Must Have Christmas Gifts for Kids 2019
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It’s the most magical time of the year, but also one of the most stressful. The nights are drawing in, the doors of the advent calendars are opening faster than we can keep up with and before you know it Christmas wish lists are being written and you’ll be waking up in a cold sweat at 3am because you forgot to move the elf! If your children aren’t particularly forthcoming when writing their letters to Father Christmas, or you are simply looking for a more affordable option compared to the Porshe 911 Turbo that’s made the top spot on their list, then here’s my round up of some of the best Christmas gifts for kids in 2019. I hope you find them helpful!
For the wanabe hairdresser…
Both of my two absolutely love styling hair, and unfortunately for me (and my roots) I am quite often the lucky model, resulting in one child on either side, both pulling and tugging in different directions. For a far less painful Christmas, the My Little Pony Twilight Sparkle styling head is a great option and suitable for ages 3 and above.
The set comes with a comb and 15 styling accessories included, and is table top height, meaning that they can easily sit and style to their hearts content. With wide bright eyes and the unicorn horn, Twilight Sparkle is also very cute and sure to be a hit. At the time of writing, the styling head is half price at just £7.99 making it an absolute steal.
For those who love dressing up…
For a fun and easy alternative to face painting (with no artistic skills required!) Face Paintoos are a quick and easy way to apply temporary face tattoos for parties and dressing up. Quick and easy to apply and remove, you simply dampen, peel away to reveal and easily remove using the handy wipes included in the box.
The Face Paintoos Party Pack includes 20 different designs – everything from magical unicorns to wild tigers. Suitable for ages 4 and above, the Party Pack retails at £20 and is available to buy at Amazon and Argos.
We also recently reviewed the Frozen 2 Face Paintoos, which are ideal for anyone who’s little ones are excited about the new Frozen 2 movie release – our Ultimate Frozen 2 gift guide is here.
For bringing their imagination to life…
The Playmobil Movie came out earlier this year, and for grown ups like me who grew up with Playmobil, it’s lovely to see my own daughters getting so much joy from these creative and imaginative play sets. With this adorable set, the girls can recreate some of their favourite scenes from the movie, with Marla in her beautiful ball gown and the Fairy Godmother in the Fairytale Castle. With lots of magical accessories as well as a unicorn and cute forest animals, this is a fun playtime set for Playmobil fans! Suitable for ages 5+ it has an RRP of £20.99
A Playmobil set with a difference – The Playmobil Christmas Bakery with Cookie Cutters set is a really adorable find and a fun way to start an interactive Christmas tradition with your children.
This adorable Christmas Bakery includes Father Christmas and his eleves working really hard to prepare cookies and gingerbread on their baking table, with the finished goods leaving the bakery via the cookie shoot. With removable cookie cutters embedded on the roof and a biscuit stamp, the set can also be used to help children with their own festive baking activities.
If you’re after a fun building toy that is ideal for stocking fillers, then these PlusPlus Farm Yard Animals are a great option. Each set contains 100 pieces in a handy storage tube, ideal for a stocking or pillowcase on Christmas morning. The animals in the range include a Sheep, Llama, Pig, Cow, Horse and the adorable Mallard Duck. With small tactile pieces made from a rubber like material, these sets are lots of fun, and the pieces can be combined together to develop their own creations too!
For the creative Kid..
I have two children in this house who love to colour in, craft and create, and Eat Sleep Doodle have a whole range of products which let them embrace their creative side!
Pictured below is the Home Decorator Pillowcase whereby children can colour and customise their very own pillowcase to add a bit of personality to their bedrooms! Using the set of 10 wash out pens enclosed, children will love bringing this beautiful dolls house to life as they become an interior designer, using their imagination to create the colour scheme of their dreams!
The pillow has a really beautiful and detailed design, featuring both the interior and exterior of a large dolls house including bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room and hall. Once complete, you can simply wash the pillowcase on a warm wash cycle to remove the colours and let them start all over again – meaning they can redecorate and change the colour scheme to suit the seasons.
A fun calm activity for over the Christmas period, there are lots of different designs available with prices at a more than reasonable £14.50.
Sticking with the colouring theme, if you have pens and pencils scattered all around your child’s bedroom, why not encourage them to tidy their desk and stash those pens away in this adorable Peguin Pencilcase? These roomy stand up pencil cases from Lihit Lab are super cute, surprisingly roomy and a fun way to display their artistic tools – currently on offer for £8.
