Video Game Stocking Stuffers

Video games are all the rage these days. All of my kids have at least one (or five or six) video game on their holiday wish list. Over the years we’ve acquired a PS2, an Xbox and Xbox 360 and a Nintendo Wii (with the Wii being my personal favorite). That’s a lot of gaming systems (especially considering we don’t let the kids play video games on school nights). And video games make great stocking stuffers. They are just the right size to slide in to the stocking.

We recently had the opportunity to try out a few new games you may want to add to your Christmas lists.

The Littlest Pet Shop line of toys is the hot toy for tween girls. My daughter got Littlest Pet Shop toys for her birthday in October. She also gave a Littlest Pet Shop Interactive Organizer to a friend for her birthday. Now we have our own Interactive Organizer where we can feed and care for our own electronic pet. My daughter loves this handheld game because it’s kind of like her own PDA. It even has a cute little stylus. But it doesn’t have boring work email on it. Instead this organizer has fun games and her very own virtual pet to take care of.

Another great Littlest Pet Shop gift is the latest game for the Nintendo DS. In this game you can collect several of the cutest pets. You can dress them up in the best fashions with things like scarves and sunglasses. And you get to play around in the snow and do a bunch of fun winter activities. There are bunch of mini games you can play to get more accessories and playsets so there is a lot to keep your tweens attention.

Hasbro has tween boys covered too with a shooting game. The Nerf N-Strike game comes with a real Nerf gun. Not only is it used to find and shoot enemies in the game, but it’s a real working Nerf shooter with real Nerf darts. Way cool. My boys (even the teens) love this game. I found myself bombarded with Nerf darts as I made my way in to the kitchen tonight. I thought this game would be difficult to set up since it game with this big gun, but the boys had no trouble getting the gun to work and were playing before I even made my way in to the living room. Now we just need to get a second gun.

And for some family fun, Hasbro has Family Game Night. My husband and I had a good time playing a bunch of these classic games. The game includes Battleship, Connect 4, Yahtzee, Boggle, Sorry, and Sorry Sliders. You can play the classic version of the game or updated versions. We can’t find our memory card, so we didn’t get the full benefit, but you can collect items for your virtual game room; things like trophies, carpets, furniture, and decorations. I totally pwned my husband in Battleship. He’ll never live that down.

If you can steal the PS2 (or PS3) away from your kids, get a game for yourself. ABBA is back with a new Playstation Singstar game. If you aren’t familiar with the Singstar games, it’s karaoke for your Playstation. And this game has all of your favorite ABBA songs include Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, and Money, Money, Money. You can either play solo (and belt out your ABBA favorites in privacy when your home alone), freestyle, or multi-player. In multi-player you can pass the mic, battle other players, or sing a duet. I like the battle. But maybe that’s just because my family isn’t too familiar with ABBA and I always kick his butt in a battle. There is an easy, medium or hard version. I’ve only tried easy so far because I’m not fully confident in my ability to belt out the ABBA tunes yet. But even though I could probably make small children cry with my singing, Singstar gives me high marks. At least somebody doesn’t mind my singing.

Video games get kind of a bad rap. They are blamed for kids being less active and more obese. But they can actually be a lot of fun…in moderation. I’ve had some of the best conversations with my teens while they were kicking my butt at some video game. And just tonight my husband and I were laughing hysterically over that ABBA game; something we really needed after the sadness we are still feeling over the loss of our cat this weekend.