Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Christmas gift ideas?

My husband got DS Snap Circuits. I think he might be more excited about them than DS will be. We also bought him a telescope. He's been begging for years so I decided we'd do it this year.

for DD 2.8-

lots of puzzles- 48 piece ones, some more books about space and dinoaurs, a compass, a leappad and a bunch of books and cartridges or it off ebay, a toy electric violin, a zylophone, a guitar, and a keyboard- can you tel she loves music LOL. She is also asking for dino fossils, still looking for that...and she is getting gator golf and a puzzle of the USA that talks.

For those who enjoy jigsaw puzzles WASGIJ's are great fun. They are 1000 piece animation jigsaws and you have to work them out by guessing what the characters on the box are looking at.

We got DS5 the snapcircuits upgrade kit. I HIGHLY recommend snapcircuits for kids that are into science and building things, DS love them. Also, are getting him a contraption game through Mindware, qwirkle, gobblet, perquacky, a family pastime game (our first one we are going to try) a few more thinkfun games and puzzles (he loves games) and a physics workshop thing. And some science toys and graph paper for his stocking. For my DD2.5 we are getting her some puzzles, a dollhouse, and lots of girly stuff and dressup things which is her current interest.

So fun to read what everyone is playing with--thanks for starting this thread again this year! I'm starting to get excited about Christmas--almost time to break out the cookie cutters!

We always get the kids three things: something to read, something to wear, something to play with, and this year, for a change, I am most excited about the "to wear" component! (I am not a clothes person, nor are the lads...)

You may know that the next winter Olympics are in Canada, and that one of the "official garments" of the Games are Cowichan sweaters. There has been a huge controversy here because the organisers are selling knockoff versions from offshore, rather than authentic, Cowichan-made sweaters (the Cowichan are a First Nation from Vancouver Island in British Columbia); nobody was happy about the cultural appropriation, nor about the sending-away of needed work from a historically economically disadvantaged community. My kids got interested in reading about the protests in the newspaper, and I tucked this away in the back of my mind, did a little Googling, and found a wonderful Cowichan knitter to custom-make them all sweaters in traditional designs for Christmas. They've arrived in the mail now, and they're lovely.

With a couple of nice books each, a little homemade chocolate, some new PJs made by mum, a goldfish bowl for Groucho, a board game for Harpo, and a music box for Chico, we're set fair for a happy Christmas morning, which I wish for all of you as well!

I love this time of the year! We've seen the annual big-truck light parade already, and are looking forward to Tuba Christmas, gingerbread house making, and some carolling--hope your holidays are full of fun!

peace
minnie

My kids, bless them, saw my PLAN International catalogue, and asked if I would please spend some of our Christmas money on sending a sewing machine to a mother in Africa, "so she can make clothes for her kids, too." Will do.

Wow Minniemarx, what a great gift idea and a great group of socially conscious children.

I am more excited about the gift my DS8 is giving to his grandmoms, teachers and aunts. He really likes plants and has a collection of cacti that have little plantlets on them. We are going to give small pots of these "baby cacti" to everyone. He also had a lot of fun harvesting marigold, morning glory and sunflower seeds from plants we started from seed last spring. We made up paper envelopes and will put labels on them and wrap them in inexpensive terra cotta pots. I love home made gifts!

I think I'll be getting GS10 a fife & a penny whistle. He is really enjoying his flute but takes some grief from other 10 year old boys about playing a 'girly' instrument. He's interested in Civil War history, and would like to get involved in reenactments. So I thought a fife would give him something to do in reenactments, it would be something to branch out with playing musical instruments, and it might seem more 'cool' to other 10/11 year old boys.

I'm not sure I'll buy this for my DC, but I thought it could be neat for some of the really "mathy" folks here: a binary digital clock.

http://shop.npr.org/products/Binary...gaw&gclid=CKy7j5Chx54CFVw55QodUi_Nrw

I saw it on Target.com, too, but it was more expensive. I'd posted a link earlier in the year when I first saw it, but thought someone might find it useful for the holidays.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

OHGrandma, What a great idea! There used to be a neat forum where I occasionally lurked called "Chiff & Fipple;" lots of info there (at least there was when I used to hang around three years ago or so) about pennywhistles and fifes--I seem to recall some reenactors there, too, although it was largely a Celtic music forum.

Have a tuneful Christmas!

peace
minnie

Dear kec,

I love the seeds and plants idea--thanks! I'll keep that in mind for next year for sure! We love homemade gifts, too.

peace
minnie