Project 365 - Day 352 - Batteries Included

I remember one Christmas when I was a kid.  I was allowed to open one present on Christmas eve, and the rest would have to wait until Christmas day.  We were allowed to pick the present we opened, and I chose this heavy rectangular block that I had been checking out for weeks before.  My parents tried to talk me out of it, but I insisted that I open that one.  It turned out to be a lantern battery - part of another gift.  Now, my parents could have left it at that, but they allowed me to open the gift that went with the battery.  It was a wood burning set.

At this time of year we find ourselves shopping for kids gifts, and I know some people like to buy the cute outfit, or some clothes that the kid needs, but I'm more of the toy kind of shopper.  Usually, I check the side of the package and see if the toy requires batteries, and the more batteries it takes the better the toy inevitably is. 

Recently, Sonia and I were shopping for toys for a charity and we were specifically looking for things that did not take batteries, as these are consumable or luxury items.  Rechargeable batteries are an option, but if you have a toy that takes twelve AA batteries ( yes, I have bought a couple of these toys - as well as a case of batteries from Costco ) then this could get expensive.

As a photographer, batteries are a big part of my hobby.  When I go on a shoot I make sure I have my two camera batteries charged, and my AA batteries ready to go - at least two sets for the two flashes, two sets for the PocketWizards.  That adds up to a whopping twenty four batteries.  They are all rechargeable, so at least I'm not personally responsible for killing the environment ... :-)

This photo has the batteries included....