Yesterday Town and Country hit the mailbox with a resounding thump and in the front section is an area for doting parents to buy totally useless things for their 5 year old's.  Motive not being very Christmas-y as probably purchased for one upsmanship at cocktail parties and such. 

The other day we had a nice example of that in the pages of the Target circular - extremely expensive brand ride-in electric cars from Target.   From $124 to $309 for a BMW or Volvo - big ticket cars.

T and C as they fondly call themselves has a topper - and a bargain as far as cars for kids goes.  The bargain is a Big Toys Green Country Mercedes G55 SUV for $460.  Bargain?! you gasp?  (see below - roomier than the Target offerings no matter how la de dah they may (or not) be.

The "Can you top this? item is a Circu Magical Furniture plane bed for $22,430.  

Your eyes are not failing you - $22,430 for a kid's bed.  I noticed that to get into this flight to dreamland, the kid has to use what looks like a suitcase for a boarding step onto the mattress.  Probably available for a modest sum would be an alligator-skin trunk from Louis Vuiton for another $5 or $6,000.

With parents who are crazy enough to buy something like this at a price that is higher than the plane's projected altitude, I had to wonder if the kid would still fit in it when he was 35 and how could you take it apart for reassembly in the parent's basement (now a suite for the kid.) 

If you are handy with tools, here is a site that will allow you to build a version of this wretched excess.  It is   oncealoft.com   and it is a charitable donation to buy parts of airplanes, cockpit and flight attendant seats, instrument panels and other bits and pieces.  The proprietor, Captain Nick Louis (Ret.) a former UAL pilot is assisted by his son, a pilot for AAL.  Even if you don't have kids, and would certainly never toss out that kind of money, the site is an interesting place to visit and browse.   And in certain circles, day dream ...