Jul 082010
 

There are some things in life that will never happen.

  • I will never willingly dye my hair blonde.
  • I’m never going to make homemade macaroni and cheese to taste just like my grandmother’s recipe.
  • I will never catch the winning touchdown in a Super Bowl game.

And:

  • I will never pay $945.00 for an antique toy fire truck.

No, really. I can’t make these things up.

What?

In case you can’t read that, let me help you out: Smith Miller Fire Truck 1950′s $945.00.

No. Really.

$945.00

Not happening. Nuh-uh. Never.

FireDad and I found that particular fire truck during one of our geocaching-walk-date-things that we do because we’re dorky. It was in the window of a local antique shop, of which we have many. We stood there for awhile, blinking at the red truck in the window. We decided that even if we ever won the lottery that we don’t play, playing nearly a grand for a toy that would likely break if our kids touched it seemed somewhat silly.

I did some research, of course. Smith-Miller closed in the 1950′s and reopened decades later when a man who used to buy the trucks as a child bought the company. If you search eBay and other similar sites, you can find the truck pictured above ranging for as low as $150 for a well-loved truck all the way up to over $1000 for those in mint condition. The official website hasn’t been updated since 2009, and they don’t seem to have any trucks currently in stock. That’s a shame. I’d pay a normal amount for a truck made in the USA from a company that seems to be well-loved.

All the same, I won’t be paying $945 for the antique version.Yowza.

May 212010
 

THE BookAs I mentioned, I grabbed BigBrother a Toy Story reader as part of his end of school gift. The morning that I purchased it, I stopped in the office and was talking to a co-worker about Toy Story. She’s a mom to three boys so we spend a lot of time discussing Buzz, Woody and their buddies. She told me that she bought a Toy Story 3 coloring book and that thankfully she looked at it before she gave it to the boys.

Because it gave away the story.

I went home and read through the book I got for BigBrother. It was your typical level 2 type reader: short sentences and easy words. I had figured it was like some of the other movie based readers we have in our library; instead of telling the full story of the movie that it either told a sub-story or a completely different story all together. Not this one.

I now know the full story of Toy Story 3. More than the trailer gives away.

But I won’t spoil it for you. Just like I didn’t spoil it for the boys. Because I took it away. BigBrother is mad. I mean, who could blame him? I gave him something he loved twice over: a book about Toy Story. And then I took it back. FireDad supported this venture though he feels equally Scrooge-like. We have made promises to read the book the night we get home from seeing the movie on June 18th. He doesn’t care. He’s mad.

I’m mad, too.

When it comes to the new Toy Story movie, marketers are in heaven. Not only do they know that kids are in love with the movie and characters (and expensive toys) but parents like me have also been in love with the movie for years. We’re equally excited about the next chapter in the toys’ journey. We want to buy the toys. We want to buy the books. And the games. And to catch the movie on opening day. We want to share our love of the movie with our children. And marketers know that. The toys are everywhere right now. Taunting us. And it’s working. I get it. I understand. Really, I do.

But could we leave the spoilers out of it until the movie is released?

Put the rocket ship sprinkler in the store. And the movie editions of Connect 4, Buckaroo, Memory and Operation (!). Please, pretty please, release the Buzz, Woody and Jessie costumes for Mr. Potato Head. If you could drop the price on Buzz and Woody themselves, I’d be thrilled. I think perhaps that bubbles and boogie boards are slight overkill but I’m okay with all of those things. Just stop putting out things with spoilers until after we’ve seen the movie. Pretty please?

Or I may have to make BigBrother and LittleBrother laser you. And nobody wants that, now do they?