2018 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE FOR BABIES & TODDLERS

It’s time… the busiest week of the year for holiday shopping. If you’re looking for ideas for your kids or wish lists for the grandparents, here are some of our favorites.

FOR BABIES

Bannor Toys makes these beautiful, wooden toys for babies that I just adore. The cars are limited edition and from their Holiday collection set, and I especially love that they offer personalization on many items. It’s hard to see on the keys, but I had “car,” “house,” and “my heart” (can you even?!) engraved on them. The memory game is so cute as a entry level game that can be easily modified for young toddlers.

FOR TODDLERS

Click the arrows in the image above to see commentary on each item. All available on Amazon for easy shopping! Linked here: Plus Plus. Snowie. Cash Register. Gears. Beads. Magnets. Sorting Set.

Overview here. A few pictured but not linked above that we have and love: Cuddle and Kind dolls, Strider bike, and Magnatiles.

FOR THE BATH

If you’re taking any mid-winter sunny trips, I love this spray on zinc sunscreen as a stocking stuffer. The stick and face formulas are also pictured, all with a EWG rating of 1, 2, and 3. The Lavender bubble bath scores a 3 (clean!) on the Think Dirty App.

More fun stocking stuffers: if you’re looking for specific holiday scents, Tubby Todd has a holiday trio of hair and body wash, lotion, and bubble bath that all smell amazing and are so festive and fun.


FOR PRESCHOOL/KINDERGARTEN PREP

The Kindergarten Toolkit is a workbook of activities and ideas for parents to teach kindergarten readiness. It has ideas along with cards of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and shapes, for teaching recognition early. I like that the toolkit presents simple lessons plans and an introduction to core concepts.

FOR TEACHING THE SPIRIT OF GIVING

The Giving Manger is a wonderful holiday tradition I just discovered and am already implementing with my family. It’s a set that includes a book, a beautifully crafted wooden manger, baby Jesus, and hay. The concept is, when children do something nice for others, they get to put a piece of straw in the manger. On Christmas, the manger is full of all the pieces of straw representing the gifts of service, and baby Jesus in placed in it. I am really loving this tradition already and am so glad to have found something to help me shift the focus of the holidays from getting to giving.

MORE CHRISTMAS BOOKS

I love adding seasonal books to our collection. These four are just released titles from Candlewick Press. Little Christmas Tree (beautifully illustrated), Where’s Santa Claus (lift the flap), The Christmas Eve Tree (sweet story of hope for a boy without a home), and Christmas, a perfect first book for babies with soft, crinkly pages and a hook to attach to a stroller or play gym.

SOMETHING TO WEAR

Tea Collection has a holiday line out, perfect for Santa photos and other events this season. I love that they’re ethically made and give back, right now contributions are going to the Wildfire Relief fund, helping with all the fires in California. They’re running a Black Friday sale this week, with many styles under $15.

Shared in partnership with most companies, selections are my own, affiliate links in post.

TODDLER HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

A super last minute holiday gift guide, in case you're scrambling for ideas this weekend!

Here are some of our current favorites.

FOR EATING

We have a kid that loves to eat. He yells "spooooon!" whenever he sees one. I wanted to get him some more non-plastic utensils and found these. Love the bright colors and that the handles are large and easy to grip for tiny hands.

We're still figuring out how we'll do kid seating as Trey gets older, debating if we'll keep the high chair or trade it out for a booster seat. I like the idea of us all at the same table and low profile seating, so we're giving this one a try.

Trey is always requesting more water. Water bottles we like here here and here.

FOR TRAVEL

His own luggage! He's into pushing kid-sized shopping carts and I bet he'd love to put this through the airport when we travel a couple of times next year.

Kids tablet for road trips and plane flights.

FOR PLAY

This play kitchen gets tons of use around here.

This car is kind of obnoxious in color but is always a big hit at playgrounds.

A wooden train set is always classic at Christmas.

For toddlers who love to put things into shopping carts: this.

Merry Christmas!