Most people consider “that time of the year” to be Christmas.  For me, “that time of the year” is right now.  Between our kids and our grandson we have 3 birthdays in a two and 1/2 week period…and I’m always stressing out over kid’s birthday gifts.  All of my good ideas get used up at Christmastime, so by the time February comes around the “good gift  think tank”  is dry.

When the “kids” were little it was so much easier.  You just lose touch with what they may need or want when they’re not living at home any longer.  Clothes are out because they have their own styles and tastes, video games are pretty much a thing of the past for both of them, and I hate being one of those moms who’s always buying things for the house and especially the kitchen.

These days  the best I can come up with is money or gift cards.  Boring!!!  I’m just at a total loss……..

But, for the little guy (the grandson)  the shopaholic in me really comes out!   Thank god I have a husband and credit card limits to shut me off!!

One of the things I really wanted to get for him this year was  personalized kids birthday CD.    When our son was 3 we got him a personalized birthday tape which we have played every year since on his birthday….the past few years over the phone but it’s just one of those things that we probably won’t stop doing until the good old tape player gives up on us (yes…it really really is  a tape because cd players and cd’s weren’t the rage back then).

Our daughter thought we were playing favorites because she didn’t have her own personalized birthday tape, so when she was about 6 or 7 we just had to had to get one for her.  Unfortunately hers just wasn’t quite as catchy of a tune as our son’s, and “lame” as she called it …so mission was still not really accomplished.

Our grandson loves to stick in and play those old birthday tapes every time he comes over, so I promised him that I was going to get him one of his own with his name on it.  He just thinks it’s so cool that his daddy and aunt’s names are on that music, and he remembers every word of their songs and directs and guides us all through the singing of the songs.  Ya gotta love that age…so innocent!

Oh…and 23 years later we still call our son and play the good old Captain Zoom birthday tape for him over the phone.  He thinks we’re pretty weird…and I can just see him rolling his eyes and probably holding the phone away from his ear…but until the tape player gives out on us or the “Captain Zoom” tape dies…we’ll continue to annoy him every February 27th!!!

I didn’t want to get a “lame” birthday cd for Colton (like we did all those years ago when we “messed up” with our daughter), so I spent a snowy cold Sunday yesterday trying to find just the right personalized kids cd for our grandson.  Thought I’d share all of my research for those who may be looking for the same thing.

Here are the sites that I found which had the best prices…best songs…and largest selection of names.  Our grandson’s name is Colton..and I promise you I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find one with that name (thought it was an unusual name at the time…but guess not!)…but these sites had names galore!!!

My Music CD

A Special Gift

Captain Zoom

(this is the one that started it all with our son …can’t believe that Captain Zoom still  exists almost 23 years later….It’s a goody!!)