Our holiday gifting strategy for Amalia (and our future baby boy!) is as such: She gets one present from Santa plus a stocking full of little things, one present from mommy and daddy (or one from each of us), and, eventually, one present from her brother. Her grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins spoil her during the holiday season so we are steadfast in our philosophy of not going overboard.
The picture above is from last Christmas. Her big gift from us was a ball pit that now lives in our basement playroom. Have you seen a happier kid? That was the best morning. I hope Christmas morning 2020 lives up to it!
Her Gift from Santa
If you’ve seen my Instagram stories, you know that her big Santa gift is a diner for her American Girl Dolls. She saw this one in a catalog over the summer and hasn’t stopped talking about it. I couldn’t get over the price tag for a plastic toy so I found this one from Target at 1/3 the price. I showed her a picture of it so we could “ask Santa for the right thing” and she gave her approval. Phew.
Her Gifts from Us
For her presents from us, Anel bought her a little kids golf set and I bought her a second American Girl Doll because she loves to play pretend and is constantly asking for a friend for hers.
Her Stocking Stuffers
I like to do a mix of fun toys and practical gifts like a toothbrush and underwear. She gets just excited about those things and I know they will actually get used.
Last year I posted 15 great toddler stocking stuffers and still stand by those as well.
Toothbrush & toothpaste: She gets oddly excited about oral hygiene (clearly takes after her mother!) so I got her an Elsa toothbrush and Hello Unicorn Sparkle toothpaste.
Glass Slippers: We play dress up at least once a day and she never stops talking about Cinderella and her glass slippers. I found this set of dress-up shoes so she can have “glass slippers” of her own. She’s going to flip over these!
Brain Quest: My sister and I used to ask each other Brain Quest questions on road trips to our grandparents house all the time and I saw that they made Brain Quest for 3-4 year-olds and thought that would be a fun and educational thing for us to play together.
Bandaids: What is it with little kids and Bandaids? She loves them! I bought her a pack of Frozen Bandaids at CVS to throw in.
Nightgown: Her new thing is that she’ll only wear nightgowns, not PJs. Which is the same as her daytime rule of dresses only, no shirts. Her reasoning is because dresses and nightgowns are beautiful and shirts and PJs are not… I’m scared for our future! I bought her a Cinderella nightgown to add to her collection.
Underwear: One of her favorite things to do in the morning is picking out her undies so I got her a cute pack of colorful organic cotton underwear to add to her collection.
Hair Clips: She wears one every day and they’re constantly getting lost so this 120-pack felt like a very practical gift that she would also love.
Candy: We have so many treats at the holidays that I try not to pack her stocking with more, but I bought her a set of little Lindt chocolate snowmen.
Water Bottle: A good water bottle is always useful.
Sticker Book: Last but not least I found a Cinderella-themed Little Sticker Dolly Dressing sticker book (if you know, you know). To say she is obsessed with these would be an understatement and to have one featuring her fave princess du jour will blow her little mind!
Bootsie’s Stocking
In her letter to Santa, she asked him for a reindeer toy for Boots. I found one at our local pet store that is super cute.
Baby’s Stocking
I wasn’t planning on getting anything for bebe but Amalia also asked Santa for a gingerbread pillow for him. If this sounds very specific, it is! She saw one at a local store and insisted that the baby would love it. The store has a website and sells it online if you want to support a small CT-based business.
What are you getting your kiddos this holiday season?
