The Truth About Hot Holiday Toys

Great Gifts?

Advice Seeker: Dear April,

Last year, I stood outside an electronics store at 4 a.m. to get my son a video console. The year before that, I nearly got trampled trying to get a stuffed animal. I don't want to do the hunt for the hottest gift this year, but I always end up sucked into it, afraid to disappoint my kids.

How do these gifts end up being so popular, and will my kids really be heartbroken if they don't get them this year? I should mention, they usually forget about them within a week or two.

Sincerely,

Crazed Christmas Shopper

April Masini's advice:

Dear Crazed Christmas Shopper,

This one’s simple. The reason that certain toys become trendy — or that manufacturers create shortages in order to make a toy seem rare and valuable — is because of people’s insecurity.

Face it — there is nothing that’s going to cure cancer about the new Elmo doll or even the new PlayStation 3. There’s nothing even remotely fabulous about either of them, but because enough people have an insecurity that if they don’t have what they are told by advertisers that they need, they are “less than” they will go to extreme lengths to get the newest, trendiest toy for Christmas.

You can see it when parents brag that they got their child the new Elmo doll. And the response it often elicits is inferiority because the other parent didn’t get the new Elmo doll for their child and suddenly feels “less than” the parent who got the doll.

When people are secure in who they are and how they conduct their lives, the important thing will be to spend the holiday with those that they love, and to give gifts that convey the message of importance, love or just thinking of you — whether the gift is homemade fudge or a diamond necklace — or anything in between — including Elmo.