For creative tools with a difference, we absolutely LOVE these Stib Inspirational Colouring Pencils. Designed to inspire children to feel good on the inside and do good on the outside, each pencil is embossed with a positive ‘spark’ word including Great Leader, Good Listener, World Changer, Earth Lover, Self Believer, Big Thinker, Freestyler, Team Player, Storyteller ,Problem Solver, Joy Finder and Peacekeeper.
The crayons come in a handy brightly coloured tube which also includes a pencil sharpener and sticker sheet and even better, 10% of profits go to education projects for vulnerable children via global charity We.org.
I have to be honest, I would be quite happy to receive these myself!!
For those who love to nurture and care…
The girls love looking after others, and whether its dolls, teddy bears or real life pets, its really lovely to watch them nurture and care for something with so much love and affection.
We’ve had a Scuff-a-Luv before and he was a big hit with the girls, so I was quite excited to see a few new products in the range including Scruff-a-Luv Families. Children will love taking these unloved and abandoned scruffy pets and helping them becoming fluffy by washing, drying and cuddling them back to their former glory!
Scruff-a-Luv Families features a Mummy Dog (or cat!) who has been found lost abandoned and is looking for a forever home for her and her babies. The surprise is – how many babies is she hiding? Wash Mummy Scruff-a-Luv to discover if she’s hiding twins or the rare triplets! Are they boys, girls or both? Warm their hearts and their gender will be revealed!
This mummy has been wandering lost and abandoned, looking for a home for her and her babies. But how many
Rescue, wash, dry, groom and reveal 10 surprises along the way, including accessories for the whole family.
If the gift itself wasn’t enough, for every Scruff-a-Luvs family adopted, Scruff-a-Luvs will donate part of the proceeds to the RSPCA to help real animals find their fur ever homes. Scruff-a-Luv Families retail at £29.99 but are currently on offer at Amazon for £23.99
As someone who grew up in the era of interactive pets, I always love to see how they have changed and evolved as technology improves and develops! This Christmas has seen the arrival of Nestlings – the super cute interactive pet with lights and sounds. Nestlings come with 2 babies nestled inside and children have the very important role of keeping her warm and content until they are ready to arrive!
Responding to your child’s touch with her very own language, her eye colour changes depending on her mood, with teal being the happy colour we should be aiming for! When her eyes turn rainbow colour, her babies are ready to be born. Pop her on the nest and her baby will pop into the nest below (if only it were that easy eh!)
A real positive of Nestlings is the ability for her to give birth over and over again – whilst I can’t think of anything worse than going through my children’s births more than once, Nestlings birth seems like a far less traumatic experience!
Nestlings are currently on offer at Amazon for just £30 (40% off!)
Last but not least, Fur-Real Cubby has been voted one of the Top 12 Toys for Christmas by multiple retailers including Argos, this amazingly interactive and lifelike, curious, expressive bear cub loves to play with you during the day. At night time, Cubby becomes a bedtime friend, playing sleepy sounds and soft music to help comfort and reassure.
With 100+ Sound-and-Motion combinations, Cubby can can move his head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth and arms and makes lots of fun sounds, as well as changing his expressions as he does so.
Cubby comes with a 3 in one accessory that acts as a treat, bottle and comb all in one.
Aimed at children aged 4 and above Cubby retails at £69.99 and is like the modern day Teddy Ruckspin for those who are old enough to remember him!
As lovely as the interactive toys can be, sometimes children just want to be left to their own devices with a doll and their imagination, and the Baby Annabell dolls are always a hit with Neve who absolutely loves taking on the roll of Mum.
Baby Annabell has a wide range of doll accessories and outfits to help bring their playtime to life. We love this Lunch Time Table – a mini booster seat / high chair with adorable sheep design. The set comes with 3 main courses, 3 desserts and a bottle with drink selection and includes a fun menu selection game with lights and sounds.
As for what happens next, every playtime is different…
With the temperatures getting colder, Baby Annabell can’t afford to be outside without a jacket – and this outfit is just adorable, with a waterproof mac to keep her safe from the rain, little ones will love dressing and undressing her and hanging it back up on the miniature hanger when its not being worn!
For the collectibles fan
The girls are BIG fans of collectibles – there is something incredibly appealing about surprise reveals, blind bags and trying to collect them all! With a traditional fortune cookie design, these adorable Lucky Fortune collectibles come with a bracelet and charm inside. With 100 different designs to collect, including an ultra lucky four leaf clover, this is a collectible I can image becoming increasingly popular with duplicates being swapped on the school playground!
