A few kid-friendly ideas for your holiday gift list

Time's ticking away as we countdown to our holiday celebrations.  I know I'm often desperate for ideas for gifts since I just don't have the time or energy to scout out neat gifts for so many people.  I thought I'd pass along a few great ideas for kid-friendly gifts.

Here are some items that have kept our kids out of trouble (a little) so far this holiday season.

This microphone caused excessive fits of giggles in this household.  It’s the Merry-Okee microphone (available at Hallmark) and you can sing along with holiday songs either in your own voice or have your voice turned “elf”.  This item, in fact, would be hilarious for those who just love to sing or be silly at any age.  Who comes up with these things?!  So funny.

Another great item from Hallmark is the Story Buddies interactive book sets.  A great story *and* a cuddly that helps you read it?  Sweet.  My kids thought this was the bees knees and we’ll definitely be picking up at least one more of these for gifting this season. 

And if you’re looking for something for the budding artists in your life, Crayola has some great products out right now for a range of ages.  Suvi, who is nine and loves to craft and create, is a huge fan of all the PopArtPixies line.  Anything from this range would be a hit with girls in the pre-tween and tween years.

Max, my six year old, totally loved this Glow Book: you craft four versions of a scene with glow markers on these plexiglass panels, each panel having something that's moved. You know, like we used to do with notepads or pages when you'd draw the person walking along or moving and when you flipped it through it would create the effect of animation?  This one, however, is done with glowing images and lights on plexiglass.  Max loved it and has had a great time creating new scenes with it.

And Finn, four years old, enjoys the Dry Erase Crayons set (see left!) which is ideal for the littlest ones who might forget to cap those markers. I have no idea how they get crayons to be dry erase but it's pretty cool.  

So there you go, a few little ideas for you.  Hope your holiday shopping is as stress-free as possible and that you can take a moment to enjoy the real spirit of the holiday season with friends and family.