Are you freaking out that Christmas is less than two weeks away? Me too! If you’re still looking for gift ideas, here are some items that have gotten the thumbs up in our family. Make sure you enter to win some of the goodies for yourself!
For the Kids
Press Here by Herve Tullet is an interactive book without batteries. Really. This book is entertaining for kids and adults alike. With easy to follow directions like “press the yellow dot” or “tilt the book to the left,” your kids will be excited to see what happens next. Both Sophia and Jaxson has repeatedly asked for me to read it to them and laugh with glee every time. We’ve renewed our library copy to the max so I guess I need to purchase our own copy.
Corolle Les Cheries Dolls offers a diverse line of 13″ dolls for ages 3+. I like that each doll is dressed in appropriate, non-revealing clothes. Each doll has their own personality and fashion style. Choose between Capucine, the hip Asian-American doll; Cecile, the sweet African-American doll; and much more. The dolls have soft hair that your child can style to match their outfits.
Little Pim’s Fun with Languages DVDs (GIVEAWAY) will teach your children another language. Each DVD is based on themes such as eating and drinking, wake up smiling, and playtime. I love that the videos show a diverse range of children, both in age and in ethnicity. Sophia was excited to learn everyday phrases in Japanese so she can chat with her aunt, who’s fluent in Japanese. Each phrase is repeated often so that young audiences will have the opportunity to practice. Little Pim’s gift sets are available in 10 different languages. Giveaway: One reader will win a Little Pim Gift Set in the language of their choice!
Bilingual children’s books from Language Lizard. As you know, it’s trickier to find children’s books in languages like Vietnamese or even Welsh. Language Lizard offers picture books, board books and even teaching cards and world maps in over 40 languages. The books can help support the languages your family currently speak or help your children learn a new language. Looking for an Farsi version of Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? or Little Red Hen and the Grains of Wheat in Russian? You’ll find it at Language Lizard!
Sesame Street’s Ready, Set Grover! (Wii & Nintendo DS) and Once Upon a Monster (Xbox w. Kinect) video games will keep your preschooler jumping and moving even when it’s too cold to go outside. In Ready, Set Grover! your child will learn about nutrition and exercise as make Elmo or Abby Cadabby jump to catch fruit or play freeze dace. Once Upon a Monster utilizes your Xbox’s Kinect sensor to make it an easy game for any child to be Elmo or Cookie Monster. Your child can follow along the living storybook and help their new monster friends solve problems.
Ruby’s Studio: The Feelings Show DVD and A Little Book About Feelings Gift Set (GIVEAWAY) from The Mother Company. Jaxson is in love with Ruby and has learned to articulate his feelings thanks to the DVD. Considering he’s prone to tantrums like most 2 year olds, this is very important for me. Our family learned a lot from the fun DVD and we’re glad to also own the A Little Book About Feelings book as well. The book is based off the DVD and gives parents and children another way to talk about feelings. Until 12/19/11, save 15% on The Feelings Gift Set with code GIFT15. Giveaway: Win our choice of Ruby’s Studio The Feelings Show DVD OR a copy of A Little Book About Feelings.
Hallmark’s A Charlie Brown Christmas Recordable Storybook (GIVEAWAY) is a interactive, personal way to introduce your kids to a classic story. Hallmark’s line of Recordable Storybooks allows you to record yourself reading the story aloud. A Charlie Brown Christmas also features music from the animated movie as well. This is a great gift to send to a family member who lives far away, such as grandparents to grandchildren. Hallmark Recordable books are available in any of their stores. Until 12/24, save $10 off any holiday book (reg $29.95) with any purchase. Giveaway: Read more below and enter to win your choice of Hallmark’s Recordable Storybooks!
The Black Eyed Peas Experience from Ubisoft is a must have for Black Eyed Peas fan. Available on Nintendo Wii or Xbox with Kinect, you can pretend to be Will.i.am or Fergie as you dance to your choice of 30 Black Eyed Peas songs. Actually you can pretend to be any of the 4 members of the band. Not only will you have fun, you’re also getting a work out when you plan this dance game.
Smilebox (GIVEAWAY) is a new way to share photos, invitations, slideshows or scrapbooks with your friends and family. Digital scrapbook pages are easy to create. You just drag and drop the desired elements in one of their templates. You can even add music to your photo and video creations. Once you’re ready to show off your creations, you can email a link to your friends and family. Smilebox is available for PC or Mac. The free version allows you to share your creations via Facebook, your blog or email. Or sign-up for a subscription for more options such as print at home or store, burn your projects to a DVD and unlimited storage for your creations. Subscriptions are $40 for a year or $6 a month. Giveaway: Win a one year subscription to Smilebox desktop!
Striiv: Personal Trainer in Your Pocket is a more than just a pedometer. I won mine from a the Just.Be.Enough twitter party and after using it for over a week, I am in love. Not only does it track my steps, my Striiv knows if I walked up or down stairs and even if I’ve been running. As I walk, I earn energy points that I can convert and donate clean water or help out other charities. What keeps me coming back is MyLand where I can grow plants or build structures using the energy points I’ve earned by, you got it, walking.
Say Anything Family (GIVEAWAY) from NorthStar Games is as fun as you make it. Each player takes turns choosing a question such as “What’s the weirdest animal?” and everyone attempts to guess what answer the question reader will choose as the best answer. It’s easy to learn. Even Sophia can play with us. We help her choose the questions and she draws her answer. Giveaway: Win your own copy of Say Anything!
Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G smartphone. I am absolutely in love with this phone. It’s my third Android smartphone. Its dual core processor is super fast and can handle all my tweeting, e-book reading, game playing and more. I use it quite a bit throughout the day and the battery lasts at least 12 hours. It has a huge 4.52″ screen perfect watching movies. It also has an 8 mega-pixel camera and takes HD video. I was never big on taking videos but it’s so easy on my phone and I love the quality. My Galaxy S II is on the Sprint network but it’s available for T-Mobile and AT&T customers as well. I love this phone so much I made hubby get one too. (Note: we personally paid for our smartphones.)- Subscribe to my blog, I’m Not the Nanny, via and leave a comment letting me know you did. (1 entry)
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- Find out @thienkim’s favorite things gift guide and enter to win some of them http://bit.ly/t8xXMr #giveaway