This Series 1 Lucky Fortune Gift box includes four collectibles, and a great way to kick start their collection! We love the addition of the fortune teller just like the ones we used to create as kids!
For story time with a difference…
The girls absolutely having a story at bedtime and to add a bit of fun to your bedtime book routine, I can definitely recommend Moonlite, a cute, easy-to-use device that turns your mobile phone into a storybook projector!
Moonlite clips onto your smartphone and uses the phone’s flashlight to project illustrations from the book onto any surface, with the companion app for you to read along whilst listening to magical sound effects.
As a huge Mr Men fan, I love the Mr Men Moonlite Set where kids will get to enjoy five delightful story reels including Mr. Men Go On Holiday, Mr. Men Go Swimming, Mr. Men Go to the Park, Mr. Men at Bedtime, and Mr. Tickle. Packaged just like a storybook, this is a great addition to your chid’s bookshelf, and a fun way to encourage an interest in reading and storytime.
For the Disney fan…
How gorgeous are these Disney Britto waterballs? We have two HUGE Disney fans in this household, and having met Minnie and Mickey at Disney on Ice last month, the girls haven’t stopped talking about them since.
For the pizza lover…
Erin loves pizza almost as much as life itself, and is also a big fan of getting out the playdoh. Despite the fact I have to turn the other direction when she starts to mix the colours together, I can definitely see the appeal of the Playdoh Kitchen Creations set.
Becoming a mini master chef, little ones can easily create the pizza of their dreams, stamping and spinnng their base in the oven before shaping and adding traditional toppings like pepperoni and peppers.
The set comes with five standard-size 565-gram Play-Doh pots, a pizza paddle and cutter.
For the savvy saver
We’ve been trying really hard to teach Erin about the value of money and teach her that if she wants to buy something she has to save up her pocket money and buy it herself. She has been really good at saving her money and for those who want to do so with a familiar face, this adorable Hamm from Toy Story money box is ideal. No words needed – just look how cute he is! With a stopper on his tummy for those shopping emergencies, little ones can easily retrieve their savings when required.
To encourage an interest in STEM
As someone who worked in the IT sector for many years, it was all too obvious how few females followed a STEM career path. It’s something I am keen to change, so love to introduce toys that encourage practical, logical and problem solving behaviours, and this is where this super cute little robot Artie comes in!
The Artie 3000 puts children in control of coding and programming line by line, teaching, and commanding Artie how to draw. Children will learn left-brain skills such as basic programming, geometry and maths, while engaging the right side of their brains to create colourful pictoral designs! There is an easy-to-use, built-in drag and drop programming function that can be used on a Mac, PC or tablet, also Artie comes pre-programmed with four modes of play (shapes, games, art for colouring and freeform coding). In addition you can add browser-based programmes to extend coding knowledge and skills for the mini Bill Gates’ out there, using; javascript, Blockly, Point & Click, Python and Remote Control.
Box includes Artie 3000 robot, quickstart guide, 3 activity cards and 4 thin, washable, felt pens (pink, blue, purple & green) – Artie is also compatible with any similar-sized coloured pen and is suitable for ages 7 and above.
For a bedtime read…
I absolutely love the book The Hungry Caterpillar, in particular the beautiful illustrations on the pages throughout. Eric Carle has partnered with Kew Gardens to produce a special edition of another much loved book The Tiny Seed, which was first published in 1987! A humble story of a tiny seed and it’s journey through the circle of life, this makes a lovely bedtime story to help little ones drift off to sleep.
If they love a festive boogie…
Last but my NO means least, if your children are anything like mine, they will LOVE a bit of a festive boogie, using December as the perfect excuse to dance around the kitchen to their favourite songs! These NOW CD box sets are a great way to kick of your party season with the 5CD Now Christmas with 100 hits and classics, the 5CD Sing-a-Long and Now That’s What I call Disney. Trust me when I say, you’ll find yourself with this on in the car long after the kids have been dropped off at school. The Now CDs are available at Amazon, or read on for your chance to win!
Want to win a NOW Thats What I Call Disney CD set?
Enter to win using the gleam app below – giveaway ends 15/12/19 at 11.59pm. UK entries only. Our standard giveaway terms and conditions apply. (Please note Christmas delivery is not guaranteed – please allow up to 28 days for delivery) GOOD LUCK!
Whatever your kids wish for this Christmas, I hope you have a fantastic festive break!
Lucy xxx
