Every year, my husband and I scrabble to find toys for Christmas. Now that all of our children are school aged, it's easier then previous years. They have a great vocabulary and can express what they like and why. Before, we would just assume that our children might find a certain toy enjoyable, then purchase educational toys to satisfy our conscious. It was always disappointing to see how long each Christmas gift would actually catch their attention

I think that we've tried every method. One year I had my three children sit down and create a Christmas toy list collage. I provided them with toy circulars, and they cut and pasted the pictures on a large poster board. Although very fun, after the paint dried, and they were fast asleep, my husband and I calculated the prices and where taken back at how expensive the items where that they had picked out.