Christmas Gift Ideas for Baby

This is my daughter's first Christmas. I have to admit, I'm so excited about it I've already been scouting out fun paper to wrap her gifts in and thinking of what I want to get her. My husband and I entered the toy aisle in Walmart last night and just stared in awe at all of the options. We could spend anywhere from $5 to over $100 on a single toy...$100 for a 10 month old's Christmas present, seriously? She's not going to remember the toy, and frankly, she will most likely find the box and paper more entertaining.

My husband and I had already discussed our plan of action for tackling our daughter's first Christmas gifts. Like many families, money is a bit tight, especially on one income and me being in school. Our plan includes us purchasing 1 "big" present, a couple of "smaller" presents and then putting money into her 529 account (college fund). We've asked family members to do the same. I've done some research on some budget-friendly, educational toys that are definitely on our list of possibilities. If any of you have other ideas to add, please feel free to leave them in the comment area!

LeapFrog Alphabet Pal- This is a little string-pulled caterpillar with letter buttons for legs. We bought one for a friends first birthday party. We LOVED it. It had 3-4 different ways for the child to learn. My favorite part was not only did it teach the letters, it taught sounds and would even sound out words if you pushed letters in sequence. And, of course, because there are times I just can't help myself, I tried to "type" a bad word...guess what? It won't let you! Once the little guy figures out you're "saying" something naughty he giggles and says that tickles, or something like that. Can't beat a built in editor! He runs about $20, but we got him on sale for $15.

Vtech Move & Crawl Electronic Activity Ball- This isn't on our list of Christmas presents, simply because we already own it. My daughter received it when she was about 6 months old. The main idea behind it is for the child to "chase" it (it rolls itself), thus promoting crawling. I won't say it is what made my daughter crawl, but she was crawling by 6.5 months and loved playing with this ball. There are a ton of buttons teaching animals, sounds and numbers. This toy is in the $10-$15 range.

Fisher Price Stack N Surprise Blocks Count 'n Build Snail- Stacking, sorting and building are starting to be some of my daughters newest play activities. This bucket contains 10 blocks with silly faces and numbers. The bucket itself has big Lego-like posts to stack the blocks on, making building easy for little hands. Price: $20

Wonderworld First Sounds Wood Blocks- Want a toy that doesn't require batteries? This is it. My daughter loves music and hearing different tones. These are hollow wooden blocks filled with beads to produce 3 different tones. Comes with a storage box, which can be another toy in itself...good for sorting! Painted with water-based non-toxic paints it's not harmful if a block finds its way to a mouth! You can find it for around $20.

To help with walking, we got my daughter a combo foot-to-floor rider and walker. We opted for the Playskool Step Start Walk'nRide. It doesn't require batteries and there's not a lot of bells and whistles, but has enough "cool" stuff to keep her attention. She can use it to walk with in the "riding" stage, too. Can find it for about $20.

Activity tables are a good choice for a "big" gift. You can find them with all kinds of activities, from reading help to making music and animal sounds. Depending on how many bells and whistles you want (and how many batteries you want to go through) these tables range from $30 all the way to $100. We invested in a $130 Exersaucer from Evenflo that had a mat with a toy bar she used before she sat up, the exersaucer itself and then converts to a toddler activity table. Look for items that will convert and last longer, can help save some big bucks!

If the budget is super tight, check out places like Once Upon a Child for some good deals on used toys. On some strolls through, we have found some great deals on toys. We got our daughter a Lego sorting bucket and blocks for $5 (regularly $25) and we found her Playskool Step Star Walk'nRide for $7.

Happy shopping!