It started when Graham was 18 months old. I wanted to get him a train table for Christmas. There was an ad in the Sunday paper for a Circo table that was $20 off at Target. Naturally, I walked into Target the following Monday expecting to find a shelf stocked with discounted train tables. I would easily toss it into my basket and check out in a breeze.
Instead, it went something like this: I grab one of the last shopping carts available. The one with the crooked wheel that squeaks. I find the toy aisle. And then the Circo train aisle. There is one left. Just one, and it weighs 1,000 pounds. So, I try to find someone to help me get it in the cart. A red-shirted employee looking only slightly haggard comes down the aisle. She’s walking straight towards me. Hurray. “Can you help me get this in my cart?” I ask.
She freezes. “Um, I’m supposed to be taking this up to the front for a customer who’s on her way to get it. But, I don’t have a cart.” Well, I’m here and have a cart, I thought. So she helped me lift it in, and I quickly strolled off. With a guilty conscience and a train table. It was that year that I vowed to never put off Christmas shopping and to also never gift my child with the “IT” item.
Never say never. Just two years later, it occurred to me that Graham would love one of those iPad thingies for kids. I asked my girlfriends and they gave me the pros and cons of each. Armed with the research, my mother and I went out to shop, and just like in year’s past we ventured into Target thinking, “We got this.”
Lo and behold, the Leap Pad is no where to be found; the Innotab was at other area-Targets, but in short supply. So we dash off to the other stores only to have them laugh at us. “That’s the IT gift this year. We’ve been sold out of Leap Pads and Innotab’s for weeks!” Don’t mind that each store also told us they had them before we got there.
Then, a light bulb went off… the Internet! Surely, I can track one of these bad-boys down on the Internet! Every Leap Pad was marked up to twice the value on re-sellers site’s, but I did manage to track down an Innotab. And, my mom very cordially offered to gift it to G-man. Thanks mom!
So, looking for the “IT” gift this year? Don’t go to Target, unless your Santa got started earlier than the one at the Harding House did. If you still want to get an Innotab, visit the Vtech website. They still have some available and are offering free shipping! Looking for a Leap Pad? You’ll be spending twice what they are worth, but you can find some smarty peeps selling them on Ebay.
Lesson learned. Buy Christmas gifts in November. I’ll probably even write a bragging blog about it next year. And then, come 2013, we’ll be back at Target. During the busy week. Stealing the IT gift from another patron. Merry Christmas.
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