holiday shopping?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone started their holiday shopping yet? I’m looking for a good idea for Hailey. It’s so hard b/c we already have too much of everything in the house from Sarah, I never know what to get her.

For Sarah we (and the family) are getting her a toy saxophone (which I know that I’ll regret later), a pretend birthday cake, a wiggles CD,and a jewelry box.

For Hailey we got the leap frog fridge phonics, a play piggy bank, and I have no other ideas at all. Everybody keeps asking what she wants, and all I keep thinking is that we have so much stuff already.

What are the rest of you buying for the holidays?

s&h’s mum2006-11-19 22:3:36

[Anonymous]

Great topic Lori!!

Kayla is almost 5 and we are getting her the Fisher Price digital camera. Kayla always wants to use my digital so I thought this would be a fun gift for her. It has SD card capability and it can be hooked up to my printer so we can print out some of her better shots (if there are any). I also picked up a few smaller things for her as well.

For Abby, however, I really am at a standstill. I’ve picked up a few things but at her age, the wrapping paper will probably be the most fun.

Robin

[Anonymous]

Aidan is getting some sort of ride on for Christmas (he loves to drive cars) a cool little people set (ok maybe a few I love little people!) and various other stuff that I haven’t thought of yet!

Austin is harder, the older they get the more $$ their toy tastes are!He IS getting the Guinea pig he is asking for, they aren’t bad pets , too big to lose, pretty quiet and slow (I had one growing up) a Civil war chess set, he loves the civil war (yep that had me saying huh?) and Chess (another ?) so when I saw the set I had to buy it. That’s all I have for him (idea wise). HE wants a playstation 3…I told him no way those things are Like 600$. I said that that’s $$$ even for Santa)

[hellbennt]

I’ve been ‘collecting’ websites, lol! (*disclaimer at bottom of post)

yes, I do love to share information! I can’t take the credit, as I also am ‘active’ over at http://www.thebabywearer.com & get lots of good ideas there…

a bunch of babies here have started to crawl, so that brings to mind soft soled shoes! I’m a big bobux fan, but there are so many cute ones available nowadays- check out ebay and be amazed!

ok, here are some sites to start looking at for great gift ideas:

Toys in general:

award-winning toys & more: http://youngexplorers.com

http://www.highlights.com (yup, they have toys!)

http://www.kidsurplus.com

nat’l fibers: http://www.magiccabin.com

wooden toys & more:

http://www.willowtreetoys.com/

http://www.atoygarden.com/index.cfm

http://www.heirloomwoodentoys.com/

http://www.blueberryforest.com/

http://www.waldorftreasures.com/index.html

http://www.willowtoys.com/

http://www.rosiehippo.com/

http://www.toanotoyworks.com/home.html#top

http://www.kidbean.com

has a registry and has wooden toys:

http://www.jomamaco.com

http://www.oompatoys.com

Babywearer threads:

wooden/other/play kitchens: http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=385615&am p;am p;am p;am p;highlight=#385615

toy recommendations: http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=200181&am p;am p;am p;am p;highlight=#200181

(*disclaimer: I don’t have that many of these ‘natural’ type toys, but I wish I did, lol! Believe me, my house is full of plastic and batteries! I wish I knew about this stuff before Jonah…I’m all about reusing & recycling, so little Ari won’t be getting too many toys for just him…I will say, though, that we do have a few wooden trucks and trains & we have loads of wooden puzzles-Jonah is quite the puzzle lover! Jonah is also way into leggos, & those certainly aren’t wooden)

hellbennt2006-11-19 22:53:41

[Anonymous]

We’re having the same problem this year. Our boys have SO many toys already. Between grandparents, aunts & uncles, us, and santa, they get so many toys that I don’t even want to think about adding more. They just don’t have enough room in their bedroom for more “Shtuff”. PLUS Isaac & Bryce both have birthdays in December. I’ve been trying to think of things that are non-toy, but still fun. KWIM? My mom combined all of their birthday presents this year & bought them a swingset. I love it because it isn’t something that clutters up my house & gives them a reason to play outside. Gotta think of more ideas like that.

Books are always good. IMO you can never have to many of those. Those wooden puzzles are great too (although we already have tons). I’m trying to avoid anything with small pieces this year though. My boys are going through a destruction phase right now, so any games, etc. just get ruined.

