a peek inside the fishbowl

12 Dec, 2007

Great gift ideas for kids?

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy|Oh! Things!

Dani’s post about Christmas gift ideas got me thinking.

I’m wondering, what are the best gifts Santa bought for your kids? The no-fail fun ones that are played with the most?

Curious parents want to know!

(Seriously, by contributing to this list you might give another mom a great idea for a last-minute gift – so speak up please!)

For us, the following items belong on this list:

– the 1970’s era “suitcase” record player and ever-growing stack of LP’s. We have some truly great records. In current rotation: Bing sings Christmas.

Hamtaro figures (discontinued here, I think?) and Littlest Pet Shop. If it’s small, the girls will love it.

– papers and pencils and scissors (basic crafty stuff is used all of the time)

– outdoor toys: the stilts (biiiig hit), skipping ropes, the Plasma car, the bikes

– card games: Go Fish & Uno

– books

– blocks… (tho’ not so much anymore)

– kid’s magazine subscriptions. The girls love getting mail!


7 Responses to "Great gift ideas for kids?"

1 | J.

December 12th, 2007 at 1:13 pm

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Kids magazine subscriptions are an excellent idea. I remember when my mom used to buy be Disney Adventures.. I’m pretty sure I still have some copies lying around.

2 | DaniGirl

December 12th, 2007 at 1:44 pm

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Oooh, this is where I was planning to go next. Best kid gifts!

I know you already have Superfort, but that’s top of our list. We love all the Cranium games we have – Hullaballoo from two years ago and Cariboo from last year. Also a big hit was the marble run kit – fun for kids and grownups, too! The Sesame Street Old School DVD gets played a lot. And the boys both love their growing collection of Star Wars action figures as much as they still love to play with their Pixar’s Cars car characters. And we play a lot of cards, too – thinking about upgrading to SuperUno or whatever that enhanced version is with the spinner. We played it at my in-laws place this summer, and it was a hoot!

3 | Marla

December 12th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

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Whatever occasion they were for, Josephine loves her little Schleich animals. Of course she’s getting more for Christmas. And Play-Doh. She got a HUGE lot of it for Christmas last year, and it lasted almost the whole year. As much as I loved the Buddha Board, and the other things? It was the small and simple things that she loved; and day in and day out is better than for just the day. Leading up to Christmas and for the day it was all about the Barbie walking horse. Hasn’t been touched in months. That’s 3 1/2 for you.

4 | Jenn

December 12th, 2007 at 4:00 pm

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I don’t think you can go wrong with the classics. A great chess set, hoola hoops, puzzles, dressup clothes, baseball glove, hockey stick, books with a personal mesage written on the inside, craft kits and supplies. I love getting tickets to family outings like sporting events or childrens theatre and would love a yearly pass to a favourite museum. I think I just gave you our family wish list.
We got my son a whirly pop stove top popcorn popper last year and it has yet to lose any appeal. He makes popcorn for his lunches and to share -not to mention the flavour shakers make great stocking stuffers!

5 | andrea

December 12th, 2007 at 10:39 pm

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Good suggestions everyone, esp the dressup toys, which I forgot to mention. They wear their Halloween costumes all year ’round (not every day, but you know what I mean…)

I also forgot to mention play food and bathtub toys. We’ve gotten a lot of use out of both around here.

6 | ali

December 13th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

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josh is all about the bakugon right now…that you seriously can’t. buy. anywhere.

games are always good. disney sorry. othello. battleship.

isabella is loving her fisher price castle. and with emily, if it’s high school musical themed, she’s happy.

7 | Melissa

December 13th, 2007 at 9:10 pm

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The best present Santa brought last year were stomping monster trucks. And while it’s too bad they are hotwheels themed – they were great. A lightweight plastic monster truck that you slide onto a tube with a rubber end. Stomp on the end and the truck goes flying off down the hall, stairs, street…wherever. No batteries, no million tiny pieces, just peals of laughter.

They loved them so much we got stomping rockets this summer to play with outside – same idea but they go straight up. By the end of the summer all the kids on the street had them but had to fight their grandpas to play with them. This year the kids are giving both grandpas each their own stomping rocket – they go higher than the house.

Otherwise, with Sam, anything to do with the Titanic is good, and Leanne likes anything Sam does :)

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