Wish List Goes High-Tech Toy Store Chain Lets Kids Use Scanner To Makes Desires Known

Michael Bowles knows what he wants for Christmas.

In fact, the 10-year-old has a list of 80 of his favorite toys.

The nine-page list, which he made in an hour with the help of a hand-held scanner at Toys “R” Us, is available to anyone and everyone who wants to buy Bowles a Christmas present. Not only does the list name the items he wants most, it also gives their price, availability and location in the store.

It’s the latest twist on a letter to Santa: holiday registry. Kids can cruise the crowded, Technicolor aisles of Toys “R” Us and with the squeeze of a button, choose yet another item to wish for. While the registry may make giving the perfect gift easier, some critics say it teaches children the wrong values.

The registry program, designed for children under 14, went into effect at the toy emporium this fall, just in time for the holiday season.

Whether it’s Talking Bubba, the Polly Pocket Playhouse - or in Michael Bowles’ case, a 1/10 scale off-road remote control truck called the Trailblazer Gladiator for $149.99 - there’s no question what the child wants.

“I think maybe this is a good idea,” said Vivian Bowles, Michael’s grandmother. She had copies of his wish list and those of three other children in her family. “We might not buy anything on these lists, but it gives us an idea of what they want.”

When it comes to buying for her grandchildren, most years Vivian Bowles is stuck and confused. “I don’t have any idea what I’m going to buy,” she said. “It’s kind of better to ask. I’d much rather buy them something they wanted.”

While the registry is helpful to people like Bowles, it could be even more useful to those who, because of distance, don’t know a child’s tastes at all.

“If they have grandparents in Florida and they live here, then their grandparents can go out, use the registry and get the gifts,” said Scott Carver, Toys “R” Us store manager.

About 250 local children have registries open at Toys “R” Us on Francis and Division in Spokane. Some registered by heading into the store on their own with the scanner, while others selected items under guidance from their parents. The longest list so far is 13 pages.

While the new tactic has its fans, not everyone thinks a holiday gift registry for children is a good idea.

“It sounds really, really tacky to me,” said Dennis Deming, owner of the Purple Dragon Toy Store in Spokane. “I can’t imagine how a two-year-old is going to register what he wants.”

Deming isn’t surprised that some people have trouble finding a good gift for a child. It’s his job to help. He’ll work with his customer to ensure a toy is appropriate to a child’s interests, age and skills. “Between the two of us, we can find something together,” he said. “Then it’s a little more personal.”

Personal or not, a registry makes sense for a store like Toys R Us, marketing experts say.

“I understand why the firms want to do this,” said Julie Ruth, an assistant professor in the department of marketing at the University of Washington. She studies gift giving and receiving.

“From the store’s point of view, this is great,” she said. “It helps them manage their inventory and it locks out other firms that sell toys.”

The store can take an even wider bite of the toy market because it exclusively has the registry and its outlets can be found everywhere in the country.

“By doing this, the children are able to pick exactly what they’d like. They can pick what’s age-appropriate for them and no one will be disappointed,” Ruth said.

While it makes sense for marketing, from the gift standpoint, the registry is altogether different, she said.

“It leaves out the giver’s thinking and effort and understanding of the recipient,” she said. “And I think it’s one of those movements that’s encouraging kids to be more consumer-oriented at an earlier age. Kids have trouble understanding how much is enough and what will make them happy.”

It also takes out the romance of writing a letter to Santa, Ruth said.

Montessori teacher Patricia Manz and her husband, child psychiatrist Michael Manz, agree that the gift of consumerism isn’t all that good for the child.

“It’s crass commercialism,” Patricia Manz said. “I think all of us in this culture buy way too much stuff. And kids don’t always truly know what they want. They need parents to be their guides.”

In fact, things like a gift registry could encourage children to demand more stuff that they might not really want or need.

“I think that our culture’s far too materialistic,” Michael Manz said. He recalled a patient whose first car was a Porsche. “Where do you go from there?” he asked. “Even if you can afford to give them things, it doesn’t mean you should always give them what they want.”

For some children, self-esteem can be wrapped up in what they find under the tree, he said. “They think they are better than somebody else because they have this or that,” he said. “That is really illusionary.”

Michael Bowles has no illusions. He doesn’t expect to get everything on his list. “There’s only 80 things that I wanted,” he said. “I think I’ll get maybe half.

His mother, Dalene Utley rolled her eyes. The only drawback to the registry is the possibility children will be disappointed with not getting everything they ask for, she said.

“But I think it’s a lot easier to buy them gifts this way,” she said. “Instead of guessing, you know what they want.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo