do you think it is possible

[justpeachy92]

With all the recalls on toys over the past couple of months, it has me wondering if I can give my kids a not made in China christmas. Alot of my youngest daughters favorite toys were ones that were recalled. She loves all the dora and thomas train stuff, all that stuff is still made in China. So I sit here wondering what is there that my kids would enjoy that is made in the US or Canada? Is there a toy manufacturer that doesn't operate out of other countries where they can get cheaper laborer?

[Darlene]

Here are a couple of links for you. It really is sad how many things are made outside of the US. Myself, I recently made a vow to stay out of the "dollar" stores. I want to become more conscience of where things are made & make a choice to buy American as much as possible and do business with countries that I believe are "OK".
http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292056,00.html
http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/toysngames.html

[geckoace]

From what i understand playmobil is not made in america and they have lots of cool (not neccessarily frugal) stuff
www.playmobil.com

[inneedofhope]

You can get some interesting toys with great play value at craft fairs and small local shops as well.
Go with their interests, not characters, but what do they like to do or play with and go with that theme, for example an artsy kid would love art supplies, or cars for the car kid, If you have one that loves bath time, get bath stuff.
Wooden toys are probably the safest and most versatile, like the blocks or marble tracks that come in wood now. I've seen some wooden train stuff that's not painted that your Thomas fan might enjoy, especially if he's had to give up some of his.
And don't forget books!

[baxjul]

On the news last night, they were saying some stores are taking the China toys out. DD looked at me and said "We'll never find any toys now"!

[justpeachy92]

Darlene thanks for those links. I am going to start doing the same thing, making myself more aware of where things are made. and try my hardest to just avoid products from some places. The playmobil things look cool, will have to find out where they are made.

[pita1213]

from the playmobil website, it says that 98% of it's toys are made in germany. the other 2% is made in china from what they say are long time partners that are held the the same high standards as the germany factory.

lego is a danish company. and has a lot of neat things for boys and girls.
there is a guy in norge VA (i think it's norge) that makes wooden toys and has a website that was posted here last year or the year before.

there are toys out there that aren't made in china, but it's gonna take some looking.

fall is craft fair season around here. i think there is one just about every weekend from now till thanksgiving around here. you can handle the items before you buy and most of the time talk to the person that has made the item. just check for small parts that could be choking hazards and look for quality construction.

[gentledenny]

I read, seen or dreamed of a family that tried to go a year without buying anything from china and they said toys for the kids were the hardest since they were younger and had thier tv hereos toys which were all china made

[2boysand1girl]

We splurge on the Playmobil toys for Christmas and Birthdays. They are well made, very detailed and last forever. My MIL started buying Playmobil for my DH when they were stationed in England, almost 30 years ago. This year will probably be a Playmobil, board games, books and Lego for Christmas

You can buy Playmobil at Target, specialty toy stores, Ebay and Amazon. Sometimes Tuesday Mornings has them for 33-50% off retail. They can get pretty expensive up to $200 for the giant sets. If you are uncertain if you want to spend the money, you can buy the take-along sets for $20 as an initial investment.

[monkeywrangler71]

It is certainly possible, but it can get very expensive. We are trying to keep everything very minimal for our kids, and I am working hard to not introduce any more plastic into my home. I bought a second hand Brio train set, which was made in Sweden (don't know if they still are). That company makes different wooden toys, as well as k'nex and Lincoln Logs. The k'nex website says they are made in the USA, not sure about the others.
http://brio.knex.com/

You can probably find a local toy maker at a craft show, or google wooden toys and your state to see if anything comes up.

I am planning to make some things as well, but we'll see how that works out. I want to make a rag doll for my youngest daughter, but don't know if it will end up looking like a rag, or a doll . I also want to make homemade treats for their stockings - cookies, play dough, hoping to make some soap crayons.

I don't shop in dollar stores, I vowed years ago to never put junk in a stocking just to fill it - my oldest daughter had so much garbage and I was sick to death of stepping on it.

I try hard to stay away from character toys. I find the kids get bored quickly with them and the quality of play is very low. Something that lets them use their own imagination rather than just act out what they've seen on tv, gets so much more use. I also don't buy books based on movies and tv shows because they are typically so poorly written that I get bored to tears trying to read them.