Sweet Baby Gifts

I just got a new refrigerator and as luck would have it, my attractive neighbour’s little girl is celebrating her fourth birthday tomorrow and I’m going to give her the box.

So you’re giving a box the daughter to get inside the box of the mother? That sounds ok to me.

I would like to do something like this for my 2 1/2 year old daughter who is soon to have a new baby brother and sister. I am looking for some creative ideas. When / how did you present the gift(s)?

I was thinking of having a few gifts from brother and sister pop up at different times -
We have a long car trip coming up - something new at that time would help ease the boredom of the trip. There’s also an upcoming baby shower. I’m sure my daughter would appreciate having something special from Mom since everything else will be ‘for the babies.’ There’s also the special time when she meets the babies.. and the times when she’s feeling left out perhaps after they come home.

Does that sound reasonable or am I going overboard? I believe she will be excited to be a big sister and happy to be my ‘helper.’ But, I am also feeling a lot of turmoil at ‘our special time’ (so to speak) coming to an end and not being able to give her as much 1:1 attention. I know some new toys don’t make up for that….

BQ: How did your 2ish toddler adjust to having a new brother/sister?

I think the gift idea is great and I don’t believe you are going overboard. I think it would be good for her to associate something positive, like new gifts, with the birth of her siblings. That way there probably won’t be any resentment of the new babies. I didn’t do it but it is a very good idea.

I have a two year old and he has a 6 week old baby sister and he loves her to death. He loves babies. He loves to hold her, feed her, give her the pacifier when she is fussy. He is also very protective of her.

I understand you are a little upset about having to lose that 1:1 time and I did too, but I found that letting Tyler help me with the baby actually made up for that time.

I am sure she will be a very loving and very wonderful big sister.

What are other mom’s and dad’s getting their toddler’s for Easter? I know Easter is still a while away, but i’m kind of at a loss as to what I am going to get my 15 month old daughter. She will be 17 months at Easter time and I know that I am going to do an Easter basket filled with her favorite things, but its tradition (in our family) to get one big toy for Easter. I really want to get her something fun that can be played with outside. My parents (her grandparents) are getting her a sand box for Easter, which is what I originally wanted to get her, but they asked if it were ok, so I agreed that it was fine. I was looking at those water activity tables, but i’m just not sure what to get her. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Note: She has plenty of ride on toys and battery powered toys, so I would really like to stay away from those seeing how she already has a dozen.

A water/activity table would be a great gift. My kids have used ours for 3 years. A tent with tunnels, a bubble blower, a picnic table with an umbrella.

I think you have a great idea, she will get alot of use out of the activity table, get one with an umbrella if you dont have alot of shade.

I am thinking about buying a small gift from the baby, to our son…and giving it to our son when he meets the baby. I haven’t decided yet what to buy, but it will be a toy of books of some sort.
Did you do this with your toddlers? Did they enjoy this?

No, I didn’t. But I did get a couple of small things to put away in a basket so if anyone came to visit to bring a gift for the baby, I would give them one of those to give to my toddler so they wouldn’t feel left out or less important than the baby.

My 27 month old daughter loves to participate in any kind of craft, but I am not an especially crafty person myself. What types of craft projects/supplies would be fun for a toddler. I would like to make a big kit of supplies for a Christmas gift.

So, what’s in your toddler’s arts/craft supply stash?

We don’t do well with arts and crafts here yet because he really just wants to dump and make a mess of everything. (Such a boy!)

But, I’d make sure to include non-toddler friendly stuff too so she can grow into them as she becomes a preschooler over the next few months. Glitter and sequins can be glued on or poured on wet paint, or put into discovery bottles.

Paints can definitely be fun, especially if you can include some inexpensive wooden shapes she can paint. If you don’t have a tile floor/washable table area you can use to make sure acrylic paints don’t stain, you could probably get away with tempra paints. You could also include a special paint shirt for both of you to help save your clothes.

If she’s not the kind of girl who wants to taste everything, you could also try pastels (the colored chalk stuff). They’re fun, a bit messy, and a completely different experience from crayons and markers.

Water colors and white crayons can let both of you make some interesting relief paintings (color with the white crayon on the white paper, then paint with the water colors to make the crayon show up).

Felt, foam board, some fabric scraps, yarn, glue sticks, scissors, and some other general arts and craft supplies can help fill in any gaps.

I want to get a gift for my 4,3, and 1 year old children but i don’t want to get them anything that requires batteries. Does anyone have any ideas.

Books. I love the ones with the "plastic" pages, but board books and books with paper pages are good as well.

Puzzles. You can find some at Wal Mart that have 24 large pieces, that are easy for little hands to put together. Wooden puzzles and peg puzzles are great also.

Arts and crafts supplies. I love the Aqua Doodle books and mats, they are GREAT because it is just a marker that you put water into and they basically water paint and can use it again and again. Regular crayons and coloring books work well, also. Play doh, finger paint, etc. are also good.

Musical instruments. A drum, cymbals, a flute, tambourine, rain sticks, maracas, etc.

Board games. Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Lucky Ducks, Memory, etc.

How about outside gifts such as bubbles, balls, sidewalk chalk, beach toys to play with in the sand box?

Hot Wheels/Matchbox/Tonka cars. These work for boys or girls!

Dolls and doll accessories.

