Monday, November 9, 2009

Who needs expensive toys?


Especially when there are boxes to play with! This picture is of Nathan, taken on his birthday this past Saturday. He's such a goon. Don't get me wrong -- the laser remote control Battle Machines are a big hit, but the box was fun for awhile too. I swear, my kids have so much fun with empty boxes. We recently bought a Bowflex TreadClimber and you should have seen the boxes that thing came in. They were huge. The boys were bummed we got rid of them, but geez, they took up the entire family room.

I loved empty boxes as a kid too. I used to make homes for my Barbies, pet houses, forts, and other stuff. It's not something I grew out of right away either. When Rick and I got our first apartment in 1987, I took a big box and made a saloon for my cat CJ. I called it Whiskey Lips and decorated it with windows, signs, even swinging doors. He loved it and went in it all the time. However, something weird happens to my kids when they see an empty box. You know those long soda boxes that hold 12-packs? Those are suddenly transformed into moon shoes. Even empty plastic tubs are eyeballed for possible GI Joe scuba diving tanks. Yep, the possibilities are endless when it comes to an empty box or container!

8 comments:

  1. Cute picture of Nathan.Your kids crack me up. My boys love boxes too,and always want the big ones for themselves. My job is to hide them down cellar before they see them,because I like them too! I'm sure your cat loved the saloon,maybe you should make one for your current cats.Cats love boxes and bags! Leanne

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remember one year - long ago - we bought a Teddy Ruxpin for our son. It was super expensive back then. We sat it up on an old garage sale tricycle - so it would be the first thing Jake saw in the morning.

    That Christmas morning Jake ran out of his room, knocked Teddy to the ground and took off riding around the house on the trike.

    An expensive lesson learned by a new mom.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My dad made my sister and I an airplane with a refrigerator box. It was awesome!
    We just got big boxes when I picked up fundraiser items at the school. Yep, the two younger kids drew on them and sat and rode in them tonight!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I remember Son use to play with the boxes of everything we got and empty clothes baskets...he'd climb in the bigger boxes and just go to sleep...grin...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have a great video of my daughter as a toddler playing with a huge paper shopping bag. She had such a blast swinging it around, climbing inside it, singing to it, screaming at it...toys are so predictable :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. lol ree and all. Last night my husband played with Fraidy Cat for an hour with hubby hitting a cardboard box with a back scratcher from the dollar store or running the back scratcher on the box. Fraidy Cat wanted her box back and it was a fun battle to see who would win or get bored first. The cat won as if there was any doubt lol.

    ReplyDelete
  7. After we got a new refrigerator, my son slept in the box for a month. He had blankets, pillows, and the all-important stuffed bear in there with him. He sang and ran his matchbox cars all around the edges. Best entertainment there is!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have a photo (and no, I am not going to post it!) It is of me when I was about 2 1/2 and I had gotten a box stuck on my foot at Christmas time. Instead of taking the box off, my folks took pictures of me trying to remove it, and having a major meltdown when I couldn't. lol (Ah, now I have a box trauma!) :)

    ReplyDelete