Saving the Environment 1 Toy at a Time

So friends from preschool have come up with a wonderful idea - they are going to put a little less stuff out into the world by doing a unique kinda Birthday Gift request for their sons 4th Birthday Party. Instead of having each kiddo bring a BRAND NEW TOY as a gift, they are asking for each guest to bring a toy that they no longer play with - that they think their 4 year old would love to play with - as a gift.

Brilliant right?

Cost Effective - EASY as all get out to shop in your own toy chest - Less Trash - Totaly use of Reduce Reuse Recycle.
r>One p<;/SPAN>roblem - TheKing is not participating. At all. Won't do it. Uh uh. No Way Jose. Nada. Ain't Havin' It.

Ever since the invitation came in and it was confirmed we could attend I have been working toy angles. See we are at a slight disadvantage because I regularly have the kids clean out their rooms and present a few things that can be given to a resale shop. So while we may look overloaded with toys - we aren't really. We have lots of toys that have LOTS OF LITTLE pieces (hate the little pieces thank you), but we don't have a ton of toys. The other problem is that TheKing really does seem to play with almost all the toys he has. Dinosaurs, cars, trains, babies, stuffed animals, building blocks, dress up clothes - all of it. I know because I am the clean up crew.

So each day I have tried to sneak a toy to the side. One day it was some Fisher Price bulldozer things he doesn't play with AS MUCH. He found them. Another day it was his backpack (he has a few) that has some "travel" toys in it. He found that - scattered it all over and declared his love for each piece. Then I decided to sit and talk with him about what to give up..........he said,; &quot;nothing Maudy". I pointed a few things out - how bout the spaceships? Nope they were for playing Zathura. What about a few of the dino's? Nope they are for playing Zathura and killing the cars. Oh, well how about some of those cars....and he looked at me like my head popped off and started crying.

Yesterday a toy fell in my lap - well not literally - but I was cleaning his room and found one of those toys where you slip the circular slide thing in to look at pictures - what are those called? We all had one at some point. Then you click the button thing and a new picture is pushed into place.......what is that? Shoot now I have to go and google or bing it or something...hold on........ViewMaster!! I couldn't find it by googling - had to resort to "phone a friend" - only the friend was on Facebook - there is ALWAYS someone on Facebook that can answer the question I need. So anyway.....I found the ViewMaster sitting in his room in a heap of stuff - then I scored a few of the circular picture things and thought "hey this is the perfect gift for MrA's birthday party - these discs aren't even that bent up!" I took it straight to my room and set it up highish on my jewelry box to wait as I looked for more picture discs.

Later that night TheKing came in my room while I was reading. He went to his bookcase and grabbed a few books, jumped up on the bed with me (yes, he literally jumped - it is quite annoying) and sat there reading. I put my book down to read his books for him and noticed him staring up at my jewelry box. He looked at me, smiled and said, "Those are not for MrA. Those are mine."

I am just not sure how we are going to manage a gift for this party. In fact at this point I picture MrA opening gift after gift while screaming and tears ensue throughout the party room. No matter what we gift TheKing is going to figure it out - run across the room - snatch the toy out of the birthday boys hand and probably come back and yell at me.

BigGuy has suggested we go to the store, buy a new toy, throw it around on the front driveway and then drag it through the mud. He might be onto something......