A play table and chairs, which can serve multiple purposes. You might also look into a grocery cart and/or a tea set, pretend food, etc. BTW, dolls and food work for boys and girls as well!

Dress up stuff. Hats, hair accessories, costumes you find on clearance, capes, jewelry, masks.

Puppets. Hand puppets and/or finger puppets.

Bath toys. Bubbles, dye for the water, tub crayons. You can purchase kitchen utensils very inexpensively and they work great in the tub, and even come in fun colors!

Legos, Mega Blocks, etc. are great.

Lincoln Logs and/or Tinker Toys are also great.

A good joint gift would be something like a wagon. It will get YEARS of use. Ours did.

A miniature trampoline (the kind for excercise or one for toddlers).

A ball pit.

Tunnels for them to crawl through, and/or a play house (the tent kind).

I hope these ideas help…

I have a 14 month old. he loves anything with a steering wheel, cars….etc. Do you think the Whisper Ride Buggy would make a good christmas present for him?

I think it would make a good gift for him if he likes things like that.

I’ve drawn names from a hat for 5 of my nieces and nephews… ages 6 months (boy), 18 months (girl) 3 year old (boy)… then also a 13 year old and a 12 year old, both girls.

The rules are: it has to fit in the child’s stocking and there’s a $15 price limit per child…

I’d love ideas and suggestions for all ages, but especially those babies!

6 month old ( I put all this stuff in my daughters stocking at 6 months)
A starter sippy cup
Blocks
Board books or Cloth books
a pacifer ( if he sucks a pacifer)
rattles or little toys to be hand held

18 month old (this is what i’m putting in my daughters stocking this year, around same age)
Sippy Cup
Bath toys (rubber ducks,foam letters,etc)
Ring pops..(good for sucking, and not small enough to choke on, if you want them to have cany)
A Mickey mouse club house dvd (she loves them)
A board book
hair bows/clips (if she wears them)
socks (never can have to many)
little cheap gloves or mittens (always come in handy, my daughter loves to play with them..lol.)
Little peoples toy tubes (most 18 months are into these toys, you can get a tube of like 4 at Target for like $5, fits perfectly in stocking.
toothbrush

3 year old
Play dough (if their parents let them play with it, you might want to check)
Hot wheels cars (you can get little packs of them for like $5 or so)
Little Peoples toy tube (my 2 1/2 year old nephew really loves them too)
bouncy balls (my nephew loves bouncy balls)
a Thomas the Train dvd or favorite cartoon..usually around 5 - 10 dollars at target/Walmart
little toy cars/trains (they love these)
toothbrush

12 and 13 year old girls
nail polish
lip gloss
little hair brushes or mirrors
little things of perfume or body spray
body glitter
nail files/nail clippers
teen magazine (just roll it up for the stocking) usually 3 -4 dollars at grocery store checkout..lol.
little things of lotion
a cool picture frame for their room

i don’t know who heard my illness about my cancer mono and strep this may be the last/only family christmas so i want to make it the best my 11 month old baby Girl is so smart she is potty trained she runs and she can talk a little bit i don’t know if she should get a potty chart to help because she is 11 months she still makes accidents or snow toys or a big girl bed more clothes i don’t know and my new baby i have no idea!

You HAVE TO get the infant a "woobie" (a soft little blanky with a head of a frog, cat, or other animal. Both my babies are very attached to there’s and are soothed by it.Most baby departments of stores sell them.
Infants grow fast, so soon he/she will enjoy musical stuffed animals or toys that light up.

Toddlers like educational toys where they can press buttons and pull levers, ect. They like noisy toys!

im a toddler teacher (1 year olds) and every year we make gifts for the parents…
this year i want to do something new but i cant think of anything

it must be something the children can contribute to (coloring, painting)
and it must be pretty simple, even something like a card

Get some solid colored non-breakable plates, one for each child. Have them remove a shoe and paint the bottom of their foot light brown and step in the middle. Wash the feet off. Then one hand at a time paint it in a dark brown and stamp on each side of the foot at the toe end to make antlers. Let the paint dry and attach wiggle eyes with hot glue and a red pom pom for the nose. You can put each child’s name and the date on the back with a sharpie marker.

Another idea that is really cute is get some styrofoam balls at a craft store and some ice cream cone cups at the grocery. Let the kids paint their foam ball in ice cream colors. Let them dry and poke in the top a little hole to put a drop of glue and poke a ribbon in to hang. Put glue around the top of the ice cream cone and let them put their ‘icecream’ on top. They have an ornament.

Take each child’s picture and print it out. Get some inexpensive paint it yourself frames at a craft store and let the kids paint them. Put each child’s photo in their frame when they are dry.

Get some do it yourself canvas aprons at a craft store ($2-3 each). One for each child. Use Christmas stampers and paint to let them stamp on the aprons. Use fabric paint though so when washed it won’t come out!

You could also get some canvas (you can buy it inexpensively at different places in packages of 3 in 8×11 for not much money. Put the child’s name at the top (width wise) and have them put paint on their hands and do their hand prints. You can punch holes in the top and tie a pink or blue ribbon (depending if it is a boy or girl) at the top. It will be a nice keepsake for parents. You could also do handprints in plaster of paris poured into small size plastic plates to set it in. That is also inexpensive and makes a nice keepsake. Just keep some buckets of warm soapy water on hand to have them wash their hands right away when they make their print.