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December 2010 Moms
Rebecca2024
member
1st birthday/Christmas - Dec '11
Rebecca2024
member
First time mom here...
My daughter was born December 3, 2011.
I appreciate your help as I look forward to planning for my LO's birthday and first Christmas!
Now that some time has passed since your LO's birthday and Christmas, what toys (or even something other than toys) are you glad you got for your LO?
(Maybe even something that wasn't bought for birthday or Christmas but that you bought later in the year that you would suggest...)
What toys did you buy that you wished you hadn't because they just weren't hits with your LO?
I realize every child is different, but I'm trying decide between what is truly a fun toy and what is just wonderfully marketed clutter.
Did anyone buy passes to places (like the zoo, science center, etc.) and how did that go over?
For what it's worth, I'm a stay at home mom, our budget is $250/"event" and I'm looking at 12mo, 18mo and maybe even some 24mo toys that I can pull out as the year progresses.
Thank you all so very much! I appreciate your help.
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Re: 1st birthday/Christmas - Dec '11
DS got the FP Little People Farm for his bday & is just getting really into it now, at 21 months. His imagination for play is really developing now, so he puts the animals in the barn, knows all their names & the sounds they make, pretends to feed the, etc - it's really cute.
He got a soft Lighting McQueen chair that he loves. It's his seat in the living room & loves to sit, watch a cartoon & drink his milk. It definitely gets tons of use.
Books are always a great idea - he got "Simple First Words: Let's Say Our Colors" for his bday. Hence the name, each page teaches a color with pictures, but it has big colored buttons to press to hear the color name. This was great in helping him learn his colors!
Those are just a few ideas - GL!
I always wanted one of those as a kid but never got one!
My child (/children) are definitely getting one...
How old was your DD when she started truly caring about her wagon and understanding what it was for?
I've been considering several Little People sets.
I'll keep the farm at the forefront of my list.
Thanks!
She loved it right away. She would mess around with it inside the house. All summer she has loved pulling it around outside and going on walks. So from the start she has always loved it.
If you were to buy it again, would you still get the metal one, or would you go with plastic?
Loves this tractor toy that sings Old MacDonald and has animals that make sounds. Shape sorter, board books, and chunky puzzles are good too.
Magna doodle, shape sorter, my pal violet, riding toy.
I hated all the little toys that make sounds and light-up but really can't be used for pretend play. I donated a lot of toys that she got to toys for tots, just because we got so many at her party.
I second a lot of what people said: a chair with ottoman that is his size, puzzles, books, a ride on car that you can push, etc.
But I think your budget is too high for just yourself...you will be getting A LOT in a short amount of time. It seriously looked like Toys R Us in our house between his b-day and Christmas. So many people got him toys as gifts. We just got him one toy for Christmas, and one for his b-day. If we had gotten him a lot more, it would have been even crazier. I think you can definitely get away with choosing just one special toy for each occasion.
We got a music set for Christmas, the Parumpum Drum from B. Toys and a set of puzzles for his b-day.
Nate's favorite toys were Posty (a talking pot with fake food) and the push toy where the little balls pop up. He still plays with both of them at least two of the seven days of the week. If you are thinking ahead to later in the year (which I would, because gifts won't be happening for a loooong time), then I would go with books, simple puzzles, latch boards, crayons, shape sorters, etc. We had to go buy some of those things because I simply did not think about almost 2 being so much different from just turning 1!
Same with the LP farm, she is just now starting to play with it the last few months or so.
We are huge picture book people here and we love to color!! Also DD got a baby doll stroller and loves to push it around.
Another suggestion, if you have to room in your yard is to invest in a swingset. We love ours and it is definitely something we will get use out of for a long time. You will seriously get so much stuff from other people that we honestly didnt buy DD really anything for either holiday and just put it towards a swingset off CL
Dx MTHFR (C677T & A1298C, Compound Heterozygous)
Anything with Elmo on it, he LOVES Elmo!
