Silly Bandz!!! 今年美國最夯的玩具!

The hottest toy this year is Silly Bandz. If you ask any kids between the ages of 5 to 16 what their favorite play thing this year, they will all tell you "Silly Bandz" (http://www.sillybandz.com/). Silly Bandz are a brand of silicone rubber bands formed into shapes including animals, objects, and letters. They are normally worn as bracelets. Essentially, they are colorful rubber bands in various shapes. The company that markets this product is laughing all the way to the bank. They are usually sold in a pack of 24 Bandz (6 shapes, 4 per shape) that will allow the kids to collect and trade. I looked up the internet and they are being sold from $5.99 to $2.50 for a pack of 24. As in any popular items, there are now hundreds of imitations in the marketplace. Most are just colorful rubber bands that will likely melt together in heat or pressure. As Silly Bandz are made of silicone, these bands can withstand heat and maintain the shapes really well.

I was resisting buying these Silly Bandz for my kids because I was not going to pay over $5 for 24 rubber bands, but reality hit last Friday when my 8 year-old son came home with many of these Bands around his wrist. He said a classmate gave them to him--he went through a long story of why this girl would give him so many Bandz. But now I have a dilemma. My 10 year-old daughter has been asking to buy these Bandz for weeks. I kept telling her no because it's a waste of money. But now that her brother has them, she felt life is a bit "unfair" to her. I did my research on-line and found out that there are so many different kinds of colorful rubber bands out there, but the quality of these bands vary. I decided that if I were to buy any for my kids, I might as well stick with the silicone kind.

Anyways, to make a long story short, I went to Toys R Us yesterday and bought 3 packs of Silly Bandz. They only have two kinds of Silly Bandz available at the store--the Princess pack and the Dinosaur pack. It's not like we have a lot of choices, but they were on sale for $4.99 per pack and the promotion was buy 2 get 1 free. I'll probably go to another Toys R Us and see if I can exchange the extra dinosaur pack for a different theme pack. Both kids now think they have the best parents in the world!!!

真的沒想到, 美國今年最夯的玩具是 Silly Bandz, 一種彩色橡皮圈手環! 這個東西真的是從幼稚園夯到高中! Silly Bandz 只是一家最先在美國販賣這種彩色橡皮圈的公司品牌。 因為賣得太好, 所以已經有上百種其它品牌流竄在玩具巿場上。 巿面上及網路市場到處在賣類似的彩色橡皮圈。比較便宜的彩色橡皮圈是橡膠做的。 天熱時, 這種橡皮圈都會黏在一起。 品質好的彩色橡皮圈手環是矽膠做的, 所以耐熱也耐壓, 可是就賣得比較貴。 Silly Bandz 這家公司(http://www.sillybandz.com/)賣的彩色橡皮圈就是矽膠做的, 但是一包(24枚裝)就要賣 $5.95。 當然我們都是要等到減價時才買。 這星期 Silly Bandz 在 Toys R Us 有在減價。 雖然貨色不多(只剩兩種),可是一包(24枚裝)才賣 $4.99, 然後買兩包再送一包。 這樣子的價錢我還能接受。 不過話又說回來, 這只是有色橡皮筋, 竟然可以賣到這種價錢! 業者真的是賺翻天了! 我想今年的聖誕節禮物少不了這個玩藝。 還有,如果近期內要去找親朋好友, 而那親朋好友有五歲至十六歲的小孩,這Silly Bandz 可是最好的伴手禮喔!

母親節的禮物 Mother's Day Gift

Time flies. It's almost Mother's Day! I wasn't fully aware of how close we are to Mother's Day until I got an email from my son's class mom telling all the parents that volunteering in his class has been canceled today because the kids are making Mother's Day gift in class this morning. So, of course, no moms are allowed in class. I was suppose to go in to help today, but since I didn't have to go, I decided to go to Sam's Club to look into a Mother's Day gift for my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law is very frugal. She doesn't want any of her children to spend money on her. Even with that in mind, I still want to buy a small present for her. She has done so much for her family. It's such a cliche, but she really treats me like her own daughter.

I thought of making a photo mug for her. I can upload photos onto Sam's Club digital photo center and order special gifts using those photos. I was going to get my sister-in-law and brother-in-law to email me photos of their kids, so I can present a mug to my mother-in-law with all her grandkids' photos on the mug. Unfortunately, the order would have taken at least a week and there just wasn't enough time to get this gift made before Mother's Day.

Since the photo gift idea didn't work out, I had to find another gift for my mother-in-law. I ended up buying her a burgundy velor jacket, a beaded top, a huge bag of Hershey's Nuggets, and a pot of roses for my mother-in-law. As I'm typing this, I've decided to return the pot of roses. In showing the roses to my husband, I got pricked twice by the rose bush. As my mother-in-law has poor eyesight, I am sure she would prick herself if she had to take care of those roses. I will find another potted plant from Trader Joe's to give to my mother-in-law.

My husband asked me what I want for Mother's Day. I told him not to bother. It really is meaningless to buy me a gift. What kind of gift will show me that I am appreciated as a mother?! Nothing can compared to a simple statement from my 7-year old son, "Mommy, you are so cute!"

母親節快到了。事先我完全無警覺, 真的沒想到這星期天就是母親節。好快喔! 又一年了! 昨天兒子班上的班媽寫了一封電子郵件給班上所有的家長告知這星期四(今天) 我們不用進教室服務(volunteer),原因是小朋友要在課堂上做母親節的禮物給自己的媽媽, 所以媽媽不能到教室幫忙。

也好,我可以去做別的事情。當然, 最緊迫的事情就是得準備個母親節禮物給我的婆婆。我本來想利用小孩子的生活照 (我也向小姑和小叔索取他們小孩的照片), 把它印在馬克杯上送給婆婆。把所有婆婆的孫子孫女的影像印在馬克杯子上是一過不錯的 idea, 只可惜 Sam's Club 需要七天以上的工作天才能製作完畢。那時候母親節也就過了。算了, 買別的東西送婆婆好了。

我在Sam's Club 逛了逛, 挑了一件葡萄酒色的絲絨夾克及一件同色的長袖上衣給我的婆婆。我的婆婆非常節儉(台灣人的美德!), 通常是不希望晚輩為她花任何的錢。但是我還是想買個小禮物送她, 因為她真的是一位好婆婆! 反正我知道我不能花太多錢在她的禮物上面, 要不然她是會不收禮物, 叫我直接拿回去退。我正是怕她不喜歡我送她的衣服, 所以我又另外買了一大包的巧克力糖 (Hershey's Nuggets) 給她。這巧克力我知道她一定會收的, 因為我兒子也喜歡吃。所以我的婆婆不只是位好太太、好媽媽、好婆婆,她更是一位好阿嬤!