Purchasing Toys for our Toy Store

This is the time of year I do most all of my purchasing for the holidays. I am just about done with all my ordering, other than reorders. Let me tell you though, that it isn't easy. It isn't unlike coming in our store and finding 10 things you like but only intending to buy one. There are lots of great toys for me to choose from. And just like you, I have a budget. I plan my sales projections and my purchasing budget is based on that. Thankfully, after many years of making these projections, I am often within 5% of my projections.

So this year, once again as I get to the end of my ordering spree, I find myself wanting to bring in a number of toys that just aren't going to make the cut. I am forced to go back to the previous orders and slimming them down a bit to make room for a few necessities (of course there are necessities in a toy shop). I so love these toys, that it makes it hard not to get them all. But I have to stay on budget.

Here is a sneak peak of a few items that made the list: (pics will have to come later).

• Healthy Gourmet Salad and Pita Pocket Lunch for Green Eaters (love these)
• A much bigger selection of Corolle dolls AND their much requested clothing
• Power Poppers (on-the-run rapid fire foam ball gun) in 3 colors including pink!
• Spooner Boards (you'll just have to see these... cool)
• Bumpers - new bouncy animals similar to Rody, but $20 cheaper! (and still well made)
• Blast Pads galore - Stomp rockets, blast pad, air bolt, jr. stomp rocket...
• Trekbot - remote control bots that power up on your usb
• Lots of great arts and crafts
• More Thomas the Tank Engine items in the store
• More little items that make great stocking stuffers and little gifts
• Nanoblocks - miniature lego like sets
• Oh, way way too much to list everything here.

So what didn't make the cut you ask?? Well, I'm hoping you will never know or notice!

(Pictured here is me, Michelle, placing orders at my computer and a big shipment of toys we just received today!)

Boys and Dolls: What's the Problem?

When my daughters are seen at the park pushing big trucks through the sand while they make loud vrooming noises, the other parents smile and nod. But when some catch a glance of my little boy zipping down the slide with Baby Sarah, his doll, proudly postured in his lap, some parents can look downright uncomfortable. This difference is why I feel a tad sorry for little boys. My girls are allowed to play anything they want; dolls, trucks, blocks, trains, kitchen, family-- all are acceptable forms of play for my girls. But my son, who has loved Baby Sarah since he was barely two, has heard many times at the tender age of four that dolls are for girls. He has watched parents at the park pick Baby Sarah up off of the ground and assume that he (yes, a boy named Sarah!) must belong to his twin sister standing by. My husband and I have re-assured him more times than we can count that there is nothing wrong with him loving Sarah. But I think our culture at large must disagree with us. Just a quick glance of the doll aisle in most stores fills one's eyes with a sea of pink and ruffles. I hate to admit this, but even at our store, the doll section is filled with "girl" dolls. We do have a soft boy peapod doll in the infant section. And we have a set of twin dolls, one boy and one girl, but no separate boys at this point in these more traditional dolls. We have tried boy dolls. They just don't sell. In fact, Baby Sarah, a doll created by Corolle to look like a boy, has been discontinued. It must not have been a big seller for anyone. But I just don't understand why. Dolls teach children so much! Experts in this great article about the benefits of doll play explain, "Pretend play, of which dolls are a part, benefits all areas of development. By dressing and feeding dolls, children enhance fine-motor skills. By assuming roles and interacting with other children, they practice language and social skills, including sharing, cooperation, helping, and problem solving. They learn the different roles people play and begin to see their own place in the world. " How are these skills only important to girls? Of course, they are not. So what's the problem? I'm guessing we're stuck thinking of doll play as just rocking them to sleep and feeding them. My son does indeed treat Sarah this tenderly at times. I think it's a good sign that he'll grow to be a caring, loving father like his daddy. But he definitely puts his own twist on doll play, too. Sarah slides down fire poles that are too scary for him to try first. He also gets put in handcuffs as the bad guy and knocks over block towers as a mean bully. And one of my son's favorite summer games is throwing Sarah in the pool and swimming frantically to save him. In other words, my son finds "girl" ways and "boy" ways to play with his doll. Like any other good toy, it sparks his imagination and creativity. I'm sure the time is coming that my son will start feeling too self-conscious to bring Sarah out and about with us as he does now. But until then, this is one family who is fine--make that more than fine-- with their boy playing with dolls.