Also, a shape sorter, activity cube, toy keyboard/piano. We also got them them a toddler table with 4 chairs and they absolutely love it!
Another godparent got him just a regular ride on that you sit on and push or he moves with his legs. He loved that right away and still uses it.
My sister got him a fisher price farm set and even though he liked it, all the pieces are scattered around the house and missing.
Oh he also got a ball pit and he loooved that but recently its gotten a hole and the sticker thing to fix it isnt working so we'll have to get a new one.
Griff also got a lot of clothes which is always welcome!
Metal for sure. If you leave it outside you just need to make sure you stand it up so water can drain if it gets in there so it won't rust.
In our situation, I'm pretty certain my husband and I will be the only ones buying toys. (Which I'm not complaining about at all; my kid = my responsibility.)
My mother may get her some toys, but she's never been the shopper personality. I probably will be able to count the number of toys from her on one hand with fingers left over.
This is also her 5th grandchild (with the others being 25, 22, 21 and 19 at the time of Christmas - I'll be 28; it's a weird dynamic), and I think in general she's just "done" with the grandchild thing....
The only other possibility may be my doula; she bought something for last Christmas, but it's not something I expect for future Christmases.
While I by no means HAVE to spend $250, I was just throwing that out there as my upper limit so mommas weren't afraid to suggest bigger/higher priced ideas.
As a stay at home mom, I'll admit I get bored with her toys after a while and desire to switch them out every so often. Having more to choose from would be nice...
Thank you for your wisdom though... I do appreciate it.
I don't push "cars are for boys, dollies are for girls" at all, but I wouldn't have thought of a train set for a girl...
Those of you with girls, do you think they would be interested in a train set?
When do they start having different interests - boy vs girl? Pre-school age??
We're still in the put everything in our mouth stage and I have no idea when that ends...
Is there a particular type or brand that you would suggest?
Edit: Also, do you purchase coloring books at this age or does blank computer paper work just the same? Do they care about the picture drawn on the page or not?
DD got bath toys, books, puzzles, clothes and of course toys that were a bit too advanced for her age (like a battery powered Tinkerbell quad). Honestly, the majority of the presents she received last year she is just now playing with and knows how to operate them.
My LO was about 16/17 months when she really started getting interested in coloring. I never tried to give her crayons prior to that. I haven't purchased a coloring book.. She usually uses blank sheets of paper and is pretty content with just that. I'm sure if I went out and bought an Elmo or Disney Princess coloring book she'd be absolutely thrilled though!
I have a niece about the same age as DS and she loves the trains! She also has a dump truck at home that she can't live without. I also have a friend with a little boy who's favorite toy for a while was a toy baby stroller. I think that they don't start the whole 'gender role play' until they are a bit older (maybe pre-k) unless you do. It's really what you make of it I think. We love our trains here - it's what DS and I do together every Saturday morning while H sleeps in. He plays with them himself almost every other day of the week
I should also add that DS has a baby doll that he adores. He put's baby to bed and hugs and kisses baby all the time (I just hope he's that nice when his new sister gets here
)
Puzzles and a Cabbage Patch Kid have been the biggest long standing hits. I wish I'd waited on/skipped the Cozy Coupe. At nearly 2 now, she still doesn't get how it works with her feet so it just takes up space. I also wish I'd waited on the PBK Anywhere Chair. It's a great chair, but it really didn't get any/much use from her until 18+ months. She never sat still before then!
Had I known, I would have done Duplos a lot earlier. They had them at daycare and she picked them up around 15 months there and they have been a consistent favorite. I also wish we would have asked for more levels of puzzles as she loves them and I keep having to buy a.) more and b.) ones that are a bit more challenging. Since both Christmas and birthday are back to back I found that what we bought and what others gave her was really focused on the 12 month end of the spectrum, so she was overwhelmed with things apropriate for that age, but hasn't had much that aged well with her.
BFP #2 4/13/10. Bridget born 12/28/10
BFP #3 Finn born 8/11/15
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