I don’t actually mind a compromise in most areas. That’s what makes marriages and friendships work, right? I do hate having to compromise on a vision of perfection, however.
I had planned on getting Dinosaur Island for Tank for Christmas. It is absolutely the perfect gift for him. I love the simplicity of the design and the images. He wanted dinosaurs. He loves wooden playsets. He needed a large central present from “Santa.”
Behold! The awesomeness!
Dinosaurs? Check. Wooden (to make a naturally-minded Mama happy)? Check. Appears durable (he is named “Tank,” after all)? Check.
Available in the United States? *sigh* Uncheck.
No success in finding the damn thing anywhere in the country. It’s roughly $99 US no matter where in the UK I find it and I will have to pay who knows how much on top of that for shipping. For the 15lbs or so the playset weighs, I might end up paying $25+ in shipping, which ends up with this one item being the entirety of Tank’s Christmas budget. One dealer in the UK (runs a hobby train shop) and one in Ireland are sending me pricing for shipping tomorrow; if it’s reasonable, we might go ahead with this, the perfect gift.
I have been directed to an alternative wooden dinosaur playset, Dinosaur Park from Constructive Playthings. It’s comparably sized, less expensive, but less well-made, than Dinosaur Island. It’s available in the United States. The images are printed onto particle board, rather than painted. The wooden segments are thinner and the only review I could find only gave it 3/5 stars (but did say that if the playset was constructed and then left, rather than constantly taken apart and put back together, it would likely hold up better). The “less expensive” and “available in the US” aspects make this a reasonable alternative…but my foot-stamping inner 2-year-old doesn’t want an alternative. I want what I want! *stamp stamp*
It’s just so…American, isn’t it? Simple is never enough.
Of course, for the price of Dinosaur Island (without even considering shipping), I could order the Dinosaur Park and the ZipBin Dinosaur Playset to hold everything and provide a play base.
We do love bins around here.
So here I am, having a hissy fit because it makes more sense to buy the less expensive, domestically available item(s) and get more for my money, but it isn’t what I want. I know, I know. I’m a little old for that sort of behavior, but I had a vision of the perfect Christmas gift and I can’t make it happen for the price and ease we need it to be. I know Tank will be thrilled either way and I should just think of it with that perspective, but I will know he’s not getting the coolest thing out there, and that makes me all grumpy and such.
