This week we had to get our creative hard hats on to put together a birthday invite for my grandsons party. He wants to invite all of his classmates which is very sweet of him knowing this will be a first birthday party for most of them. Many of his classmates have special needs so we are not sure who is able to come and who is not.
He enjoys watching Gold Rush on television so the latest craze is he spends time in the garden digging and transporting soil around in the hope there is some gold. This will be the theme for his party with construction vehicles and he will be in his element. I encourage this as I think it is pretty cool he is looking for gold and more importantly he is outside and not stuck behind a computer playing games.
This morning I went to buy his birthday present looking for a remote controlled excavator but it turns out this is not exactly practical. The charging takes 4 hours and the battery life lasts roughly 20 minutes. The remote controlled loader was similar and once loaded the truck would last 30 minutes and 40 minutes without the dirt on the back. Plus the other downside is they looked cheap and would probably only last 30 minutes before breaking. This is why i dodged the toy shops and went to a specific specialist shop that deals in remote control items like, boats, cars, bikes, planes and trucks. They even had tanks, but I am not buying this for myself so I have to reign myself in slightly.
In the end I opted for a remote controlled car which is sticking with the outdoor theme and this once charged will last a good 90 minutes plus I bought an extra battery pack so one will always be charged waiting to go.
The one enjoyment I do get is when shopping for boys presents because I can put myself in their shoes thinking what I would have liked to play with. The budget usually gets thrown out the window as I also get to play with whatever I purchase and it is a great bonding time.
This is the remote control car I purchased this morning and the hobby shop had so many to choose from. There was a Willys Jeep which I would have bought, but this was way too expensive so I had to keep things real and not get carried away. This RC vehicle goes 38 km/h and is fast enough for my grandsons needs which i know he will enjoy which is the important part here and why my presents are always well received.
Still quite shocked that this is an entry level price and there are others upwards of $4K and that is for the body and does not include all the parts.
My granddaughter's birthday is next month and for that I am clueless and will leave that to the girls to decide because I cannot put myself in her shoes. I have no idea what interests little girls besides dolls, but there must be more and I would most likely mess things up.
His birthday is on Tuesday so I guess after school we will be playing in the garden waiting until it gets dark because this car has lights on the top and that is going to be what gets his attention the most. Boys just want to have fun and this present is going to give just that.
I know his mum is doing his cake and it is going to be a construction site cake and her cakes are always very detailed and cannot wait to see what this looks like. I am not an arty farty type person so I leave the creative side to those that are.