by Laura-kim, single mom, recently divorced with 2 kids and the author of the blog Harrased mom

As a single mom, buying expensive birthday presents is not an option and with the price of toys today, it actually becomes a little tricky.

All you can find is Ben 10, Spiderman, Bratz and Barbie and even if I did have the money I am not sure I could justify spending R250 on Ben 10 accessory or a Bratz.

So what do you do? Well I walk around Toys R Us for hours – literally. Trying to find something that is affordable but nice. I have now taken to buying books because I can justify spending even R150 on a book. The value the child gets out of it lasts a lot longer than the toy he will loose interest in. And if there are siblings they often get value out of it too

But there are some children who just don’t want books. So you have to get a toy of some sort.

On Saturday we had a party for a little boy in my daughter’s class. I had left the gift buying to the last minute so it had to be a toy. Eventually after wondering around Toys R Us for 30 min I smsed his mom for ideas. She came back with “spiders, snakes, dinosaurs and sharks”

I then found a bag of those plastic dinosaurs and one of snakes (and another alien thing). The two bags of toys were R40. And let me tell you they were a hit. He opened them up and took them to the Spur playground and him and his friends spent ages playing with the dinosaurs. WINNER!

I have bought these plastic animals for a few kids and when we visit I see them still being played with. My kids have some and they love them. Even Cameron, at 7, still can be found fighting dinosaurs or army men

Sometimes it is not what the item costs that is important and there are times where Ben 10 does come second!

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