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It’s greatly appreciated if you make a purchase through them 🖤
LAST UPDATED: NOV 3, 2021
I hope these recommendations are helpful for you while holiday or birthday shopping! I will be updating this all the time!
Everything mentioned are/were my girls’ favorites plus a few gifts we’ve added to their wish lists. It might seem out of the norm, but make a Wish List for family and friends for holidays and birthdays. It’s extremely helpful especially for your family and friends who don’t know your kids as well as you do and you’ll save a ton of time doing returns, exchanges, selling, and donating). Exact or similar gifts can always be found second-hand (Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, Kidizen).
Disclaimer: Age recommendations listed below are based on when my girls liked each type of toy. Adult supervision is always recommended for all toys with small parts.
Everything mentioned are/were my girls’ favorites plus a few gifts we’ve added to their wish lists. It might seem out of the norm, but make a Wish List for family and friends for holidays and birthdays. It’s extremely helpful especially for your family and friends who don’t know your kids as well as you do and you’ll save a ton of time doing returns, exchanges, selling, and donating). Exact or similar gifts can always be found second-hand (Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, Kidizen).
Disclaimer: Age recommendations listed below are based on when my girls liked each type of toy. Adult supervision is always recommended for all toys with small parts.
FAVORITE SMALL SHOPS:
GIFTS THAT ARE NOT TOYS:
- Books + Toys: Kido Chicago, Woodberry Toys, Shop McCoy Kids
- Clothes + Accessories + Baby Goods: The Minimalist Apparel, The Wishing Elephant, Shop McCoy Kids, Goumi Kids, Gray Haven, Newcastle Classics, The Poppy Potty, Pretty Please Teethers
GIFTS THAT ARE NOT TOYS:
- Membership or gift cards to zoos, aquariums, or museums.
- A board game or puzzle. These are fun for the whole family. (Our favorite board games and puzzles*)
- Something that sparks creativity like an art/craft/science kit, paint, markers, or crayons. A great budget friendly place for these items are the Dollar Tree and The Bullseye ($1-$5) Playground at Target.
- Educational workbooks, or puzzles. You can find these at a great deal at stores like Homegoods and TJ Maxx.
- A photo book or personalized story book. Check out Shutterfly*, Paper Culture, and Groovebook, Wonderbly, and Hooray Heroes.
- Dance, swim, music, or sports classes
- Outdoor playground or sports equipment. Our girls love their soccer net*.
- Book subscription. Check out Literati (ages 0-12) and Jambo Books (ages 0-13)
- Pajamas. Our favorites are from Hanna Andersson and GAP. Wait for their 40-50% off site-wide sales.
BOOKS:
- Newborn to 2 years old: sensory, lift-the-flap, slide-and-see, pop-up, peek-a-boo, simple rhymes, nursery rhymes, counting, alphabet, featuring a diverse variety of real and animated people and animals, featuring vehicles (Amazon List: Newborn+ Books)* (Amazon List: 1 years old+ Books)*
- 2 years old+: the same as above plus free pet store and travel pamphlets, comics, finger maze, search-and-find, and paperback-back books with longer (but still simple) stories related to school, family, friends, places/persons in the community, adventure, science, and art (Amazon List: 2 years old+ Books).*
Hard Cover Books
Board Books
TOYS:
- Newborn to 1 years old+: xylophone, piano, ring stacker, stacking cups, floor piano, big shape puzzle, shape sorter, alphabet blocks, music box, abacus (Amazon List: 0-1 years old+)*
- 2 years old+: all of the above plus mega blocks, magnet tiles, 2-4 piece puzzles, alphabet and number puzzles, musical instruments, train set, vehicles, kitchen, play food, tool kit, pretend doctor/vet kit, binoculars, magnifying glass, paint (Amazon List: 2 years old+)*
- DIY: tissue box with a blanket cut up into squares. My daughters (3 and 1) absolutely love this!!
Play 2yo and up
Music 1yo and up