Looking and laughing at some of the Chirstmas gifts for kids - what is good? What's not so good?

Good:
Getting son some "science" gifts to make things interesting
Models
Legos

Mediocre:
Bakugan. If your kid is 6-10, you know about 'em
XBox Games

Not so good
Too many games, not so good

Honorable mention - my son is 8, so maybe next year will be the Mindstorm Lego NXT Robotics kit...

What are some other ideas?

We bought the kids a Wii for xmas this year.

got my son some camping gear and my Daugher some Dancing Stuff (don't ask me what...the wife handles that)

I get hammered this time of year as my Daughters B"Day is January 3rd and my Son's is January 22nd.....

wishing i had some kids when i saw this..

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/12/18/dnt.61.xmas.trees.wfmy


i think this Lady isn't crazy and is RIGHT ON

My 8 year old grandson has a similar list to yours John.
I cut back on too many video games and got him an air hockey table. He loves playing. He challenges me anytime we go by an arcade. :jester: I'm going to have it all set up and ready to play for Christmas morning. :bounce:

My son earned a nice computer, by working for a GPA we set as a goal, and keeping his nose clean this fall. (His twin sister failed miserably on the last point, earning herself a trip to Juvenile court as a minor in possession, after a recent party....so she's getting coal, community service, and a six month delay on her permit/license.) The computer was from QVC, which is nice as it is on 6 easy pays. 4 gig, all the software, blah blah blah. So he is pumped, and this has enough, I hope, to get him through college. They are high school sophomores now. And he has enough Xbox games already.