The current recession, has many people watching their Christmas budget closely this year. With so many people trying to save money on toys, bargains will abound. Most of the big box stores will have some amazing deals, in an attempt to lure shoppers through their doors, especially on hot toys. The tradition of running out to the local big box store on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), fighting the crowds and traffic, only to find that the toy on sale sold out in 15 minutes, has driven many shoppers to hide that day. Holiday season traffic and crowds is just too wearing for Poor Santa. Why waste time, gas, feel hassled and pay sales tax, when the very same toy can arrive on your doorstep, with the click of a mouse.
Free shipping is available at Amazon for most orders over $25, and since they don’t have actual storefronts, there will be no sales tax in most states. I have found most prices to be very competitive on Amazon, and once the free shipping/no tax is taken into account, they are usually cheaper. Here is a link to the BlackFriday Deals at Amazon.
Keep an eye on the holiday flyers for Toys R Us as well. The Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) sales they run on various toy manufacturers, is a great holiday bargain. While the sale will probably be offered online as well as at actual stores, shipping cost (TRU doesn’t seem to offer free shipping veryoften), may make it worth the trip to the store. You will probably pay sales tax either way, since TRU stores are in most states. Keep in mind that both toys will need to be from the same manufacturer, to get one free and the free one is usually limited to $20 and under . Poor Santa has gotten some great bargains on popular toys, during Fisher Price BOGO sales, at Toy R Us. Update TRU is currently offering free shipping on orders over $49.
If your getting someone a Wii system, or they already have one, you may want to consider signing up for a game download service. Most of these work the same way, you pay a one time fee and can then download as many Wii games, as you want. From the research I did, it seems to take a few weeks for newly released games to be offered, but the selection is quite large. Here is a link to the Wii download site, which I found the most positive information on. The permanent membership is $49.95, and they offer a money back guarantee. Seems like a good way to get a lot of games with out, spending much, and membership would make a nice gift. Since it is a permanent membership and won't expire, I would suggest setting it up prior to giving it, so you know there will be no problems downloading. Here is a similar link for PS3 downloads.
When choosing childrens gifts this year, you may want to consider going “old school”. Rather than picking up the latest overpriced fad toy, save money, by buying some of the fun toys you grew up with. The manufacturer, Schylling , still makes a wide selection of retro toys. Poor Santa especially likes the selection of tin toys. Not only are these toys just plain cool, but kids can learn about the simple physics of how things work, from these toys, something many of the new “learning” toys do not provide.
