You are correct. Little ones love boxes.  They have such an imagination.  They have no idea what commercialism is.  I wish I hadn't spent all the money on all the toys that were not played with.  I wish I would have made a tunnel of boxes or a playhouse or play kitchen out of boxes.

I suggest getting toys that will help your child's development while it is still entertaining. 

Best of Luck.

Thanks so much for your comment, Jessica. All of my family and friends whose kids are older now said the same thing as you. The tunnel of boxes sounds like a fun idea. My wife was thinking of making a maze of boxes for her birthday. As a child I loved finding a refrigerator box by the curb of a neighbors house. What a great fort we could build out of that! Hope you and yours are having a great weekend!

--Michael (aka: adaddyblog.com)

Great post (excerpt)! So refreshing to read a daddy blog!

last Christmas B was 2, 3 months away from 3, and it was awesome! He understood more about cookies for santa and the stockings and decorating the tree. So fun! He was so slow at opening all of the presents. It could have taken all day!

My mom gave me great advice which was don't go overboard. Just get them a few things and/or figure out what the plan will be as far as amount because whatever you do when they are younger they will "expect' that or more as they get older. It is hard not to go crazy with all of the fun items, but I think she is right. Cardboard boxes sound fun! =)

Oh and by the way...toward the beginning of November I post an Activity Advent Calendar (printable) which has a holiday activity a day to use as a countdown. I'll also link up to the one I did last year because that might be perfect for the 2 year olds this year (although a lot of it I had to do "with" him).

Enjoy! I look forward to reading more of your blog!

I think at 2 years old they do play with the toys as well, not just the boxes.  But that tunnel idea is awesome! My oldest daughter will be almost three this year and we will follow Nicole's advice by not going to overboard. 

I am so excited to do all the Christmas activities with her though; baking cookies, decorating, stockings, advent calendars, nativity scenes, christmas carols, etc.

Nicole I can't wait to see the Holiday activity calendar.  Sounds great.

Love a daddy blog! Keep up the great writing.

@Nicole - My kids love their advent calendars from years past!  We get them at a weird German store online and they love opening the windows!  This year I am debating doing something with clothesline, clothespins and envelopes.  We'll see :)

@Daddy - our kids LOVE boxes!  Obsessively!  They aren't too picky about the size either.  I was quite irritated when just last week when my son decided to empty our recycling bin all over the kitchen floor so he could "build" with the empty cereal boxes, DVD cases (we purged a bunch), toilet paper rolls, etc.  We had an old water heater box that was super sturdy and the kids made that into a tunnel and even a slide once it started to break.  I've heard of a parent who had a boxes birthday party for her elementary aged son.  She got a bunch of the boxes and the kids built forts in their front yard - sounds like fun!

@Nicole I want to see your advent calendar as well. Sounds like a great idea, though I'm not so good at coming up with them on my own. Fortunately my wife is.

@Rachel I love that link to the Christkindl-markt. You don't know this about me probably, but while I'm American, I grew up on Europe. I just loved the Christmas Markets as a child. This one in Vienna is one I remember well. I'll def check out the online one this Christmas season.

@Abbie Not to worry, our baby girl will be getting plenty of toys. I was just being a guy by suggesting U-Haul and maybe Lowes Hardware would be great places to do all my holiday shopping. ;)

I'm definitely thinking Christmas shopping - because I absolutely will not enter stores after mid November.  I hate the crowds, so I get it all done before then.

We haven't gone overboard on our kids for Christmas because relatives buy them so much.  So we tend to just get them a few items (clothing, etc.) they need and let them play in wrapping.  Last year my son was finally 3, so we did (um, I mean Santa did) get him a set of accessories for his Thomas the train supplies.  Now he's into Diego, so I guess we'll do that.

Love Thomas the Train, @varunner7. Especially the original British episodes. As for Christmas, I agree about avoiding the malls near Christmas. I hear you about the relatives buying lots of goodies so you don't have to. Our families have been great to our wee one, too. Oh, and I noticed (and tweeted) that Toys-R-Us has some pretty good sales this weekend, so maybe this would be a good time for some Christmas shopping?

twitter.com/aDaddyBlog: "Plan ahead for Christmas! Toys-R-Us has some pretty good sales this weekend. Here are coupons you can print: bit.ly/Toys-R-US"

Ummm, when am I NOT thinking about Christmas shopping??

@Quirky- the clothespin envelope advent calendar idea sounds awesome!