I don’t know if any­one has told you, but Christ­mas really is for kids.  The hol­i­day sea­son is mag­i­cal, almost like a fairy tale.  The bright col­ors, invit­ing scents, deli­cious treats, good com­pany, fan­tas­ti­cal sto­ries about an elderly man deliv­er­ing gifts all over the world in a sin­gle night…well…it is easy to see why kids just get so excited about Christ­mas.  Their excite­ment is con­ta­gious and the next thing you know you find your­self comb­ing the stores to pur­chase the “best toy ever”.  And then real­ity sets in.  What do you buy?  You ask them what they want and they will usu­ally give you a list a mile long, but some­how that seems unful­fill­ing.  Per­haps it is because you remem­ber the year before when you bought them exactly what they wanted, just to find it in a toy bin col­lect­ing dust two weeks later.  You jump on the inter­net and start sort­ing through end­less “Top 10 Toy Lists” to find a spe­cial toy that is durable, rea­son­ably priced and one that will actu­ally get played with.  All the lists seem so con­vinc­ing and even­tu­ally you shut off your com­puter more con­fused than before.  And the ques­tion still remains: what do I get this kid for Christmas?

Thus, I give you “Ulti­mate Guide To Pur­chas­ing Children’s Christ­mas Gifts”.  Here are tips, tricks and ideas for buy­ing a gift for the young­ster in your life.

Babies 0–6 months
I have always found it kind of point­less to buy toys for this age group (espe­cially when they seem to be more amazed by their own hand as they wave it back and forth in front of their face), but every­one wants to buy for a baby.  And not just a baby, a NEW baby.  The newest addi­tion to the fam­ily always seems to get the most gifts!

Tips & Tricks
 • buy things that grow with the baby.  In other words, if you are buy­ing some­thing that attaches to the side of the crib, make sure it is some­thing that can be taken off and played with when the baby sits up.
 • buy things that are col­or­ful.
 • buy things that have pat­terns.
 • don’t buy toys that are too heavy.  Some of the baby toys are far too heavy for small arms.  It is nice to buy “big”, but it may also be point­less if the child can’t even pick it up.
 • buy things with music that isn’t annoy­ing.  Hit the “Try Me” but­ton before you pur­chase the toy.  If you can’t stand the music after 10 sec­onds, don’t buy it.  The chil­dren won’t like it and nei­ther will the parents.

Toy Rec­om­men­da­tions:
 1) Man­hat­tan Toy– Baby Whoozit
 2) Leap Frog Baby Count­ing Pal
 3) Fisher Price Bril­liant Basics Lit­tle Super­star Clas­si­cal Stacker
 4) Fisher Price: Rain­for­est Peek-a-Boo Leaves Musi­cal Mobile
 5) Lamaze Stack, Roll & Crawl Ball

Babies 6–12 months
This is when the fun begins!  Babies at this age really begin to notice their toys, so shelling out a bit of money at this stage is com­pletely worth it.

Tips & Tricks
 • buy things that are “chunky”.  Babies are unco­or­di­nated and they need things that are larger with smooth edges. 
 • buy things that are bright and col­or­ful.
 • buy things that encour­age walking/crawling
 • don’t buy things with small pieces.  This is an obvi­ous state­ment, but some­times we for­get how MUCH STUFF ends up in a baby’s mouth.
 • buy things that make sim­ple noises.  Music is a won­der­ful addi­tion to any toy, but some­times the sim­plest noises keep a baby enter­tained for hours.  Con­sider toys with a bell, rat­tle or squeaky toy attached.

Toy Rec­om­men­da­tions:
 1) Playskool Step Start Walk n’ Ride
 2) Lamaze My First Fish­bowl
 3) Melissa & Doug Wig­gling Worm Grasp­ing Toy
 4) Melissa & Doug Triple Stack­ing Set
 5) Fisher Price Clas­sics Chat­ter Phone

Tod­dlers 12–24 months
They’re off!  Nearly all chil­dren are walk­ing by the time they reach their sec­ond birth­day.  Toys that encour­age move­ment are a wel­come addi­tion to any toy room.  Also, pur­chase toys that focus on word devel­op­ment.  It is around this time chil­dren start to speak sin­gle words (a few may even speak a short sentence!).

Tips & Tricks
 • buy things that encour­age walk­ing.
 • buy things that encour­age learn­ing words.
 • buy things that encour­age “fig­ur­ing things out”.  Sim­ple puz­zles, build­ing blocks, jack-in-the-boxes are all great exam­ples of toys that get a tod­dler think­ing!
 • buy sim­ple board books.  Tod­dlers love look­ing at large pic­tures with lots of color, tex­ture and pop-ups.

Toy Rec­om­men­da­tions:
 1) Melissa & Doug Barn­yard Ani­mals Puz­zle (12 months) or Farm Sounds Puz­zle (closer to 2 years)
 2) Man­hat­tan Toy Baby Stella
 3) Lego Duplo Build­ing Fun
 4) Lit­tle Tikes Shop­ping Cart
 5) Fisher Price Laugh n’ Learn Learn­ing Home

Tod­dlers 2–3 Years
Oh, what can I say about a two year old?  Noth­ing else on Earth moves more than a two year old.  Noth­ing else on Earth has a shorter atten­tion span than a two year old.  They need toys that will keep them busy and interested.

Tips & Tricks
 • buy toys that are a lit­tle more intri­cate.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean toys with small pieces.  I mean toys that have more detail.  The toys don’t all have to be bright and blocky any­more. 
 • buy toys that encour­age learn­ing.  Large clocks, harder puz­zles, less-than-obvious but­tons that need to pushed.  Things that make them think a lit­tle harder.
 • buy books with sim­ple sen­tences rather than one word books with large pic­tures.
 • buy toys that encour­age phys­i­cal activ­ity.  Ride-on toys are a won­der­ful way to get a tod­dler mov­ing!
 • buy children’s CDs.  Two year olds love run­ning around and danc­ing to music.

