Christmas gift ideas for babies, children and parents Review

Christmas gift ideas for babies, children and parents!

Reviewed by Amy & Rhys Black

Part of the fun of Christmas is the build-up on Christmas Eve. As well as the usual Christmas pyjamas, a great idea could be to have a Christmas Eve box full of lovely goodies to prepare for the arrival of Santa overnight. We found the following items a great idea to put into the Christmas box!

CHRISTMAS EVE BOX:

1 – Jack n’ Jill toothbrush and toothpaste
2 – Naïf products
3 – Squid soap

Jack n’ Jill Toothbrush and Natural Toothpaste

The Jack n’ Jill Toothbrush is designed to be used by parents as soon as your child gets their first tooth (as well as children when they are independently brushing their teeth). It feels really comfortable in your hand, and coupled with the head design, made it really easy to brush our niece’s teeth. It has easy to follow instructions, as well as a link to their website that shows you how to keep the brush clean and sterile between uses. What made the brush standout for us as an eco-friendly household is the fact that it’s biodegradable (compostable & biodegradable handle). It comes in a range of 4 animal designs; bunny, dino, hippo and koala. RRP: £3.69

The Jack n’ Jill toothpaste comes in a number of flavours (natural, strawberry, blueberry, banana, raspberry and blackcurrant), our niece loved the flavour. I love the fact it has no fluoride, sugar or artificial colours so is healthy for children. Glad I discovered this product and will use this when our child gets older! RRP: £4.99

Naïf – Cleansing Wash Gel and Softening Body Lotion

The Naïf cleansing gel (RRP: £6.99) and softening body lotion (RRP: £7.99) are suitable for a babies delicate skin. They are free from any harmful or irritating ingredients and they contain cottonseed extract. We absolutely loved the wash gel, it had a lovely subtle smell that wasn’t overpowering at all. We found that it didn’t dry out our daughter’s skin like other products we have tried did, and it left her skin beautiful and soft. We then used the softening body lotion to replace her usual oil for her baby massage following the bath. Again, the smell is lovely and light, the lotion absorbs quickly into the skin. What lovely products these were, although more expensive than the usual baby brands this is due to the quality and in our view it is well worth it. A prefect addition to the Christmas Eve box!

Squid Soap

Squid Soap is designed to be a fun way to help children learn how to clean their hands. When your child pushes down onto the top of the dispenser it leaves a small patch of dye on the palm of their hand encouraging thorough cleaning of hands to remove the magic Ink. It Comes in 4 different colours – spotless (purple), squeaky (yellow), bubbles (green) and sparkles (orange).

Our nephews liked turning washing their hands into a game. They enjoyed seeing the ink turn their hands purple before washing it all away! Another great thing about this soap is the adult friendly optional cap on the dispenser. This enables the soap to be used by all the family without dying an adults hand! A great idea! RRP: £2.49

MAIN PRESENT IDEAS:

1 – Cheeky Choppers Blanket
2 – Dribble Stop Tops
3 – Bambino & Me Bamboo Swaddle
4 – Darlo Sleep Suit
5 – Wonder Cube

Cheeky Choppers Blanket

The cheeky blanket comes from cheekychompers.com – don’t be fooled by the name this is more than a blanket! This is definitely a luxurious high end product. The blanket is shaped to fit into a pram or over a buggy, not the standard rectangle blanket shape. It has hidden sensory tags, cosy feet and hand pockets as well as straps to attach to a buggy. My baby is only two months old and not yet in a buggy however, I found that the straps allowed me to attach the blanket to my sling when I was baby wearing! This meant that I could continue to use the sling with my baby all toasty under the lovely blanket.

