Last week I talked about the gifts we were getting/considering for Edward, who is turning 8 next month. This week it’s Elizabeth’s turn: not “girl gifts,” but gifts for a child who is, as it happens, a girl.

Owl apron (photo from Amazon.com). The one I bought her was from Home Goods and has an all-over pattern of owls, but I can’t find it online and this one is cute too.

Personalized street sign (photo from Amazon.com). She’d expressed enthusiastic interest in it a number of months ago as a gift idea for a friend’s birthday party, saying she’d want one for herself, too. But then we realized with the shipping time it wouldn’t arrive before the friend’s party, so we gave up on the idea. When Paul and I discussed still using the idea for Elizabeth’s birthday, we got hung up on not knowing what the quality of the sign would be like, and not even knowing if she’d still want it now—especially if her friend didn’t have a coordinating one. Plus, I know this is a gift for HER and SHE likes the pink, but if _I_ were getting a personalized street sign I’d want it to be GREEN. And I’m not sure that shade of pink would go well with her magenta walls. So anyway, we’re not getting it for this birthday. But maybe I’ll mention it to her again and see if she still wants it at Christmas.
Read the rest of this entry

I have TWO 8-year-olds to buy for, so I’m going to split it up into two posts. Today will be the things we’re getting for Edward. I dislike saying “Gift ideas for an 8-year-old BOY,” even though he is in fact a boy and there’s nothing wrong with that, because a ton of stuff the twins are interested in is neither “boy” nor “girl.” I’d hate to imply that just because I’m buying a gift for a boy, that gift would only be right for boys. So let’s call it “Gift ideas for an 8-year-old who is like Edward.” That’ll get the search results.

Scholastic 2013 Book of World Records (photo from Amazon.com). He saw this in the Scholastic catalog from school, and I made a mental note and then ordered it secretly.
Read the rest of this entry

My youngest baby is turning 6 next month. Let’s not talk about how strange that feels; let’s just talk about what I’m considering getting him for his birthday. Perhaps you have a similar child turning 6 (or 5 or 7), or perhaps you have a birthday party to go to.

Penguin bank (photo from Target.com). We give our kids a bank and their first allowance at their 6-year-old birthday party. For my first two kids, I chose a bank for them; but with the younger three, it’s worked better to let them choose one. I discuss it with them casually while at the store display a few months before the birthday, and then go back later and buy the one they liked. Henry chose this penguin. (I would have rooted for this owl if they had it in the stores.)

Webkinz lion (photo from Amazon.com). After last week’s post, it will not surprise you to hear that he is getting a Webkinz. Every other family member (well, except Paul) has or has had one, and now Henry wants one. He said “lion” immediately when I asked what animal, but then later on he said, “Wait. Do they have sharks?” (They do.) So there may need to be more deliberation.
Read the rest of this entry

Elizabeth has been invited to her first sleepover. I went on and on to the other mother about how she MIGHT be too nervous to accept the invitation—but it turns out Elizabeth’s fine and I’m the one who’s nervous.

I manage stress by shopping—or by pretend-shopping (I was glad to find recently that I am not alone in this). In this case I don’t think I actually need to buy anything: she can use an adult-sized orange-and-khaki sleeping bag we already own, and she doesn’t need new pajamas. But I had some fun putting together a pretend kit anyway.

Hello Kitty sleeping bag and backpack and Hello Kitty sleeping bag (photos from Amazon.com). At first I preferred the one on the left—but it’s more expensive than the one on the right, and comes with a backpack we don’t need. [The prices/sellers keep changing as I'm working on this. At first it was $40 for the one on the left and $20 for the one on the right. I'd re-do the search for "Hello Kitty sleeping bag" before buying.] I’m a little tempted to get her one of these even though she could make do with the one we have, just because the one we have is sooooo much bigger than she needs AND FINE, BECAUSE I LIKE TO BUY HELLO KITTY THINGS.

