We are in an exceptional window with our kids’ interests right now as the span between a 6-year-old and a 7th grader leaves a broad range of gift possibilities. I’m thrilled that remote controlled cars and baby dolls still make Santa’s list and yet also delighted to see Lainey’s wish list take more of a tween turn as she’s drawn to Vans, cheek highlighters and the perfect pair of skinny jeans–things I love too. This gift guide includes some of our most played with toys, new things I know they’ll love today and some timeless gifts that work for any age.
1. Klutz Fashion Look Book – This one’s a fun one for Lainey–lots of fashion inspiration, design prompts and face canvases for makeup. Add a pack of Prismacolor pencils, the BEST art colored pencils.
2. Taco & Tortilla Set
We don’t have a play kitchen anymore, but my kids still love their play food and set up their own little restaurants in Dash’s bedroom. This taco set is adorable and comes with all the fixings for you to customize taco orders.
3. Dinkum Dolls
I wish I would have discovered these dolls sooner–so precious, amazing quality and definitely dolls you’ll save forever. The accessory sets are amazing as well (the outfits!).
4. MagnaTiles
I think I put MagnaTiles on every holiday gift guide because they are the ultimate gift for any age. Kid already has MagnaTiles? More MagnaTiles are good too. The more you have, the bigger you can build your cities and buildings. MagnaTiles are the one toy I’d put in an Airbnb if I owned one and the toy I’ll save forever to pull out for kids who visit. They work for such a broad range of ages of promote creativity and design.
5. Embossing Kit with Heat Tool Bundle
This is a great one for crafty kids. Create your own raised embossed cards with this heat tool, stamp pad and embossing powders. Works with any stamps.
6. OranguTwang
Nella LOVES these kinds of games. This one’s a little bit like Perfection but has a fun twist with the orangutan who hangs from a vine while you add fruit before he “twangs” off the vine.
7. Melissa & Doug Magic Set
A classic little magic set for little budding magicians who think they are the coolest when they make the rabbit disappear into the hat with the magic wand.
8. Stamp Bugs
Another great gift for artsy hearts, this stamp set encourages creativity with a full set of bug “parts” that can be combined to create your own bug design.
9. Karaoke Microphone with Built-in Speaker
This is another gift I add to a lot of my lists because it wins every time. In fact, I should keep 5 of these in my closet for emergency kid gifts. The bluetooth speaker’s built right into the mic, so it’s all you need for karaoke night. Great quality–a much used gift.
10. Hot Wheels Take Apart Custom Car
Dash is all about using tools to put things together and take things apart with no help. He’ll be able to do that with this custom Hot Wheels car.
11. Walkie Talkies
We keep walkie talkies at my dad’s cabin, and my kids think they are the coolest thing in the world. Dash and Nella spend hours walking around, hiding and talking to each other with these things. Plus, they are so great for speech therapy! We noticed Nella working extra hard to clearly articulate in the walkie talkie.
12. PBK Sleeping Bags
I bought these for the kids last Christmas and wasn’t sure if the kids would be thrilled, but they loved them. They love having their own sleeping bags and proudly run to get them whenever we have a movie night. We move our coffee table out of the living room and fill the floor with these.
13. Novagratz Dollhouse
If you want to join me on the dark side in the dollhousing abyss, this is the one that started it all. I love that there are only four rooms and that two of the rooms are significantly spacious–makes decorating a little easier.
14. Polaroid ZIP Printer
I get asked a lot about kid cameras. We have the Fuji Instax camera which is fun for the kids to use and satisfying in the sense that it immediately spits out a photo, but if we are talking photo quality, this little printer is better. It prints phone/iPad photos with the Polaroid app which means you can edit/brighten the photos first on your phone. We love our little printer and take it with us on all our trips. It requires no ink–the chemistry is built right in the photo paper–and every picture prints out on a photo with the option to peel the back off and use as a sticker.
Mariya Zafirova says
Great ideas!
Mariya | https://www.brunetteondemand.com/