Toy Rec­om­men­da­tions:
 1) Lit­tle Tikes Cozy Coupe
 2) Fisher Price Rock, Roll n’ Ride Trike
 3) Dis­ney Cars Spy-Mater Ride-On
 4) Fisher Price Racin’ Ramps Garage Play
 5) Baby Ein­stein Sing & Play Music Collection

Chil­dren 3–5 Years
These are the years of imag­i­na­tion.  Any toy that can become a story is worth pur­chas­ing.  These are also the years of imi­ta­tion.  Toys that are small ver­sions of “big peo­ple” stuff are always a hit!

Tips & Tricks
 • buy toys that mimic “real life” objects.  Toy kitchens, vac­u­ums, play food, shov­els, brooms etc. will make the child feel like a spe­cial helper around the house.
 • buy toys that bring sto­ries to life.  Does the child like fairy tales?  Buy a toy cas­tle with a princess doll.  Does your child like comic book char­ac­ters?  Buy a few fig­urines and maybe some dress-up clothes.
 • buy books that encour­age early read­ing.  Pur­chase a book that teaches the alpha­bet, sim­ple sounds or sim­ple word recog­ni­tion.
 • buy craft sup­plies.  Kids at this age love to color, cut, paste, glue…you name it.  This is another way for them to express their vivid imaginations.

Toy Rec­om­men­da­tions:
 1) Fisher Price Imag­inext DC Super Friends Bat­cave
 2) Dis­ney Princess Sleep­ing Beauty Sparkle Dress
 3) Melissa & Doug Canada Floor Puz­zle 48 Pieces
 4) Has­bro Play-Doh Clas­sic Col­ors 4 Pack
 5) Melissa & Doug Sand­wich Mak­ing Set

Chil­dren 6–12 Years
So many things hap­pen between ages 6–12 it is hard to lump them into one group.  Most impor­tantly, these are the learn­ing years.  Every­thing a child learns dur­ing these years they will carry through­out their entire lives. 

Tips & Tricks
 • buy toys that encour­age learn­ing.  Globes, advanced puz­zles, sci­ence exper­i­ments, advanced build­ing blocks etc.
 • buy toys that encour­age advanced cre­ativ­ity.  Clay, paint-by-numbers, sewing, quilt­ing all take crafts to the next level.
 • buy toys that mimic school lessons.  Fig­ure out what the child is learn­ing in school and buy toys that expand on their class­room mate­r­ial.
 • buy toys that encour­age phys­i­cal activ­ity.  Bas­ket­balls, bats, gloves, soc­cer balls etc. are sim­ple ways to get kids moving.

Toy Rec­om­men­da­tions:
 1) Imag­i­nar­ium Clas­sic Train Table with Round­house
 2) Lego City Tank Truck
 3) Razor E100 Scooter
 4) The Game Of Life – World Adven­tures
 5) Cray­ola Jew­elry Boutique

Tweens & Teens 12+
Many think that toy buy­ing ends at this age group, but that is not true!  There are still a few toys out there that will spark the inter­est of a tween or teen.  You just have to go look­ing for them.…

Tips & Tricks
 • buy items that reflect the teen’s inter­ests.  Do they like hockey?  Buy them a new stick.  Do they like scrap­book­ing?  Buy them new card­stock paper and acid free stick­ers.
 • buy items that encour­age PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.  Here come the teen years and with that comes a bit of lazi­ness.  Get your teen off the couch by pur­chas­ing them a good qual­ity bike or a new pair of skates.
 • don’t resort to the old Nintendo/XBox 360/PS3 and other such video game con­soles.  Yes, these are pop­u­lar gifts for teens, but think out­side the box and buy some­thing that will help them learn, rather than sim­ply “kill time”.
 • elec­tron­ics.  You will never lose if you buy them an iPod, new head­phones or new speak­ers.
 • Con­sider pur­chas­ing them a class/course.  Does the teen show an inter­est in going to the gym?  Buy them a gym mem­ber­ship.  Do they like music?  Sug­gest they take music lessons.  Extra-curricular activ­i­ties dur­ing these years are SO IMPORTANT for build­ing self-esteem and mak­ing social connections.

Toy Rec­om­men­da­tions:
 1) Lego Harry Pot­ter Diagon Alley
 2) Kodak ZE1 Play­ful Video Cam­era
 3) Model cars, air­planes etc . (found at hobby stores or Michaels)
 4) Singing Machine Portable Karaoke
 5) Sports equipment

Par­ents
Yes, there are “toys” you can buy for par­ents!  Well, at least you can find some of these items at your local toy store.  These items may not be excit­ing for a child to open on Christ­mas day, but a par­ent would be thrilled to find these items under the tree!

Toy Rec­om­men­da­tions:
 1) Imag­i­nar­ium Lego Cre­ativ­ity Table – kids will want to build stuff on this large Lego base.  Also a great way to keep Lego orga­nized.
 2) Imag­i­nar­ium Book Sling – wooden frame with can­vas slots to keep all your books vis­i­ble and orga­nized
 3) Lit­tle Tikes Sort & Store Toy Chest – lots of stor­age space for large toys
 4) Imag­i­nar­ium Stor­age Bin Rack with 12 Bins – this is by far the best way to store toys.  Easy to clean, easy to keep things sorted, easy to access — #1 toy stor­age option.
 5) 3 Bin Toy Bench – bench with 3 bins under­neath.  Great way to store toys and have a flat sur­face for sit­ting, col­or­ing and more!

*The above arti­cle is sim­ply my opin­ion and should not be ref­er­enced for other literature**