3-piece pajama set (photo from ChildrensPlace.com). Elizabeth has some footed sleepers, and she has some of the snug-fit cotton two-piece type pajamas, but it seems like the best would be the style with looser-fitting pants and a t-shirt. She has some of that type, and also some Nick & Nora button downs that would work well.
Read the rest of this entry

I hope that this post will not give you the impression that I disapprove of candy at Valentine’s Day, or that I avoid it. FAR FROM IT. I give my own kids a candy gift, and I like that they come home with a little assortment of treats from school, too: it’s nice to have a candy holiday in between Christmas and Easter, just to keep the spirits up in the cold sad part of winter.

But I know enough from seeing/hearing OTHER people discuss it that not everyone is of the same mind. For those who are trying to avoid candy for various reasons but still would like to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a gift for the kids, here are a few ideas:

Sticky Mosaics heart box (photo from Amazon.com). I have mentioned Sticky Mosaics often enough that you already know we’re fans at my house. This heart box is a fun project we’ve also given as birthday-party gifts.

Hide ‘n’ Peek Chocolates game (photo from Amazon.com). If you look at the reviews, you’ll see that a lot of people thought this was a good Valentine’s Day gift for a child, and that unfortunately there is one main problem with it: the lid doesn’t fit on right. So it kind of depends on how important that feature is for the game to be a success. If you’re going to store it in a bin anyway (if you’re like me and wouldn’t want to assemble the toy every time you put it away, for example), it won’t matter—but it might be disappointing anyway.
Read the rest of this entry

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!
Read the rest of this entry

One of my favorite days of the year when I was a child was Valentine’s Day. Decorating the cereal box mailbox with doilies and hearts and stickers was one of my favorite crafts. And the concept of “If you bring valentines, you have to bring one for everyone” must have been established by then—or in any case, I don’t have any traumatizing memories of not getting as many valentines as other people. There was the inevitable “Someone got a BETTER and/or more SIGNIFICANT valentine”—but deciding what makes a valentine good/significant is Big Fun for some of us. (Fortunately, classroom valentines are over by the time there are serious hormones to consider.)

Little Owl valentine cards by Letter C Design on Etsy (photo from the shop). We are fond of owls at our house. It is nice to have on-trend tastes: there is so much merchandise available.

Superhero girls and boys by LuckyLu Creations on Etsy (photos from the shop). The trouble with something hand-colored is that you pay extra for the hand-coloring when maybe you would have been just as happy with the color coming from the printer. Happier, perhaps. But I would have a lot of fun getting a set each of girl and boy superheros and trying to match hair color to as many kids in the class as possible.
Read the rest of this entry

My eldest child has outgrown Halloween. Or, more likely, he’s between the stage of trick-or-treating/dressing-up and the stage of re-discovering it in crowds of teenagers who make everyone clench their teeth as they go to door gathering free candy dressed in a garbage bag.

The other four kids are still interested. We have a loose costume policy, which is basically this: I vastly prefer they choose a costume from the bins of clearance costumes I’ve acquired over the years. But if a child earnestly and fervently wants a different and particular costume, I am willing to consider it.

What we usually do is start with the Thinking About It stage, which is where we are now: the children are considering what they might want to be, and I’m looking up costumes and going “THIRTY DOLLARS PLUS SHIPPING? For something you’ll wear ONCE??” I wish it were easier to know THE YEAR BEFORE what costume the child would want to wear the following year. I KNOW I saw Star Wars costumes on practically-giving-them-away clearances last year, but last year none of them were into Star Wars.

William would like to be Luke Skywalker (image from Amazon.com). Unfortunately, William is 5′4″, so he will probably need the adult-size costume, which is even more expensive than the kid one. Also, when he saw the image I just posted, he said, “If possible, I want to be the black costume, when he’s a Jedi.” At first I was dismayed, as we scrolled through page after page of Jedi costumes and all of them were “No, that’s Anakin.” But then we did an image search to see what LUKE’S Jedi outfit looks like…and it’s black clothes. It’s really just black clothes, plus a light saber. And William thinks he can make the wrist thing out of cardboard and tin foil. So that’s manageable: I can buy the light saber and make sure he has a black shirt and that’s it.
Read the rest of this entry