My Two Cents- Hatchimals
The holiday season has come and gone, and for the first time, I get to take a breath since before Thanksgiving. Every year, it's the same thing- I sneakily buy little things throughout the year for gifts, squirrel them away somewhere my kids and husband (the biggest kid of all) won't look, and do it this way for several reasons. First, I tend to forget what it is I bought through the year, and I like opening up that storage or closet, digging the gifts out, and being surprised for my family all over again.
Second, I do it because we all know the deals happen BEFORE Christmas. Shhh... Black Friday nothing... the deals happen before Christmas. And even if they didn't, I just love my freedom way too much than to be another mother trying to survive Black Friday. I don't like orange and jail bars. No deal is worth the madness. I lived through Tickle Me Elmo on Black Friday- that was enough for this mom. Third, and there's a pro and a con here. I like to get everything but the big thing out of the way, so I can just get the big thing closer to Christmas- when the kids or the husband decide what that big thing will be for them. This year, and thank GOD none of the kids asked for one, but it appears it was Hatchimals. Oh, Hatchimals, I have to hand it to you- you are seriously cute in a fluffy Anime kind of way. Nope, here, we were WAY more fixated on scooters and drones and Monster High to be phased by the likes of you. But sitting back, watching the world from my laptop, I've come to a realization: Hatchimals are what's wrong with this world. I mean, there's a million things wrong with this place, but we're just going to focus on this one thing for now. Stay with me folks... I want to clarify- especially to you- SpinMaster (makers of Hatchimals) Hatchimals' creators, Hatchimals themselves, and all the attorneys attached to these fuzzy little balls of cray cray adorbs- my issue is not with Hatchimals. It's with the consumer of the Hatchimals. "What do you mean, MommyGyver? What did we do wrong?" Shhh... nothing. Just listen... If you bought a Hatchimal raise your hand. If you bought a Hatchimal to give to someone, for yourself to enjoy, or resold it FOR WHAT YOU PAID, put your hand down. Pat yourself on the back. Good job. The rest of you... I... I don't know. I saw Hatchimals that retailed for what? Like $50 US going for over $300. And people were buying them. Those that sold them call it Enterprise. Those that bought them probably called it robbery- but a necessary evil for them to get what they needed to give to their kids. Maybe the robber needed the money too. Maybe they did. But I don't subscribe, I guess. If my kids had wanted one and I couldn't get them one, I'd have found a creative way to delay the gift until after Christmas. It's OK if your kids don't get EVERYTHING they want the second they expect it. I promise you, it does not make you a bad parent. I had prepared a letter for mine, from Santa, just in case they asked for one and I couldn't get my hands on it. It was basically a letter saying that Santa's Workshop was backlogged waiting for the Hatchimal eggs to be laid for delivery. Sorry for the oversight, but here's a Hatchimal gift card that you can trade in at the store should you still want one when he delivers. Thankfully, I didn't have to use it. Did you all see that movie Jingle All the Way? The Governator and Sinbad dueling for a doll for their respective sons...? They had both promised and didn't want to let them down. I get that. I do. But when we buy these toys for $300 from toy scalpers that are doing nothing but taking advantage of your desire to be a loving parent, you feed the issue. Why would you want to be taken advantage of? And the scalpers- yes, I understand, it's a 'free' country, enterprise, feed your starving kids, etc... I understand all the defenses I have heard. But it still comes down to: It's still so very wrong. I can't tell you how heartbreaking it was to see people in online groups buying these things for nothing short of a car payment, then seeing them post a couple days later that they got scammed on top of it. Not only were people overpricing the things, they were not even sending them. There is something REALLY wrong with a system like this. However, I do feel there is hope. Just among my friends, and through the internet social channels I interact with, I saw several folks saying things like- "I just bought 2 Hatchimals. Here's a photo of my receipt. Just let me know who wants them and pay me what I paid. I want to make sure someone's kids get them this year without the parents going broke." And alerts: "I'm at the Crystal Lake Target, I have a Hatchimal in my cart!!! Who wants it, I'll buy it for you!" Keep that up, moms and dads. Do more of that. Because this way, we're looking out for each other and that's the RIGHT way. The season is about being neighborly, friendly, goodwill among men. Though our culture has made it about consumerism, we don't have to accept that. We never have to accept anything less than what we expect and demand.- <3 MommyGyver