Toy land: Shoppers may spend more time this year deciphering materials and contents labels on gifts
Photo: Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images

By Linda Stern

It’s a tough year to be a toy-buying parent. In recent months, almost 25 million mostly Chinese-made toys have been recalled because they have dangerous amounts of lead or magnets—which can cause intestinal damage when swallowed—in them. Then there were Aqua Dots, pulled when it was discovered that the popular beads were coated with a toxic chemical that metabolizes into gamma hydroxy butyrate, or GHB—the date-rape drug. Last week California filed suit against 20 toy companies, alleging that they had knowingly exposed kids to unlawful levels of lead.

The toy industry says it has learned its lesson, is retesting toys and stepping up its quality control. “This will probably wind up being the safest holiday ever for toys,” says Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industry Association. “There’s every reason for consumers to be confident.” Possibly. But as late as mid-November, the Center for Environmental Health (cehca.org) in California was finding illegally high levels of lead in toys that were on the shelves. Because of globalization, environmental problems from anywhere in the world can send dangerous products to the neighborhood store. Here’s how to shop safely.

Know your poisons. When lead is ingested or inhaled, it can cause neurological problems and interfere with brain development. The American Academy of Pediatrics maintains that there is no safe level of lead in the bloodstream. It’s been banned in toy paint in the United States since 1978, but has been coming into the country on imported toys. Lead is still permitted in U.S. toys as an additive to plastics, where it is not as accessible, but parents of teething toddlers should go the extra mile and stick with toys made of natural materials like wood and cotton terry cloth or those made by manufacturers who don’t use lead in their plastics—a call to the toy company should yield this information. Another group of chemicals, called phthalates, are legally used in soft vinyl toys. They are more controversial than lead, because experts disagree about their dangers, but they are banned in Europe and, starting in 2009, in California. To avoid phthalates, shop for toys made of latex or silicon or that claim to be “PVC free” on their tags.

Clean out the toy box. Little children put toys in their mouths an average of 20 times an hour, so be extra-vigilant if you have teething babies or toddlers in the house, says Dr. Dana Best, a pedia-trician with the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington. If your toddler has a toy that she’s always chewing, check its pedigree with the manufacturer and against the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall list at cpsc.gov, and if you’re still not sure, throw it away. Get rid of any toys that are flaking, chipped or breaking down.

Be suspicious of your favorite characters. The toys that have had the most recalls are those licensed to be reproduced in enormous quantities: Mattel’s Doras, Diegos, Elmos—and also the Thomases, made by RC2 Corp. You’re better off with toys that are made in smaller batches, though the big manufacturers say they’ve fixed their problems. Curt Stoelting, RC2’s chief executive officer, says his firm now tests samples from every production run. Mattel also stepped up its safety testing. “The company has spent the past three months diligently combing through product inventory,” says a company spokesperson.

Shop classic. Unpainted wooden blocks are always a kid pleaser, says Don Mays of Consumers Union. Stuffed animals, books, videos and athletic equipment might be a better choice than lots of brightly painted plastic pieces. He’s telling parents to spend a little more shopping at reputable retailers, which may have their own standards, controls and lead tests. Some to check are discoverytoys.com, oompa.com, nmctoys.com, playstoretoys.com and ebeanstalk.com. Starting Dec. 5, click on healthytoys.org, where environmental groups will be posting safety rankings of 1,500 top toys.

If all this wears you out before you’ve even gone shopping, do what Mays suggests: skip the toys and buy a puppy instead.

Mercedes Benz S63

Smooth, Smart and Extra Safe
By Tara Weingarten

The S63 is not just a great drive, it’s the safest car Mercedes-Benz has ever made. Body roll has been reduced 63 percent, allowing this full-size sedan to easily slice through corners and stop smoothly. The Brake Assist significantly reduces stopping time during “panic” stops. This beefcake of a car has beauty and brains.

Infrared Night View Assist: Projectors flood the road with invisible infrared beams at night. Moving objects are picked up—even in pitch black—and are displayed in real time on a navigation screen.

Engine: The naturally aspirated (nonturbo) V-8 was tweaked to produce a super-responsive 518-horsepower engine. Go from zero to 60mph in just four and a half seconds—swift for a mega-sedan.

Brake Assist: Radar measures distance to the car ahead. If the onboard computer determines you haven’t applied enough braking pressure, it will do the work for you.

There are family trees … and then there are genograms. A genogram goes beyond names and birth dates to chart information about relatives’ relationships with one another, their physical and mental health, and the places where they grew up. “It’s an amazing way to map who you are and where you come from,” says Monica McGoldrick, a family therapist who has helped popularize genograms through books like “You Can Go Home Again.” The charts make it easy to recognize family patterns you may have never thought about: entrepreneurial success, disease or marital longevity.

The cost of birdseed has taken off. By some estimates, you’ll pay 50 percent more this year to keep the cardinals fed through the winter. Reasons for the soaring prices include the high cost of gas and the diversion of such staples as corn for new fuel technologies. Laura Erickson, author of “101 Ways to Help Birds,” explains how to keep your spending grounded.

• Don’t buy cheap mixed seeds. Mixed bags are less expensive per pound (about $13 for 20 pounds) but add weight with fillers, such as wheat and oats, that birds don’t like. To economize, buy black oil sunflower seeds. They’re nutritious and just about every seed-eating bird likes them (about $8 per 10-pound bag at Target).

Lodging: Kate’s Lazy Meadow in Mt. Tremper, N.Y., is a laid-back and funky motel founded by B-52s singer Kate Pierson. Stay in an Airstream trailer or one of nine theme rooms (from $175; lazymeadow.com). The Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz has a 30,000-square-foot spa and 85 miles of trails (from $275; mohonk .com). The psychedelic Roxbury Motel is just five minutes from Plattekill Mountain and snowtubing (from $99; theroxburymotel.com).

Hear Gram Parsons with the Flying Burrito Brothers, “Live at the Avalon Ballroom, 1969.” This two-CD, 27-song set includes rarities like the neverbefore heard live show when the band opened for the Grateful Dead in San Francisco. This sonic time capsule is a trip worth taking ($14.97; amazon.com).

Federal tax credits for energy-efficient products like replacement windows and insulation run out on Dec. 31. Homeowners can take a 10 percent tax credit for the price of windows, doors, metal roofs and insulation, but not for installation costs. Not every window and roof qualifies, so check energystar.gov for details. Other items also qualify: you can take a $50 credit for each main air-circulating fan and $150 for new high-efficiency heaters and hot-water boilers. If you did this last year, you might have already used up your allowable credits—they’re capped at a total of $500 per return for 2006 and 2007 combined. But you might as well put some money into this anyway. With oil flirting at $100 a barrel, the energy you save might be worth more than the tax breaks.