I am already done shopping for the kids, if you can believe it. The last of my orders came in on Friday. I still have to shop for everyone else, but half the battle's won, anyhow.

I also deliberately downsized this year. Last year, it seemed like they had so many gifts, they didn't know what to do with themselves after they'd opened everything. Overwhelming.

I tend to buy stuff that I can resell later. Playmobil, for example, has a great resale value. My son is just starting to get into Lionel trains and Santa will be bringing a few things to help him create his own "train garden". My daughter loves dolls. It is pretty much impossible to avoid buying stuff that comes from China, in whole or in part, unless you cut a tree down in your backyard, sand the logs yourself, and make wooden toys.

While its true that manufactuerer testing is not so random, the CPSC does do some random testing. This is mostly limited by the number of field inspectors (which has been cut drastcially over the past 5 years). But the field inspectors do go into stores and buy toys, just like you and I do. And there is some random sampling that happens at the ports, during import. But alas, this is a just a TINY percentage of the toys in America.

I am not sure what to believe. When Mattel did their big recall notice a few months back, I checked their entire list very carefully. I sent away for their recall brochure that listed date codes for the affected items. Even though my daughter had a large number of preschool/toddler toys on their list, none of the recall dates matched the ones actually being recalled. It was actually a small date range that made the recall list. So we kept the toys and I even checked her "big" Santa gift that I had previously bought. We are giving her Dora's Magical Castle. So I checked all the figures and furniture packs. None of them were being recalled. I did notice that Mattel has not seemed to find a new manufacturer for the parts because you can now purchase the castle and most of the furniture but not the characters. So I was very grateful we purchased this when toys r us had their summer blow out. My daughter used to stare at this every time we went to the toys r us store. Besides that my daughter is getting a lot of Strawberry shortcake dolls, fisher price little people, books and DVDs. She mostly likes dolls and small figures (so a lot of plastic). I do also buy American girl doll and the Canadian maplelea. But it is hard to get away with no China or no plastic. Again, we can only go on what the company is telling about recalls. Who knows how much is being affected. I wish everyone best of luck in shopping this year.

Count me on the list for readers who despise it when retail starts putting up the christmas decorations prior to the day after Thanksgiving.

Fortunately, as far as presents go, family and friends are all big readers.

Although I bemoan early decorations, when my girls were younger, my goal was to have all Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving (and I normally attained it!) That way you can truly enjoy the Christmas season without dread of things that need to be done.

I really wish (I think I have said this before) that there would be some care taken around recalls about whether the problem actually ORIGINATES in China or not.

Some does - the lead paint on the Thomas toys, for example, clearly was a problem with the Chinese manufacturer.

But a LOT of the recalls are DESIGN issues (magnets that can come loose), not MANUFACTURING issues. My impression is that US companies are issuing recalls now for these things in part because they can "blame China" for what is ultimately their problem - a lack of attention to design.

So for me, I will be looking at the individual toys, manufacturer's records overall, materials used, and then perhaps country of origin.

Our favourites for this year for my toddler are Plan toys (Brio trains, and the big gift he's getting is the plan wooden dollhouse & accessories). In the future we're looking to Playmobil, but planning to buy as much as possible used.

Nearly 76 percent of U.S. consumers plan to buy toys that are not made in China this year.

Since 76 percent of US consumers could not point out China on a map, i would not read too much into this.

Unless parents are planning not to buy any toys for Christmas, they'll be buying stuff made in China. If you look at the fine print, almost everything is.

National Wildlife Federation's magazines make great year-round gifts, and since they're non profit, it's a tax write-off.

Not so fast! There is no way you can deduct the subscription cost as a tax write off. If you receive goods or services from a non profit, you have to deduct the fair market value of the item or service before arriving at a deductible amount. In this case, the cost of the goods (your subscription) IS the fair market value of the item!

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National Wildlife Federation's magazines make great year-round gifts, and since they're non profit, it's a tax write-off.

I haven't even considered Christmas gifts yet. I don't even have a handle on Halloween yet.

Would I prefer to buy non-Chinese manufactured toys? Probably. My 4 year old son likes books, Thomas/Brio wooden trains, Legos, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs,K'Nex and plain old ordinary building blocks. I don't actually know where these toys come from. I know some of the wooden toys are actually European-made, but they're quite expensive.

I suspect checking eBay might be a good way to build his collections without draining my pocketbook. And I have the added bonus of recycling.
Either way, I'm not even going to think about Christmas presents, decorations, or parties until after November 1st... maybe later.

Costco had their Christmas decorations up in September.

My goal this year is recycled toys - nothing new, uless it's books. For the adults who have everything, I'm buying Hunger Mercy Kits that feed starving children - I'm so sick of the junk I get and give every year. If I must give a tangible gift, I'm buying from the Breast Cancer Store where every purchase goes to a worthy cause.

Tinker Toys are actually made in China - I checked...

Legos
Legos
Legos
Legos
Legos
Legos
Legos

that's all they want

No I don't really care- I know their mother keeps a close eye on the recall lists so she will tell me what not to buy, otherwise I just try and spoil them as much as I possibly can.

My son loves legos, and since those are made in Europe, I assume those are okay. I've been meaning to get a lead-testing kit to test the hot wheels and polly pockets we have. I would bet that we have at least one toy in our house that's contaminated with lead. I would love to avoid toys made in China, but I fear that it will be impossible.

A lot of stores here already have their stores decorated for Christmas, too. It's revolting.

We have decided to spend much, much less on Christmas gifts this year. We already bought a giant tub of Lincoln Logs for my 2-yo son. (Just now checked, and yes, made in China.) When all is said and done, that may be all we do buy. We had the same experience as WorkingMomX last year. Not doing it again, especially when we can't afford to anyway. Honestly, at his age he prefers going to the park over getting a new toy.

As for my SILs 7 kids, they always get so much at Christmas.. Instead of wasting my money on stuff they really don't want or need, this year I am sewing each of them a couple pairs pajama pants, with personalized labels inside.

I am not buying toys made in China. If you think there are no toys that were not made in China, you're not looking very hard. For example, Oompa Toys ( http://www.oompa.com/ ) has a whole section of "Made in Europe" toys. Yes, they cost more. But do our kids really need 50+ toys anyway? I'd rather have a smaller number of quality, safe toys than a bunch of plastic junk.

The other way to approach it is to give your children experiences - trips out to the zoo, a baseball game, etc. They will cherish these a lot more than presents that end up as piles of junk.