Skip to main content

Ideas for Older Baby and Toddler Gifts


Based on the toys and clothes I got my daughter and nephew, I have a few ideas on where to find great buys and what are greatly desired toys and books. I also have a niece who is eight years old now.  For my niece, I got a ton of clothes and some toys.  She has so many toys already so I only got her two for Christmas this.  The clothes purchased for my niece were from Old Navy; a cropped sweater, matching headband, leggings, and extra shirts.  I get rewards for purchases and Old Navy has great clothes for kids and babies.  I will warn you, the baby and toddler clothes from Old Navy does run small.  I learned this by having to buy 2T for my daughter who, at the time, was not even a year old! 

In September, Target had a great deal on the Disney Princess Royal Shimmer dolls.  They were buy one, get one for free! Tiana for my niece and Moana for my daughter.  I paid $8.99 for two Disney dolls using my Target Circle App.  I highly using this app while shopping in-store and online.  There are always deals on random things sold there from food, to gift wraps, in-store product lines, to clothes and shoes.  And you get cash back for purchases, where you can use for a future purchase.  I used my cashback on yard decorations for Christmas! But either way, one doll is for my niece and one is for my daughter.  Yes, I do plan to watch the baby while she plays with a regular Barbie-like doll.  

Also, in the summertime I found a great prayer doll- it's a white bear, wearing pajamas whose hands are stuck together and it has a button that plays a nighttime player.  This bear was only $5 at Dollar General!  I bought three, one for each of the kids.  While I gave my daughter hers right away I saved the others for my niece and nephew as a part of their Christmas gifts.  

For my nephew's gift, I got him so many sets of dinosaur-themed outfits!  All from Old Navy.  Socks for days of the week and some cute brown loafers round out the clothes I got him.  A great find from Aldi's was a Spiderman workbook, from their seasonal collection.  It's great for helping him practice writing and it uses a dry-erase marker so it is reusable.  I also intended to get him a 10 piece mini-book collection, but my husband thought that collection would be better for our daughter.  We also got him Little Golden Books from Amazon.  These classics are always great and don't hurt the bank, these are no-brainers for gifts for kids, so I always keep those in mind if I can't figure out a child gift.  My favorite gift for my nephew this year was a cute chef's outfit, so he can help his mommy in the kitchen.  He's always clinging to his mom, so I thought this was a great gift to get him and he can always play dress up, too!

For my daughter, I got her so many clothes.  Mostly from Old Navy, GAP Outlet Store, and Kohl's.  I pretty much only shop clearance or sales, so I found her a lot of clothes all online.  She will be set with how many clothes I got her alone, but with baby clothes gets dirty and gross looking with stains fast, so a lot of clothes is needed.  And if she has too much after gifts from others, I can always donate new or gently worn clothes.   

My favorite gifts for her are the MagnaTiles I got her from Target.  She will require much supervision using these because they have magnets in them but these are high quality and they are The Very Hungry Caterpillar Theme!  I also got her two Lil' Libros board books and a Moana Little Golden Book to go with Disney Princess Shimmer Doll. She also has a plastic tea set which is made from recycled materials by Green Toys.  

One very special toy for my daughter was a handmade doll.  My neighbor told me about her friend who makes these by hand and can customize them as much as possible.  We got the doll last week and the doll was so well made.  Message me directly for more about where to find the handmade doll.  I will be adding pictures after Christmas.

Hopefully, what I got the kiddos in my family will help with ideas for the children in your life!  I love gifts that provide guidance and love, so books are always a great option and if you have a bigger budget, themed gifts or "mini-libraries" are a great idea, too!

Let me know if these gift ideas on a budget have helped you!  I'd love to hear about your Christmas or Holiday experience and penny-saving ideas for gifts!


XO,

Mandy


As always I will leave you with what I am currently reading:

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary Trump

 

and

 

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Books To Read... Soon

  As a "bookie" (the habitual book reader's equivalent to foodie) I like to think I read books that are going to inform me, keep me enthralled, and leave me wanting more.  I try a lot of books and not all are captivating or even interesting, but we power through to say "I read that."  A lot of books are hard to read and some are easier, but I like not only to read a physical book but to listen to them.  This is a great way to read books.  As long as you're listening and don't just have it in the background while you have a full-blown conversation or are watching something on TV that will take most of your attention, listening is reading.     A lot of times, as a person who works in libraries and with the public and always get asked what I'm reading, I have to have a different answer every time.  It only makes sense that I would have, at least, some idea of what popular books are about without having to look it up or read off the annotation....
Post a Comment
Read more

Introducing Myself

 My name is Amanda.  For this blog, you can call me Mandy. I'm a midwest wife, graduate student, and new mom.  This post will be boring, but you can get to know me a little bit! In the midst of the current situation, a looming pandemic, contentious political aura, and economic downfall, I decided to start a blog just to focus on me and people like me.  We need to decompress, hear from each other, and feel comradery. A few years ago, I joined a graduate school for my master's in Library Science because I've been in a role that requires me to work as hard as a librarian, but because at the time I only had a Bachelor's degree, I was paid much less.  Now, with less than a year of graduate school left, I will become a librarian.  (It's about time!) Last year, I had my baby girl Marina.  My pregnancy was great, delivery hard, and the rest seems to be a mix of everything.  Raising a baby is hard, invigorating, and joyous all at the same time.  In my...
1 comment
Read more