Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my nephew is 11 and obsessed with Legos. Costs his family hundreds, if not thousands, annually, their entire basement is stuffed with completed sets, and the kid keeps begging for more and more. Almost like an addiction.

I, for one, am hoping my child will never discover Legos. We'll have to find more versatile toys to play with.

no you just have to change how your child plays with them. Sure just building a set and putting it on display is not creative, but that is not the point of legos. My 4.5 yr old builds things, takes them apart and builds something else. I love the creativity that leogs bring.

It used to not be the point of Legos. But in that case nobody would ever buy any more new Legos, because there are already enough Lego pieces existing in the world for anybody to build anything they'd ever want to with. So if Lego wants to stay in business, they have to persuade you that the point of Legos is buying sets, building them, and putting them on display. Or just plain buying sets; what you do with them after that is irrelevant.

Anonymous wrote:Tell me about it.

Santa brought the $400 Death Star for my. 8-year old.

I have 2 young boys and have amassed thousands of dollars of Legos in that timeframe.

I truly don't get Lego hate.

As far as indoor activities go, reading and Legos are as good as it gets.

My son worked day and night crafting that thing. It is an engineering feat for a young kid (box says 14 years+). I'd much rather he do this then sit in front of a playstation (we don't have one, btw).

In addition to the many sets, my kids do a lot if random building and playing.

My younger son had more iPad/iPhone games as a preschooler (wasn't around when older one was small) and he has a harder time staying at task with Legos. When I make then go on a hiatus from electronics it is amazing how creative they get.

They have a couple friends that have no idea how to play offline. They walk around saying I'm bored constantly.

A healthy mix is important.

I'd much rather shell out for Legos...

We have had bad experiences with the cheap knock off brands - they aren't as well made and don't work as cleanly as real legos do.

Amazon is usually the MOST expensive place to buy legs.

they are expensive, but the kids really do enjoy them and spend hours putting their creations together.

Keep an eye on Toys R Us sales. Every now and then, they'll have buy 1 get 1 50% off all lego sets. That is about as good of a deal as you can get on new sets.

You might also want to look at the Chinese knock off brand, something along the lines of Sloban or Sluban. They sell these sets on Zulily from time to time. They are absolutely compatible with regular legos and much cheaper.

I'd be cautious of the prices at Amazon. The price of specific creator sets that had sold out at Lego.com was typically higher (by even 100 percent) on Amazon than less populated toy websites. I bought a monster truck set for $19.99 at Child's Play; $29.29 on Amazon.

Your neighborhood listserv and craigslist are good sources.