Immediately you can see the high quality of this blanket it feels soft to the touch and has a nice cosy fleece side for the baby to snuggle into. The red colour is vibrant and fun which we loved, however there are more colours and patterns available on their website. This is now an everyday essential in our household. It would make a perfect gift for families with newborns or young children because the blanket is so versatile. RRP: £49.99

Dribble Stop Tops

I am not a huge fan of the dribble bibs that you can buy, I generally think they take away from the cute dresses and outfits I have put my daughter in, which is why I was curious and excited to try out the Dribble Stop Tops. These tops are short sleeved vests that have a hidden waterproof pocket inside the top, you just put these on instead of baby’s regular vests. The hidden pocket stops dribble reaching the chest area, so prevents soreness and rashes. The vests come in packs of 2 in sizes up to 24 months and I would say they are true to the size stated, and are easy to wash and can be tumble dried. I completely fell in love with these tops – what a fantastic idea and great value for money. I have never seen anything quite likes these elsewhere. A must for parents! RRP: £13.99

Bambini & Me Bamboo Swaddle

We reviewed the Bambini & Me swaddle blanket in pink. This blanket is 100% bamboo which if you haven’t felt bamboo before, it is the softest material imaginable, definitely the perfect choice for new born skin! Bamboo also has a lot of fantastic properties such as being antibacterial. Our little girl loved to be swaddled in this blanket. It is nice and thin so we could swaddle her without her becoming overheated, and is also a perfect cover whilst breastfeeding. As she gets older and no longer likes to be swaddled we could use this as a regular lightweight blanket.

The blankets are available in a wide range of patterns and colours including bunny rabbits, elephants and whales (fantastically unisex!). They come beautifully packaged and would make a perfect different present for parents of newborn children. One of my friends is currently pregnant and I am going to buy her the lovely elephant print blanket for her baby shower. RRP: £15

Darlo Sleep Suit

Darlo children’s products are not only beautiful, they are ethical too. Every Darlo product will provide a weeks worth of meals for a child and India. The sleep suit that we reviewed is 100% organic cotton, they never use pesticides or chemicals so you can be sure that this product is good for the environment. I received a 0-3 months sleep suit and a lovely mint and coral colour. The suit has a zip to the front instead of poppers which makes it easier and quicker to get on and off. The material fell very soft and the colours were lovely, vibrant and contemporary. Most importantly our little girl seemed to love the suit, she was happy falling off to sleep whilst wearing it. I would say the suits are on the smaller side compared to other 0 to 3 brands so if buying this for a gift I would probably recommend sizing up so that you can be sure that the baby will get the wear out of it. I would definitely recommend going onto their website to find out more information about these products so you can see for yourself the story behind the brand. We think this would make a brilliant present because you know the person will be receiving a quality product, at a fantastic price, and also contributing to a great cause. We have put this under the category of a main present as we would recommend purchasing a few of the products to make a fantastic gift for someone! RRP: £15

Wondercube

We’ve recently received the Wondercube from mywondercube.com and what a brilliant idea for a toy! It’s really versatile in that children will love pulling out the flags and enjoy the bright colours (or black and white for young babies). There are two options – a soft cube (Little Wonder £17.99) designed for babies, or a hard wooden shell with curved edges (Big Wonder £23.99) that is more suitable for 2-7 year olds. We have the Big Wonder and while our little girl is only 2 months old it’s great for adult assisted play – she loves watching the flags being pulled out (the cube comes with 6 flags with different coloured shapes) with a black and white background. The high contrasts shapes and colours are good for her development at this stage. One aspect I love about the Wondercube is the add-one you can purchase, such as goldilocks so as you pull out each flag you can use it to illustrate the story. You can make the game become more educational and adapt according to your child’s needs, for example in the goldilocks story you can start asking ‘what colour is daddy bear’, ‘ which bed is the biggest’ or ‘how do you know the porridge Is hot?’ If you struggle to think of ideas you can use the booklet that comes with the pack as this gives more ideas on how to get the most out of each add on.

All the flags are made of organic cotton so they can be taken out and washed and reused.

Overall I love this product it’s definitely a toy that won’t be thrown out from wear and tear – this is built to last! The Wondercube looks contemporary and is brightly coloured, children love it and I know it will last for years to come as our little girl grows up, and if we have any children in future! A great gift idea this Christmas!

