#217

National trust. Parents love the national trust

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#218

Small gift box with some tissue paper in it?

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#219

Thanks. Thatā€™s what Iā€™m leaning towards at the moment.

#220

If you want to really go overboard you can get some of that metallic confetti to put in there too

#221

is anyone else struggling for ideas for work secret santa at the moment? why do i do this to myself every year, why didnā€™t i just opt out?

someone please tell me what to buy.

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#222

Bourbon and pornography.

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#223

You absolutely should give the Metallica t-shirt shirt if you have it. Failing that, a Nirvana one.

Books! You can never have too many. But theyā€™re not cheap. And reading through the same ones again and again can become a little repetetive (and thats taking account of additional ones we get from the library). Thereā€™s some corkers to be had.

Stackable cups and donut rings on a pole are absolute essentials, so make sure theyā€™ve got those in the house.

Or, if you wanna go for the instrument angle, these fun friends:

Or this accordian hedge ledge:

Hapeā€™s little vehicles are nice, e.g.:

https://www.hape.com/uk/en/toy/toy/E0052

Pull along wobbly snail (or jumpy frog):

http://plantoys.com/product/pull-along-snail-2/

Or some sorta shape sorter?

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#224

Secret santa is the absolute worst.

#225

We found a ā€˜book cycleā€™ shop near our house which is an absolute treasure trove. Itā€™s PWYW and often there are brand new kids books there. You can only buy 3 at a time but we go there, pick some brand new kids books and give them a fiver for them, Total RRP might be Ā£15. Worth looking out to see if thereā€™s one in your town/city.

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#226

6 months is a bit of a tricky age because they will probably already have a good range of ā€˜from birthā€™ suitable toys, but there isnā€™t much new in the 6+ month category, a load more is 12+. Stacking cups, as @laelfy suggested, are absolutely brilliant though (they will probably be more used than any other toy for a good while and their uses are near limitless), or else you canā€™t go wrong with a good book and I would be happy to give you some recommendations if you like.

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#227

Sounds a bit like mine. Iā€™m just donating money towards a charity my dad is involved with for his one, for my Mum Iā€™m getting a framed photo of our daughter, a six month subscription to this thing Simply Cook, where they send out recipes and intgredients for different dishes and then a few books. I was going to get them vouchers for an escape room but thatā€™d probably end in divorce.

In the past, successes have been a portrait of my dad and his dog, day spa vouchers, posh hotel vouchers and a trip to some big horse racing event

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#228

A shame that there doesnā€™t look to be one of those listed near us. But weā€™ve been to other similar second hand shops and fairs etc to scoop up some bargains. Ainā€™t too proud to make good use of that kinda thing. Weā€™d be bankrupt or bored of we didnā€™t.

Also, one more shout out to libraries! :heart_eyes_cat:

#229

Big ditto. Weā€™re at eleven months, so not really fully ready for much more complex stuff than weā€™ve been mucking about with (i.e. chewing! :grinning:) for the last few months, but weā€™re discovering new ways to play with what weā€™ve got (starting to get the gist of things fitting into/with other things, moving/rolling cars and balls, etc.

A slightly surprising one is a farmyard animal wooden cutout shapes thing. It has 2+ as the guide age, and admittedly sheā€™s not mastered fitting the shapes into the board, but sheā€™s mad keen on picking up the animals out and holding them by their little handle. And using them as ā€˜slidersā€™ when crawling.

And knocking down stacking cup towers is apparently endless fun. Which is fine, cos building precarious different variations and including random other bits and bobs is top fun for me. :blush:

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#230

Oh yeah, you can find some things where you can take the age recommendation at your own judgement (though sometimes I have found things ok at a younger age, but when they get older and find new things to do with it you have to withdraw it for a bit). Like R has a lot of 3+ toy food and he is only 18 months, but it is big enough that he canā€™t choke on it and he has learnt very quickly that he can only pretend eat it.

As a gift buying relative though I would stick to the age recommendations when buying toys because you donā€™t know so well what ā€˜olderā€™ toys might be ok for the way a baby/toddler is playing, and as a parent with very limited space it is a bit difficult finding places for an accumulation of toys that canā€™t be played with yet!

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#231

Parents are always tough to buy for but they have just booked a holiday to Australia so was thinking of getting them an experience to do there. Not sure what though. Was looking at the bridge walk thing but its pretty expensive.

Any ideas for Sydney?

#232

How old is Sydney?

3 Likes
#234

etsy or https://www.ethicalwares.com/accessories/belts/ ?

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#235

or get one made out of old bike inner tubes

@anon26275971

#238

Really struggling with my secret santa on thursday. Sheā€™s our company accountant and she loves money but hates chocolate. Think Iā€™m gonna head into M&S and get her some swanky christmas jam or something idk.

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#239

Very disorganised this year, still need to get for my gf, sisters, niece and bro-in-law. Only really know what Iā€™m getting for my gf as well. Nightmare.