There’s little I enjoy more than a good jigsaw puzzle, and I’ve been buying Ravensburger puzzles for decades—they just make nice stuff. As Amazon prices prepare for the nearly-upon-us last-minute plunge, I see that quite a few of the Ravensburger 3D puzzle options have already gone to half or more off their regular price. Puzzlers, take note!

Puzzle balls:
Enchanting Princess 108 piece ball for $8 (60% off)
Dinosaurs 108 piece ball for $8 (60% off)
Unicorns 108 piece ball for $8 (60% off)
Ocean World of Colors 108 piece ball for $8 (60% off)
XXL Children’s Globe 180 piece ball for $10 (60% off)

3D buildings:
Eiffel Tower 216 piece structure for $10 (62% off)
Lighthouse 216 piece structure for $10 (58% off)
Big Ben 216 piece structure for $12 (54% off)
Empire State Building 216 piece structure for $13 (50% off)

Just make sure you have some display room when you buy these, because trust me, kids do not find it amusing when you greet their completed masterpiece with, “Great! Let’s take it apart and put it back in the box!”

Longtime readers know that I have never been a fan of violent toys. My children have never been allowed to have guns or swords or anything like that, because I’m kind of a hippie. Well. Two things have happened recently: First, my son’s school did an entire unit on Medieval Times, including making weapons and learning how to (safely) spar with them, and second, my teenager has been very busy, um, being a teen.

So. I am now totally an advocate for violence. (Kidding! Mostly! Please don’t call DCFS!)

I see that I could totally outfit myself my kids with Nerf battle gear today at Amazon at some extremely competitive prices. Grab the Nerf N-Strike Barricade RV-10 at its lowest price to date—just $10—and then make sure you’ve always got plenty of ammo at the ready by picking up a 36-pack of extra darts for just $6 and the coordinating Tactical Vest and accessories for just $18. All three items are at the lowest price they’ve ever been at Amazon, and just imagine how much fun I’m going to have shooting my surly teenager in the head your kid will have with these lovely items!

Yep, I’m totally pro-violence, now. As long as that violence is made of squishy foam.

… for the Amazon price drops that we know are coming in a week or two. (Picture me rubbing my hands together fiendishly. I would totally be doing it for real if I didn’t need my hands to type that.)

Here’s a few items I found in my recent Amazon wanderings that might be of interest:

I have a chewing gum addict on my Christmas list. He’ll be getting 100 pieces of cinnamon Spry gum in his stocking this year because it was just under $4 shipped when I purchased via Subscribe & Save, and this is Xylitol gum that’s actually good for your teeth.

While shopping for that same kid I found myself seriously considering this Spy Gear Ultimate Night Vision scope, because 1) it’s cool and 2) the current price of $22.39 is the cheapest it’s ever been at Amazon.

Also, this LEGO Heroica Castle Fortaan set is currently on sale for $18, also its lowest price ever at Amazon.

If you’re in the market for a big, fancy dollhouse, check out this KidKraft Annabelle Dollhouse, currently just under $100. That’s not only a record low price, consider the free shipping a bonus gift—this puppy has a shipping weight of nearly 40 pounds.

I can hardly wait until the real onslaught of price cuts….

If someone on your list is dying for a Nintendo 3DS and you just haven’t found the right deal yet, fear not. Starting today, you can scoop up a sweet bonus at Best Buy.

Simply visit their 3DS promotion page and choose your console color and add a $50 gift card to your cart as well. You’ll pay $169.99 for the console and get the gift card for free. (Note: Shipping is free, though most of us will need to pay tax.)

That’s a nice little deal if you’re still in the market for one of these.

The year we gave my son a Snap Circuits set was the only time I successfully picked a non-Lego, non-Bakugan, non-Nintendo gift for him that he loved. It’s still something he pulls out and plays with from time to time, and it’s a great pick for any child who loves building things and also enjoys science. It’s kind of like Lego meets the laboratory, with some electricity thrown in.

Anyway, right now (I’m sure it’ll go up as soon as I post this…) Amazon has the Snap Circuits PRO SC-500 set available for $45.94; that’s about $15 cheaper than it’s available anywhere else, and Amazon’s lowest price on this set ever. This set has the pieces and directions for 500 different experiments.

If you want to spend less, they also have the Snap Circuits Green – Alternative Energy Kit currently available for $29.99—again, that’s Amazon’s lowest price ever on that set, and about $15 less than what it costs elsewhere. The bigger set is better “bang for the buck” as this one only does 125 projects, but it’s another option.

One of our favorite family games is Uno—you can play it pretty much anywhere, at all ages, and if you’re willing to overlook a sore loser or two at times, it’s fun for all.

This new Uno Roboto has me feeling torn, because on the one hand, plain ol’ Uno is fun as it is. On the other hand, at $20 it’s about a third off everyone else’s price, and dude, it’s a robot! (Okay, not exactly. But it looks fun.)

If someone you love has this on their list, this may be the time to grab it.

[Thanks, Laura!]

Have a rabid Sesame Street fan in your house? (I mean “rabid” in the nicest possible doesn’t-actually-have-rabies kind of way, of course.) Right now Amazon is running a 30% off deal on Sesame Street Gund plush toys: Buy any two, and they’ll be 30% off at checkout.

This is particularly nice because several are already marked down. This Grover, for example, is almost $10 (looks to be around $14 everywhere else), so he’d only be $7; and this fairy-in-training Abby Cadabby is $12 (goes for at least $20 elsewhere), so she’d only be $8.

These aren’t just the characters your kids love, they’re from Gund, so they should be pretty high-quality items. Plus I feel certain that someone on your list is in need of a plush Oscar the Grouch.