Hi everybody!

We have some upcoming visits that have prompted questions about gifts for Lily, things that we need, items that we prefer and so on. With those visits and the upcoming holidays in mind, I thought I’d go ahead and take a tip from some friends of ours and post some general gift guidelines.

 

This isn’t intended to cramp your style! Hopefully just a few tips and rules now will eliminate any awkward situations or hurt feelings in the future.

Thanks for your cooperation!

The best possible gifts are ones that we hope to build upon throughout her childhood. Such as:

* Books for her library! You can’t go wrong. We obviously love soft & board books now, but if you feel like buying her one of your own childhood favorites in advance, go for it!

* Items for a wooden play kitchen! They have wonderful pretend-foods and kitchen items these days. Like so:

 

*Legos. They’re a choking hazard for a few more years, true, but I do want her to eventually have a vast collection of Legos to go imaginatively crazy with.

Rules of thumb in general, for toys and anything else:

*Think wooden instead of plastic, think natural fibers instead of synthetic (when it comes to clothing). Legos, as mentioned above, are a major exception to this.

*Think cowgirl rather than princess. Gender neutral items are ideal, though we’re not going to be too overly rigid about it either.

*Really, keep Disney to a bare minimum. There are wonderful Disney creations, as we all know, and we’re not unreasonable censors – we’ll definitely expose her to some, but let’s not bombard her with whatever the latest merchandising promotion is. If you’re in doubt about the appropriateness of something, such as a DVD or plush toy, just ask. (Oh, and absolutely Classic Pooh rather than Disneyfied Mutant Pooh.)

Only 3 major no-nos:

*No Barbie. This may be modified in the future if she expresses any interest on her own initiative – we may allow some in moderation. But until then, we’ll steer clear of imposing Barbie and her ilk upon Lily. Obviously this extends to the even more obscene Bratz and the like.

*No  “character” clothing, please.

*Nothing that requires batteries.


Here are some great websites, in case your local toy shops are limited to Toys R Us and it’s hard to find wooden and cloth items. You cannot go wrong with anything purchased from any of these sites.

http://www.melissaanddoug.com/

http://www.oompa.com/

http://www.haba.de/Product_Recall.1746.0.html

http://www.childtrek.com

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