One of my favorite of Elizabeth’s phases was her Dresses Phase. She liked to wear dresses almost every single day, and I loved to buy dresses almost every single day, so it was a happy partnership. Now she is in her Skirts Phase, which is nice too.

The best times of year to buy inexpensive dresses were: (1) Easter clearance, (2) summer clearance, and (3) Christmas clearance. The Easter/Christmas dresses were fanciest; I sometimes thought I should send a note in to Elizabeth’s teacher saying, “Don’t worry, it looks like $40 and dry-clean-only and parents-will-pitch-fit-if-paint-gets-on-it, but it was $8 and at home we’re letting her wear it in the mud.”

Tutu dress (photo from ChildrensPlace.com). Sleeveless dresses seem impractical, but they’re easy to wear over tights and a long-sleeved shirt.

Tiered gingham dress (photo from OldNavy.com). This could be a sundress, or a cute school outfit with white tights and shirt.
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Gift ideas for guys seem to fall into the same category as gift ideas for teenagers: with so few ideas, sharing what little we have can only improve matters. So here are some of the things I’ve given Paul recently, in case they’d work for your guy too:

Cooking for Geeks (photo from Amazon.com). I was irritated but affirmed when I bought this for Paul for an upcoming holiday and then saw he’d checked the same book out of the library.

Paul kept complaining about (and breaking the handles off of) my “sucky” measuring cups, so I did a post asking for advice on a good manly set. To my surprise and dismay, the comments section filled up with suggestions for measuring cups that cost about triple the amount of money I’d had in mind. But I thought about it and got used to the idea that maybe better quality = costs more, and then there was a sale combined with a free shipping deal, and so I bought him a set of the Williams-Sonoma measuring cups and spoons (photo from Williams-Sonoma.com)—and Paul LOVES them. On the next gift occasion, he hinted that he would also like the odd-sizes set, so I got him those too. (He was slightly cheesed that the two sets of measuring cups don’t nest together, but it wasn’t a big deal.)
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Sigh.

I write these older-kid gift posts not because I feel like they contain Such Incredibly Awesome Ideas, but rather because there are SO FEW ideas of ANY CALIBER, it seems like we should put ALL the ideas OUT THERE. If I tell you what my 12-year-old boy is getting for his birthday, and if you tell me what your 12-year-old boy is getting for his birthday, then between us we have TWO ideas!

Spherification kit (photo from Amazon.com). We got this idea from Catherine Newman’s post. The gist, I gather, is that you add this stuff to liquid, and it turns the liquid into spheres. This seemed like the perfect present for a boy who spent one million hours with the water marbles he got for Christmas.

Magic Books and Paper Toys: Flip Books, E-Z Pop-ups, & Other Paper Playthings (photo from Amazon.com). We have a 12-year-old of the crafty/projects variety, and this looked like his sort of thing.
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Henry is going to a birthday party in a couple of weeks. I asked him what the birthday boy likes, and he said “NINJAS!!” So we are looking at ninja ideas.

Ninja costume (photo from Amazon.com). I bought this costume for Henry, for Halloween next year. It might also make a fun gift idea. But when I bought it for Henry, it was marked down to $8.50 on a post-Christmas clearance; now it’s $16-something. I find it difficult to pay more for things I could have gotten for less. Also, I’m not at all sure about the quality: the reviews are quite mixed, and for me it was worth the risk for $8.50 and for my own kid—but I feel more nervous spending $16+ and giving it to someone else’s kid.

Matryoshka ninjas (photo from Amazon.com). This was the very first search result, which is good because I never, ever, not in a dozen years of ninja birthday parties, would have thought to look for such a thing. And yet—this is exactly the sort of toy I would have found enduringly interesting as a child. Hm. Well, we’d be unlikely to be duplicating someone else’s gift!
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Paul needs new slippers. Oh, I know, this is kind of a boring topic. BUT: it is surprisingly complicated to buy slippers for someone who really WEARS SLIPPERS. My own, which get worn in the hospital when I’m in the maternity ward, needed to meet the following requirements:

1. Cute

Paul is a foot-scuffer (it is one of those small things that within the confines of marriage becomes surprisingly annoying), and he wears his slippers from late fall until mid-spring, and he keeps going OUTSIDE in them. So his need to meet the following requirements:

1. Shoe-like sole
2. Very warm
3. Not too old-mannish
4. Not one million dollars, because they’ll need to be replaced soon
5. Scuffing sound should not be too abrasive

His old slippers have lasted longer than I would have expected. They’re similar to these:

Sierra Designs Down Bootie (photo from Amazon.com). They were more expensive than I’d thought it was possible for slippers to be (OH NAIVETY), about $50. The blue ones are at $40 right now with Prime shipping, so I’m tempted to just buy them—but the reviews are not great, and I’m not sure what size to get him because some of the reviewers complain about them running small.
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