>The difference between the men and the boys may be the price of their toys, but do their parents wait in line and rush the store to find them? Not here.

My husband and I never really dove into the Overnight Campout in the Parking Lot routine. Our kiddos might have enjoyed the Toy of the Year, but we didn’t have the time, money, or energy to pursue it. We have been clever, though, in the name of gift-giving.

When Furbies were all the rage, I managed to snag one on Amazon before they ran out.

When our beloved Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl XXXI (shhh, don’t remind me how long ago that was), we called around town for days to find the Locker Room Cap that La Petite wanted. After a few calls I began to feel a little punchy. The store employee would say, “No, I’m sorry, we’re all out.” I would then ask, “Well, do you have Tickle Me Elmo (the current Toy of the Year) in stock?” Most of them paused, then broke out laughing. They understood.

Husband surprised me with a pink Packer baseball cap, the charity cap that donated to breast cancer research with every purchase. Those were incredibly hard to get! He won major Husband points for getting to the Packer Pro Shop when a new shipment had just come in (Hugs, dear, you’re still terrific). He’ll claim it was luck; he often goes to Lambeau Field as part of his regular workday, so he just checked in the shop each time he arrived.

La Petite’s boyfriend used to camp out before the Black Friday deals at the Big Box Electronics store. She liked to visit the tent of determined shoppers, but she was never enthusiastic enough to spend the night in a tent during late November in the close-to-frozen tundra land. I wasn’t even excited enough to visit; I sent cookies instead.

Since giving is more important than receiving, we’ve made a point of donating to Toys for Tots and our local schools’ Adopt-a-Family programs every year in December. Amigo likes to and pick out something nice for the donation box, and he has good taste. During Hasbro’s Hot Summer Toy Event, Hasbro is donating one toy to Toys for Tots for every Hasbro toy purchased. For a little extra fun, take a look at this Hot Summer Toy Event Video. Don’t you wish your toys could – ahem, maybe not.

This post was suggested by Parent Bloggers Network, where you can find more posts about Extreme Toy Shopping. I suspect some will be much more dramatic than mine….