Ahhh Cyber Monday. Here we are, filling up our carts to fill up our stockings/trees/menorahs. After extensive research (read: Google and other Mom-friends) here is what I’m going with for Gracie and my almost-six year old nephew……Amazon links are affiliate but you should shop wherever you want, duh. (Shopping for a different age? Check out my Christmas/birthday ideas for 10 month olds and one year olds here)
Stockings
Stockings will be filled, for the most part, with a plethora of Target dollar bin items (think Sesame Street and Frozen) and small art supplies like crayons and bath paint. I think I’m also going to grab a bottle of “bath drops” to color the bath water – definitely a good bribe to get kids in the tub.
In the same “small stocking stuffer” though process I think my nephew would really love one of these magnetic storyboards, perfect for car trips and waiting rooms/restaurants.
The Books
I think books are a part of any great Christmas. I love Adam Rubin/Daniel Salmieri books so my nephew definitely needs Super Secret Pizza Party while I think Gracie is ready for Dragons Love Tacos. I’m well under way collecting Christmas books for Gracie and I think this year she will be getting How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas which fits well with her current dino-love.
The Big (and Littler) Stuff
This year I really wanted to get Gracie something big – either a Learning Tower (which is on an amazing Cyber Monday deal, holy smokes) or a wooden kitchen set- but we are traveling to Utah and the logistics of a physically big gift seemed daunting and/or cost prohibitive.
We did a mini Christmas with B’s parents this weekend and they got her a pretty awesome baby pram (the Costco one, recommend highly, but it is only sold in stores not online) so her “something large” needs are fulfilled.
For Christmas morning we’ve decided on a few Santa items that we know she will love, namely a kids Dyson vacuum and a toddler sized Ergo babydoll carrier. She is all about acting like a grownup (helping to clean up, taking care of her animals and babies) so why not let her?
Based on recommendations from friends, we are also getting Gracie the Thinfun Roll & Play game. It comes with a suggested age of 18 months and up, where kids can roll a die and pick up a card with simple instructions. I think this will be a lot of fun this winter when we need indoor things to do!
No Christmas is complete with out Little People, this year we opted for a dump truck that she can fill with all her treasures and push around.
And finally, I’d like to get her the Aden and Anais muslin dream blanket which is 4 layers of muslin and seems very cozy for winter…in fact I really, really want the adult sized one for myself, but neither here nor there I suppose.
For my nephew we decided to go big with Magformers, the magnetic tiles you can build with. After comparing them to the popular Magnatiles we decided the Magformers were more up his alley because they have gears and “moving part” kits you can add on to them. We are getting him a 37 piece kit with some gears, I think Gracie will be ready for a non-gear set sooner rather than later. I have it on good authority other family members will be supplementing his set.
And for things that are more experience based, we bought a family membership to the nature museum (we can park at the zoo and walk over!) that definitely counts towards the Christmas haul.
And with that, I think we are done. It is so easy to go overboard (kids items are so inexpensive when compared to the adults on the list!) and I like to think we’ve struck a nice balance of special but not totally spoiled.
Happy shopping!