Milk and Cookies
with Kristen
I'm a mother of five, a bargain hunter, a recreational comparison shopper, and always trying to make more time - for me and for you, too. On this blog I'm sharing my favorite tools and finds to help make your work-life juggle a bit easier.
You can find my personal blog at Swistle.blogspot.com.
I got the idea for this post and then froze up trying to remember all the gifts and what had been a success. Then I realized I could just go LOOK IN THE PLAYROOM and see what we were still playing with.
Parents Water Works Travel Drawing Board. This says “travel,” and it would be pretty good for travel (it’s bigger than I think of when I think “travel toy”), but we use it at home. The child can draw on one side with water, then flip it over and draw on the other side while the first side dries.
Kid K’Nex Buddies/Friends/Pals. We had a giant set of regular K’Nex building pieces that no one ever played with. Then I found a small creature-making set on a good clearance and gave it to one of the kids for Christmas, and now we have four different creature sets and they all get played with. The regular K’Nex are now used, too, to make more limbs for the creatures. The available sets change (sometimes dinosaurs, sometimes farm, sometimes aliens, etc.), but all have “buddies,” “friends,” or “pals” in the names. I’ve found small discontinued sets at stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls.
Books!
Everywhere Babies
Maisy’s Bedtime
I am a Bunny
Books are not as high on the Big Thrill list, but they last and last. We have books I bought when Rob (now a fifth grader) was an infant, and I read them to all five kids and I’m STILL reading them to the kids.
Mr. Potato Head. This goes in cycles: a long time will go by and no one plays with it, and then suddenly EVERYONE PLAYING WITH IT ALL THE TIME. We have Mr., Mrs., and a third potato that was originally part of an alien/astronaut kit.
Model Magic. Play-Doh is good, too, but Model Magic is what I buy for gifts.
Also popular year after year:
1. A $1 echo microphone from the party supplies aisle in Target.
2. Empty wrapping paper tubes.
I love that book “Everywhere Babies”! Such great pictures, and the words so perfectly capture the spirit of the first year. Plus, the tiny, not-very-obvious details: gay couples, nursing pictures, etc.
Toys that we’ve had around here forever:
The Melissa and Doug pizza set and birthday cake set. Still get played with weekly by all three kids.
Our vast collection of Little People stuff- I’ve never put this away since the girls started getting it 6 years ago. I DON’T like all that plastic, but I do like how versatile the play is: babies play with it much differently than 6 year olds, but all can still play. Plus, they are good toys to leave out all the time because when baby-friends visit the pieces are not chokable, so we can steer them away from the big kids toys and get them interested in something “safe”.
All of our various play dishes, tea sets, and toy food is played with in various ways, over and over again. Tea parties, “kitchen”, “restaurant”, “cooking dinner”… it’s endless.
Marie Green | December 3rd, 2009 at 1:59 am
Maisy’s bedtime is the current favorite in our household. And by favorite I mean I read it ELEVEN times today.
frondly | December 3rd, 2009 at 5:29 am
my most successful present for my four kids happened last year. they’re older, and as a single working mom I really miss my time with them. so I gave them each a date with me. After all, it’s the experiences together that we remember, not stuff. It’s on for a repeat this year, very successful.
blackbird | December 5th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I almost gave our daughter a box full of wrapping paper for her first Christmas (last year). Almost. As it turned out, I should have because that’s all she played with for three days straight. We had to leave some under the tree for her.
Phe | December 8th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
The last one made me laugh because just last night I was up wrapping gifts until like flippin midnight, and I went to throw away an empty wrapping paper tube but then thought, “Oh, I’ll bet H. (23 months) would like to play with this tomorrow.” Sure enough, it’s the first thing he spotted in the corner of the living room this morning and he immediately started dragging it around. Thanks for the list!
Angie | December 21st, 2009 at 8:44 pm