1St Birthday Boy Presents

I share this for a good laugh...

My son wasn't interested in the toys he received at his first birthday party. He loved playing in the boxes and tissue paper. My mom thought I was joking when I said "give him a big box filled with crumpled paper!"

More practically, anything cars or trucks that he can push around would probably go over well. For me, personally, I always give age appropriate books. In this case, I would go with Sandra Boynton's "Moo Baa La La La" or "Barnyard Dance."

Happy shopping!

Ride on toys are great! Get one with a handle on the back so he can push it also. Depending on your budget those Cozy Coupes are awesome too...but they are more pricey. Fisher price Little People are also usually a hit along with cars, trucks, and tractors.

Try:
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2341&e=detail&...

You will need to past the entire link into your browser. My daughter still likes to play with it and she is 2 1/2 now.

Like others have said, this boy won't care about presents. It's still a big occasion, though, so I'd suggest something that's more of a keepsake. For my daughter's 1st birthdays and my nephews' 1st birthdays, I've bought each of them a handpainted personalized child-size rocking chair. They sell unfinished chairs at Buck's. If you're more artistic than I am, you could paint it yourself. My daughter is over 4 now and she uses her chair often. Even after she outgrows it, it will remain part of her room decor. Who knows, some day maybe her children will use it!

I used to sell Discovery Toys and Karen's recommendations are right on. She's correct that toddlers love those toys. He'll be walking soon so a walking push toy that can also be ridden is a great toy to have at that age. I work in a church nursery and popular toys for that age group are a pop-up toy if he doesn't already have one and those beads on the wires that get pushed around. Soon he'll be ready for the wooden puzzles with the larger pieces and especially the ones that have little knobs to grab the pieces.

We just bought our son a Little Tykes Handle Hauler dumptruck fir his 1st birthday. It can be pushed, pulled like a wagon or ridden on. We gave our daughter something similar when she was one and she loved it. We can't wait to give it to our son next week. Books are always great gifts. Our son loves a shape sorter that was his older sisters. He also loves the Fisher Price Little People airplane and school bus that our daughter has. Anything that plays music he loves to play with.

Is this for your own son? Or is it for a friend or relative?

If you want to keep costs down, any developmental toy 12-18 months is great, you can find many things between $10-$30 made by Fisher Price, V-Tech,etc. at any toystore or department store. Push toys (like carts, walkers, lawn mowers, corn poppers) are great too, as by this point they will be early walkers or learning to walk.

For more expensive gifts - Cozy Coupes, Toy Boxes, Wagons, small tri-cycles are all awesome all for different reasons. On a side tip - If for your own son or someone your close to, if you don't mind used, check out freecycle.com, craigslist, and local lawn and garage sales. You'd be amazed at what you can find. For our son we were able to find two used Cozy Coupes, a Little Tikes Playhouse, and Little Tikes Toddler Slide all for Free (and they normally cost hundreds of dollars new!)! And another secret... he dosen't care that they were used! He loves his cars and house, and has no concern thet the plastic might be faded or some of the stickers are gone.

It really irks me when people say that the 1st birthday isn't a big deal because the kid won't even remember it, and that it's mostly for the parents anyway. So cynical. The 1st birthday is a big deal and IS exciting, regardless of the fact that they won't remember it. The kid will have a fabulous time at the party and be really excited about opening gifts and finding these great toys. Take lots of pictures for the child to always look back on and those memories will be the justification in it.

For our oldest daughter's 1st birthday we got her an adorable child-sized Winnie the Pooh recliner, a Little Tykes Cozy Coupe, and one of those classic ball poppers to push around. She LOVED them then and still loves them and uses them all almost every day. The little recliner is so worn out from use that it's a good thing our 2nd daughter will be 1 in September, because we got her an Elmo child-sized recliner, a little ride-on car with a long handle in the back for the adult to push by Step 2, and a soft rocking horse that also has drop-down wheels so it turns into a ride-on horse for tile flooring. Have fun!

I work for Discovery Toys and we have a lot of great things for a one year old. Some of what I'm listing below recommends an older age, but I promise you - one year olds LOVE them!

Hammer Away: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/control/product?P...
Castle Marbleworks: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/control/product?P...
Measure Up Cups: http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/esuite/control/product?P...

Please let me know if you have questions about any of these, or any other, toys. They are all great quality and come with a lifetime warranty. I've never met a baby who doesn't love them!

K.
http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao

I guess it depends on the boys relationship to you. For my son's first birthday- I think grandma got him a push toy and my sister got him some clothes, some friends got him some books and I got my son a savings bond- he didn't really know, nor does he remember now-

Books and cars are always good options. Matchbox cars are really inexpensive and the kids LOVE them. They are easy to take anywhere and fun for little hands. Books are always good options since there are so many out there.

Not to be rude, but he's 1. Is he really going to even know what you are giving him? Let alone remember his first bday. Just sayin. My boy is turning 1 in sept and I'm debating even having a party. It's more for the parents then the kid.

the Discovery Toys Ball Castle has been a HUGE hit with my boys. My 4 year-old got it for his first birthday, and he still plays with it, and now my 1 year-old son plays with it as well. the other toy that is really great and doesn't grow old is the playschool busy ball bopper.

Books! The 1YO is still oblivious really to gift opening and doesn't have a birthday list yet so the kid won't think it's a boring gift and the parents will probably like having some new reading material. I know I did.