How much are you planning to drop on your kids this holiday season? $100? $200? Well if you want them to keep pace with the coolest kids across the pond, you'll have to pony up a lot more than that.

Research shows that the average child in the UK now has £1,720 worth of toys in their bedroom, up seven percent from just last year, and I'd be willing to bet that the average American kid isn't far off that mark either. That's almost 3,500 of our flimsy American funny money dollars to you. The bulk of this fortune is made up of high-tech gadgets of course, MP3 players, TVs, DVD players, compters, and apparently artwork. Don't even get me started on those damn Thomas trains, either.

I feel kind of lame. Most of my toys were GI Joes, Transformers, and Legos, and while I thought they were pretty sweet, I don't think many of them cost more than about $30 each. The most valuable things in my room were my baseball cards, which thanks to every other kid hoarding them too, are now worth less than the stale gum that came in the packages.

I say this now while I buy and sell computer equipment on eBay like a coked-out futures trader. It's almost like I'm trying to relive my childhood by buying more toys for myself. You don't think parents would be doing that with their kids, do you?