Need Some Gift Ideas Please...

Updated on December 06, 2011
K.L. asks from Beverly Hills, CA
7 answers

I have a 4 month old boy. I don't have a ton of room in my house and everything he has right now is bulky from the swing to the high chair to the exersaucer. Does anyone have any ideas of what I could get for him for Christmas that is both small and entertaining? Thanks for the help.

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L.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

At 4 months, it's tricky, because their world will hugely expand in about 2 months when they start to roll over, crawl & scott around. For immediate toys, I'd recommend anything with wheels, lights, sounds that he can turn & reach for, to encourage him to roll over. But for my 2 kids, once they were even a bit mobile, they ditched all their BABY toys & wanted something more interactive & responsive.
Also, sometimes the things that they really enjoy, are NOT the things you spend a bunch of money on. My son at that age always wanted needed 4 things: something soft (like a cuddle toy), something to suck on (like a teether, or rings with textures), something to shake like a jingle bell or a ring of measuring spoons, something to roll (a little soft ball).
Here are the long lasting items we liked best:
For little things:
The O-Ball (it's a ball that has holes all over so babies can grab & throw it), a stack of plastic measuring cups, metal measuring spoons, a soft stuffed animal, a jingle bell, any fun board book, and my son could always be consoled with a kitchen whisk (must be a future chef!)
For big toys: our favorite toy that has lasted forever has been the Leap Frog learn & groove table. You can take the legs off for when your baby is doing tummy time or just starting to sit up. And then put the legs on when he's starting to pull himself up & cruise. My 4 year old played with it until he was about 2 1/2, and my 10 month old started playing with it at about 6 months when she started sitting up. It's $35 on Amazon, and for the amount of use, it's been the best value toy.
The next item that had long-lasting use was our Chicco Play & Ride Train. It has some squeaky things to pull, buttons to push, a little place to hide "cargo". When they start to pull up & try to walk, they can push the train, and when they're bigger, they can ride it. Again, my 4 year old son played with this until he couldn't fit on the seat anymore. And we plan to get one in a month or so for our daughter.

3 moms found this helpful

K.I.

answers from Los Angeles on

~Stacking cups or blocks! My boys LOVED those when they were itty-bitty!

~The Ball Popper machines are cool too!

~Puzzles and books are ALWAYS a good idea!

2 moms found this helpful
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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

Get some non-breakable mirrors and attach them to the walls around the baseboards where he can see them all the time.

This link shows a lot of ideas that you could take and make your own. The ideas are there. I used simple squares I bought at a glass place. They were very inexpensive, it is non-breakable. The edges should be beveled too so they can't cut their tiny fingers on the sharp edges, or just use a mirror that is in a flat frame that can be attached to the wall flat.

http://www.ecmdstore.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?categor...

This changing table shows one way of using a mirror too.

http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail...=
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There are so many ideas out there. If I were trying to do this I would refer to my child care regulations book and look at the requirements for the baby room. That way I would see the items the state thought were important enough to required each and every center or child care home to have. That would be like the ultimate list.

Here is a link to my states child care regulations. Maybe the requirements for the baby rooms will spark your imagination.

http://www.okdhs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C###-###-####-C005-45D1...

On page 58, appendix L-5, there are 5 categories of things each baby room has to have. From side to side it shows how many items from each category they should have based on how many babies are in the room.

I hope this sparks your imagination. I know I always think in terms of a center and how they always have the best ideas so I go and look to get inspiration.

2 moms found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Dallas on

Books!!!!! When my DD was that little, we got her a few outfits, some books, a keepsake ornament and a keepsake stuffed animal.

The books we got were: Goodnight Moon, Guess How Much I Love You?, and Coco.

2 moms found this helpful
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S.H.

answers from St. Louis on

anything with motion & music to spark his attention!

a playmat or an activity gym. In my daycare, I have a 4 month old who loves hers! Excellent for promoting tummy time, & she will lay on it on her back forever - batting at those toys!.

Hit ToysRus & take a look at the 0-12month age bracket. Lots of great ideas!

1 mom found this helpful
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R.L.

answers from Los Angeles on

Hi K.,

I know you're excited because this is your baby's first Christmas (congratulations!), but he's not going to know or understand anything about the holiday and the gift giving for at least two years. Rather than buying him unneeded stuff, why not put the money to better use and start a college fund for him?

That being said, here are a couple of inexpensive gifts you can make yourself. At this age, babies love textures and sounds:

Pat mat: place about 1/2 cup water into a 1 gal ziploc bag. Add a few waterproof objects to the bags: flat "foamies" or plastic shapes and large sequins work great (you can get these at a crafts store). Seal the bag well and place it sealed-side in into a second ziploc bag. Seal that well too. Baby can pat on this mat during tummy time to make the shapes move around. My kids LOVED this through early toddlerhood. The best thing is, you can drain the bag every few days and put in different shapes to sustain interest.

Texture bag/book: Get a sturdy cloth or paper bag. Fill it with large scraps of sturdy materials with different textures, like fleece, crinkly mylar, faux fur, faux satin, pleather, etc. If you know how to sew, you can make little pillows of each type of fabric (except the mylar, which you could stuff into a pillow instead of batting) and place the pillows in the bag, or sew a bunch of different fabrics together into a book. If you're a decent seamstress, you can even cut out animal or geometric shaps to sew onto the pages, or cut pre-printed shapes out of different printed materials to applique on. (Quick tip: if you use a very tight zigzag stitch with a stitch length of 1 or less, depending on your machine, you don't have to finish any edges.)

1 mom found this helpful
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♫.C.

answers from San Francisco on

When my twins were that age, some things they liked were the "whoozit" toy (round pillowy thingy with an assortment of dangly things of different textures and shapes for your LO to explore http://www.manhattantoy.com/product/471965/201210/_/Whoozit) and the Soft Play toy books (Costco often carries them) - my twins are 10YO now and one of them *still* has to have her "Toy Bee" with her at bedtime and wherever we travel: http://www.softplayforkids.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=16

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