store), sidewalk chalk, body wash, etc. Sticker sets (they have such cool stickers now! Timberdoodle used to sell Mrs. Grossman's, so they may still have them at that site) and their own stack or pad of paper to go with it. Inexpensive stuff that is theirs personally that I don't mind being destroyed.We also deal with our other kids whose items are being destroyed by their sibs. In light of this, for our one son this year we're buying a lockable footlocker. He's tired of sibs who get into his stuff and destroy it. I can't blame him, neither can I find a 'safe' place for anything unless it's locked up. So, a locking footlocker seemed like a simple way to give some of the sibs some actual personal space.
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Maybe craft kits? Things that teach them through doing? Erector sets, birdhouse kits, bead kits, t-shirt design kits, etc... Perhaps having had a hand in making the item will help them learn to take better care of it?
I like the bedding and personal items ideas too. I have bought fancy bath towels for a kid, she loved them!
My kids love their Legos...but I'm the Lego Police. Sometimes the Legos get put up for a week because it's too much for them to handle. If you've got a place to put things, and you have good storage for the items (Legos can take up space! who knew?) and you're willing to be the responsible party, it's fine. But if you want the kids to be responsible, then kits or play sets with lots of pieces will likely just frustrate the HAIL out of you because the kids won't put them away properly and there will be lost pieces, broken bits, and the whole thing goes bust. Literally. So we have a time that I do things with the kids; it's sometimes hard to find one-on-one time, but that's what we do for kits of any kind. I keep the kit before it's opened, I open the kit and do it with the child, and I make sure it's all done properly and put away again.
LOL All I could see was a million little nuts and bolts from the Erector set, ER visits for removal of said bolts from where they impaled the feet of the parents (most likely...it never seems to be the kids' feet that are attacked), and Thanksgiving Dinner with bits of it in the stuffing. (Yes, this is all taken from my life experiences. Ok, maybe not in the Thanksgiving stuffing...it was probably someone's pb&j.)
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I would not buy things. I'd get experiences. The gifts my son has loved the most have come from myself and other people: Memberships to the zoo or aquarium, my mom enrolled him in a Day with a Dolphin camp, gift cards to the bowling alley, chuck e cheese, the movies, a mom-and kid class or experience, theme parks, etc.
My destructo kid gets cheap/clearance type stuff. I only buy him Walmart clothes and wrap them individually (so it looks like more stuff). He also gets things like stickers, etc that are just used up when trashed. I usually find a few toys through the year on the Walmart clearance rack so that I don't care if it's destroyed in 20 minutes flat. And since my others are not destructo, I feel it unfair to never get them anything nice so the rule is separate stuff. But, that's fairly easy for me since he's a boy and the oldest and they are girls and share their room, separate from his. For things I think are at particular risk (her Leapster, for example), we keep them in our bedroom and she's only allowed to have them out when we are aware and she cannot leave them laying about for him to swipe. My general philosophy is to reward the child's choice of behavior: if you treat your things well you will have nice things, if not, not so much.