[Anonymous]

I have been buying stuff all along…. i hate shopping in December, when everyone is out and about and even though i love shopping in the internet, i love looking at some of the stuff.

For Matthew, we are doing the Fridge phonics (like you, Lori), 3 puzzles from Melissa and Doug (he has 4 already adn he loves these – we are now getting him the safari set, numbers and colours i believe, they are all wrapped!), the little people zoo (he loves the little people garage set and is amazed by all animals), a busy-zoo or busy street activity cube (it is wrapped and cannot remember which one we ended up getting him) and another set of cubes (he has a boikido set and just loves them).

[Anonymous]

This is one of the toys my girls are getting. I know they are going to LOVE it!!!

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=700&e=snsLanding

I know it says ages two and up, but the pieces are pretty big. I’m not worried about Myles choking on them….he plays with all of the girls’ toys so I have to keep little pieces away.

ndrose2006-11-20 14:16:14

[Anonymous]

ohhhhhh great book site. http://www.bookcloseouts.com I get a TON there every Christmas (you can even find some great ones on there for $1, if you search) They have a lot of board books.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the book site! It looks awesome. Books are my weakness.

[Anonymous]

ohh I go nuts with that site!!!! I found it a long time ago, when my oldest was around 2!!

[Anonymous]

I LOVE buying books!!! But I think if I come into the house with another book dh will kill me! We have an overflowing 4 level bookcase already. I better not go look at that site… won’t be able to control myself…

[Anonymous]

i know hannah is closer to sarah’s age than hailey, and you may already have these, but hannah has loved all of the little people sets we have amassed. yesterday, we played hookey (well i did) and got the little people school. its a keeper.

like laura said, i don’t have as many of the “all natural” toys as i would have liked being the grown-up (ha) peace loving gal that i am, but one of the other things hannah has really enjoyed collecting is a series of hats (fire, construction, princess, you name it) and some dress up clothes (“princess” = a chinese dress/ pajamas, tutu, etc). since you probably have many “communal” things for the girls, maybe something new, especially for hailey would be sweet.

we got hannah a jewelry box and some “jewelry” this year for her birthday (two weeks away!!).

[Anonymous]

HI BECKY!! How’s Hannah? Can you believe she’s almost 3?!

I got a Barbie dancing princess jewelry box for my niece for her b-day and one for Sarah as well for the holidays. When my niece opened hers this weekend, Sarah was obsessed with it, so I know she’ll like it.

Maybe I’ll check out the little people’s stuff. There’s a sale here at toys r us this week on a few of the sets. We already have the zoo and farm. I think maybe I just need to scale down our existing toys… put some away for a bit, and give away the ones that they don’t touch. Everything else just seems to get lost amongst the rubble. I swear I feel like our house is a day care centre sometimes!

Has anyone tried the aquadoodle? I was thinking of that for Hailey as well. She like drawing but I hate the mess. We do have two magnadoodles already so it might be kind of repetitious.

[Anonymous]

yes to the aquadoodle! hannah still loves this…and now they have a train one…have you tried playdough? they have the new sheets that keep the mess to a minimum. i think playdough helps with sensory/ texture issues too!!

its funny, lori, i only check in here a couple times a month and i always seem to respond to your posts…eerie, i think hannah is very similar to both hailey and sarah!

[Anonymous]

I know what you mean. Seth has so much stuff too and it does not help his birthday is on Christmas Eve! I keep hinting to the grandparents that the has more than he can play with now in hopes they keep the gifts to a minimum this year but I doubt it.

I am pretty much done for Seth. We are having an Elmo birthday so for that, we got him the Elmo vacuum cleaner and an Elmo sleeping bag. For Christmas, he is getting a bike (and helmet of course!), a dump truck, play doh creativity center, Wiggles DVD, a baby computer and some little stuff for his stocking.

I don’t know about all of you but sometimes it makes me sad to see that Seth has more then he will ever play with yet some kids go without for the holidays. I have honestly thought about putting on his birthday invites to bring a toy to be donated to Toys for Tots if they wish in lieu of a birthday gift but I don’t know how that will fly..

Sorry I don’t have any ideas for Hailey. Seth loved the big Legos at that age but I don’t know if that is more of a boy thing! What about new bathtub toys- I had to buy Seth some more advanced ones at that age.

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