Now that I have a child, I understand how difficult it can be to shop for gifts for holidays like Christmas and birthdays. It’s fun to choose new toys and things for your child to have, but at the same time do you really need more stuff floating around your house?
I know I don’t.
Last year we gave pretty minimal gifts to Jackson, knowing that much of our family would probably go a bit crazy with gifts (and they did), and this year will be no different. This year we decided to introduce the idea of gifts from Santa, even though he’s a bit young to totally understand it, so we had to figure out how to strike a good balance between gifts from us and gifts from the big man. In the end, we decided that Santa will follow the ever-popular “Want, Need, Wear, Read” formula, while we will just get him a few more gifts that we think he’d like. We’ve officially finished most of our shopping (still trying to track down one last gift!) and I think we ended up with good gifts that will last him a while, versus silly toys that he’ll forget about in two weeks.
Here’s what we’re giving him this year:
- A bead maze. These things are like a magnet for him whenever we are out and about, so we know it’s going to be a big hit. Corey likes that it’ll work on some fine motor skills and I like that it keeps him nice and occupied for at least a few minutes.
- Munchkin bath crayons. I don’t know why we are buying him more of these because they make our bathroom look ridiculous (and somehow they’ve ended up all over the walls and not just the tub), but I can’t resist because he loves them so dearly. Bath time is infinitely easier when I can hand him a bath crayon and let him go to town.
- Melissa & Doug latches board. Our library has this and every Sunday when I tell him it’s time to go to the library, the first thing he says is, “work puzzle?” He’s obsessed with this thing and I think it’s high time we get one for him to play with at home. And, again, it works on fine motor skills too! Win-win!
- Christmas pajamas. I’m a sucker for a kid in Christmas pajamas. We got him several pairs, but these will probably be the ones we give him as his Christmas Eve set. Old Navy has some awesome Christmas pjs this year!
- Sandra Boynton books. We will never turn down more books in this house! Jackson, Corey, and I all love Sandra Boynton’s books so I snatched up a few that we don’t have yet. He’s starting to be interested in some longer books when we read before bed, but these are perfect for him to carry around the house or look at in the car.
- A balance bike. This is one that we’re still searching for – we don’t really want to spend this much on a bike for him, so we’re scouring Craigslist and our local consignment shops for something similar. If we can’t find one, we may just bite the bullet and purchase this one – I know he’ll use it all the time.
- A train set. My mom actually gave us a train set recently for Jackson and we set it aside with the specific intention of giving it to him for Christmas. He loves trains (don’t all toddlers?) and we think he’s old enough now to be able to have his own set. We don’t have a good table for it yet, but stay tuned next month when his birthday rolls around, because I think we have a solution for that already!
What are your favorite Christmas gifts for toddlers?