Every year those toy catalogs come in the mail. Well, this year I got an awesome catalog by Mastermind Toys. I got to look at it first because all of the kidlets were at school. Ha!
I was immediately impressed with this catalog. As I was flipping through I saw page after page of things my kids would love and did not have for ages 3-13. I was impressed with the caliber and quality of their gifts. I like to give the kids quality fun and smarty-pants gifts.
I liked them so much that I immediately went over to Twitter (which might always be open on my computer) and looked for their handle. Then I tweeted: “@MastermindToys – I just got your catalog in the mail. Love It! I found things for all my kids ages 3-13!”.
Then I popped over to the Mastermind FaceBook Page and wrote “I just got your catalog in the mail! I love it! It is GORGEOUS! I especially how you grouped items together by age or type or genre! I could find things for each of my kids ages 12, 10, and 3! This also would be a great catalog for the grandparents!! Super amazing + Super helpful!” [see our conversation on FaceBook here]
So each year I give each kid a different color marker and have them circle their favorites in the holiday catalog, gift guides, and flyers that come through the door. Every single year I am surprised by what they circle! Some years, at different ages and stages, the catalog looks like a crazy maze of seemingly everything circled. They are much better at this and more discerning now.
My three year old impressed me so much this year as he was circling his favorites in the Mastermind Toys catalog. He was extremely discerning saying “Nope, I don’t want anything on this page.” or “I just want two things on this page mama!”.
Both sides of our grandparents so need help with holiday gift giving for our kids. They want to get them something they will like, something that is age appropriate, and not something they already have. This is just so hard for relatives to do. Now, grandparents in particular can be a challenge.
I tried giving them a list with the item’s name, how much it is, and where they can buy it. However, there were still some challenges to this as to finding the right item in the sea of toys and people at the stores and finding the exact item I wrote down for them. So finally a few years ago as my kids were circling their favorite holiday gift ideas in the latest catalog that came through the door and I thought – “Why don’t I get more of these catalogs and have them circle up those and give those to the grandparents and aunts and uncles?”
What a HUGE success all around. The grandparents do different things. One set of grandparents just get on the phone and call the customer service department of the catalog and orders what they want for each kid, all gift wrapped, and they are done. The other set of grandparents just head over to the store with the circle catalog and play a game of find and match, often roping the the staff to be part of their game.
I thought I would share some of the top items that my kids circled in the MasterMind Toys catalog in case you are looking for holiday gift ideas for your teens, pre-teens, tweens, and pre-schoolers.
TEEN BOY HOLIDAY GIFT WISH LIST
Boy Gift Ideas – Ages 13-15
Mini Plasma Ball
Magnetic NHL Standings Board
Zipfy Luge Sled
3D Big Ben Puzzle Model
4D London Cityscape Puzzle
Perplexus Epic 360 Labryrinth Game
Pathwords Extreme Word Search Game
Air Hockey Table
Foosball Table
LiteHawk Outdoor Remote Control Helicopter
Razor Ultra Light Scooter
Stratego 50th Anniversary Board Game
Meade Star-Gazing Telescope
TWEEN GIRL HOLIDAY GIFT WISH LIST
Girl Gift Ideas – Ages 9-13
Scrapbook Shadowbox
Create Your Own Glitter Lip Gloss
Day at the Spa Deluxe Gift Set
Learn to Latch Hook Set
Butterfly & Flower Garden Room Decor Kit
Project Runway Tie Dye Fashion and Accessory Kit
Penguins on Ice Game
How to Cartoon Kit
The Usborne Girls Activity Book
Spicebox Friendship Bracelets Kit
Kiss Naturals Kits
Zoku Single Quick Popsicle Makers Kit
Opt-Art Ornaments Set
Shrinky Dinks Christmas Tree Kit
PRE-SCHOOLER HOLIDAY GIFT WISH LIST
Kid Gift Ideas – Ages 3-5
KidKraft Grand Gourmet Kitchen
Fisher-Price Kid Tough Camera
Plasma Car
HexBug Nanos
HexBug Nano Habitat
Papo Wooden Mutants Castle
Papo Unicorn
Papo War Griffin
Schoenhut Drum
Wooden Puppet Theater with Puppets
Primary Science Discovery Set
K’Nex Mario & Yoshi Building Set
ArchiQuest King & Castle Block Set
Fiddlestix
SOURCES:
Mastermind Toys Website
Mastermind Toys on FaceBook
Mastermind Toys on Twitter
