Favorite Kid Gifts from Under our Christmas Tree {2013}

You’d be hard pressed to see the family room floor if you had visited our house on Christmas day! The presents were overflowing and as we’ve only had a day to recover I’m still pretty glad I don’t have anyone coming into the house any time soon but what we have had time for is playing with some of the goodies Santa brought.  I love doing a recap every year of what was a hit (and a miss, if there were any) as it’s fun to look back.

So here’s what was a hit this year:

The Nerf Blazin’ Bow $19.97 – what’s not to love by boys when it involves a bow & arrow?  (And they are Nerf so of course they are soft, and safe)

iPad Mini $299.99  – I got each of my boys an iPad Mini for $249.99 during this hot sale at Staples.com for Black Friday.  Both of them have been using our “family” (my!) iPad for two years and I decided to bite the bullet and get them each one.  I wondered if it would be a bit extreme but it’s been wonderful.

I also got them each a Griffin Survivor iPad Mini Case (around $40) and it was WELL worth it. These things are unstoppable and I feel confident that there won’t be any screen shattering from any rough use of the iPad.  They also got matching ear buds (matching the case) and a Pottery Barn Kids Tech Case (Similar to this Blue Camo Travel Case which is on clearance for $12.99, normally $29.99) to hold everything.  It’s been a good responsibility for them too – I told them that they are responsible for charing their iPads, taking care of them and knowing where they are at all times. They’ve been so responsible about it and Cole has taken to charging his iPad every few hours and he even rolls up his headphones into a little neat pocket (apparently he’s a neatnik – who knew!)

Wii U, $299.99 – Santa brought the Wii U and we really went back and forth about this one.  We have an Xbox 360 which we have fun on but we’ve always tended to lean towards playing on the Wii. Our Wii had been dying for awhile and the Wii (regular) brand is dying as they are slowing down on making games and are no longer even making the Wii.  I wasn’t sure if we should upgrade or just move to the Xbox but I’m so glad we did.  The Wii U is so much fun!  Definitely an underrated system.  We’re huge Mario/Luigi fans so we’ve been having fun playing some of the new Mario games that come with the new game system.

V-Tech Switch & Go Dinos, $12.99-$19.99 – I have to laugh that I am writing about this one because my boys are 7 & 10 and these toys are intended for the 3-8 year old range but I’ll be damned if both of them haven’t had a total blast with these two little transformers.  I had gotten a pair of them at a tradeshow over the summer so I saved them for under the tree and my kids have been playing with them a ton!

Air Hogs RC AtmoSphere – remote control free helicopter, it’s propelled by your hand!  Right now they are listed as $32 on Amazon but I can tell you guys, I found these at Target for $20. So much fun!