2 Gift Ideas For Your List's Littlest Ones

‘Tis the season of gift-giving to all the people on your
list, big and small. What to get the smallest ones? I learned the hard way,
when our oldest turned one, we spent a small fortune on toys and she spent the afternoon
interested only in one, party balloon. I read somewhere that a box of Kleenex
is another great gift for a one year old because they will spend all afternoon
pulling out one tissue after another. This process also teaches their little
brains something about cause & effect, all for under $3. 


But many of us just can’t bring ourselves to gift a big, old
box of Kleenex to a one year old. (Clearly, I am not among you as I gifted some
of our best friends with a holiday jug of Pedialyte just last week.) But for
those of you with actual standards for keepsake gifts, I turned to my friend
Jamie, who’s so dead-on in the etiquette department that she not only remembers
my birthday every year but also the birthdays of the Dynamic Duo.

Jamie says thoughtful gifts for babies and young families
are easy. She advises getting the family a gift certificate to get their photo
professionally taken. Or, for a less expensive option, make a play date with
the family, bring your own camera along and take a million close ups of the
crew at play. Then hustle over to Target, get the film developed and pop the
prints into a keepsake book. I did this once at a birthday party for a 3 year
old. The parents were too busy staging the party to take any pictures. When I
dropped off the book later that afternoon the mom was so happy she almost
cried. Woo-hoo! Little bit of extra time and effort, lot of impact!


Another good gift for a young friend is a keepsake holiday
ornament. Jamie has been collecting the “Frosty Friends” Little Eskimo series
for years. You get one for the kiddo each year and, voila!, when she’s 18 she
has her own ornament collection. I like the idea of hand delivering the
ornament to the kiddo. Bring fixings for some hot chocolate with you. Then sit
down with the kiddo, swig your hot chocolates together and admire the different
ornaments. It’s a tradition and a gift, all in one. (Click this link to learn more about Frosty Friends ornaments on amazon. Available around $10 each. They are also available at your local Hallmark store.)