No Gifts for Parents, Mariah’s Millions and More

Plus, stats and facts on kids' fave books, snow squalls and blanket shortages.

68

Parents are apparently setting the gift bar “low” this year: This percent expects no presents at all from their kids, according to LendingTree’s 2017 Holiday Shopping Survey. As you might suspect, the opposite doesn’t hold true: About 80 percent plan to drop $100 per child – and, for 37 percent, the bill will be $250.

3.2 million

Drum roll: That’s how many times Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” has been downloaded as of last year, making it the top-selling modern holiday single, Billboard reports. Love it or loathe it, the 1994 earworm smoked runners-up “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” from Frozen and “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)” by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

42

“Make me laugh!” This percent of U.S. kids ages 6-17 has that criteria when it comes to the kinds of books they want to read, Scholastic’s Kids & Family Reading Report says. They also want a good story, to “think and feel” and to get inspired. Find great holiday gift books for kids at bit.ly/Scholastic2017GiftGuide.

$7

Donate this to Southfield-based World Medical Relief, Inc. to buy a twin blanket – or a crib blanket for $5. The nonprofit, which is 4-star rated by Charity Navigator, is facing a major shortage due to demand from natural disasters that have impacted the country this year. They’re about 10,000 blankets light; 90 percent of those go to 60-70 shelters here in metro Detroit. Help them out at worldmedicalrelief.org.

355.9

Imagine this many inches of snow – just shy of 30 feet. The record-setting dump happened over the course of winter of 1978-79 up in Houghton County, the tippy region of the Upper Peninsula, Michigan Tech notes. Last year, by comparison, the area got a puny 180 inches. Chew on that next time we get a “dusting” here in metro Detroit.

Kim Kovelle
Kim Kovelle
As a Metro Parent content manager, Kim Kovelle brings over 20 years of writing and editing experience. She has strong roots in community journalism and a knack for making complicated topics make more sense.

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