STOCKING FILLER IDEAS FOR PARENT & BABY

1 – Haberman Products
2 – Doddl Ergonomic Cutlery
3 – Belo & Me Wardrobe Dividers

Haberman Products

We reviewed a wide range of Haberman products. We absolutely loved the soothers! Firstly, Haberman separate the soothers into 0-3 months then 3-6 months, I have not seen this before and think this is better than a generic 0 to 6 months soother as the size fits the baby’s mouth. Our 2 month old daughter likes her soother for bedtime and normally uses the same brand so we were unsure as to whether she would take to these ones. However, there was no issue and she loved it immediately, in fact the shape fitted her petite face better! I love that the dummy cover that it comes with so that when you are out and about and remain clean and sterile in your bag. Available in lots of cute colours we loved the green colour. Highly recommended fantastic product. RRP: £5.50

Other products that Haberman have are colourful cups and beakers for children, one of which is a funky cow pattern (RRP: £4.99), we look forward to using these when our little one is older.

Doddl

Doddl is ergonomic cutlery designed to help children eat independently. In the set there is a knife, fork and spoon all nicely presented in a presentation box (RRP: £20), which also lists the benefits of using this cutlery. The handles are designed to fit snuggly in a child’s hand, which will encourage effective gripping for eating. This skill learnt will also help with pincer grip skills that is necessary for writing. The good thing about this cutlery is that it is suitable for a large age range of children (1 to 5 years) and dutiable for traditional weaning or baby led weaning. The product is solid and hard wearing so it will last for as long as you need it a great product, highly recommended.

Belo & Me Wardrobe Dividers

We had the lovely Woodland Animal Dividers (RRP: £8.49) to review. These dividers are designed to make life a little easier when it comes to baby clothes! There are 7 dividers in a pack and range from newborn size is all the way to 24 months. We found them extremely handy for separating the masses of clothes we were given for our newborn baby girl. The dividers come in all different colours, with cute pictures of animals on them. They are very sturdy therefore easy to determine the different sizes of clothes. We absolutely loved these to dividers and wondered how we managed before, this would make a lovely gift for a parent to be or as a stocking filler for a new parent.

PRESENTS FOR THE NEW PARENTS!

When shopping for Christmas gifts for new babies and children it’s always good to remember the parents, who may quite like a small gift at the same time to pamper themselves! We have reviewed a few of these products.

1 – Mr Bright Teeth Whitening Pen
2 – Vitness Drinks
3 – Bean Body Coffee Scrub

Mr Bright Teeth Whitening Pen

A perfect gift for a new mum or dad especially with all the photographs they will be getting the news baby. The teeth whitening pen, is it easy to follow instructions and give instant results. It is so easy to apply, just twist the pen and apply directly to the teeth, leave for about 30 minutes then rinse with warm water. Unlike most teeth whitening products this is chemical free and doesn’t use peroxide, which is excellent for people with sensitive teeth (like me!) also it is about the size of a regular pen and is easy portable, no mixing or fiddling required! The pen is safer to use on crowns, caps and veneers.

I can’t believe how good the results were, I honestly never expected to see results using this pen but even after the first application my teeth were brighter and appeared whiter, I have been using for 1 week now and I look forward to seeing what the final results will be in another week! Obviously results will not be as good as professional teeth whitening, or ones that use harsher chemicals, so your expectations should reflect that as ours did.

Vitness Drinks

Vitness are vitamin and collagen enriched drinks designed to help energise skin and maintain collagen production. It is advised to be have one drink every day for the best effects. Vitness claims to help with reducing fine lines and wrinkles, increasing skin hydration and promoting a youthful appearance. They come in three refreshing flavours; elderflower and chili, this is lovely and fresh with a kick of heat as you drink it, an usual flavour and my favourite one! Cucumber and melon, a very refreshing drink and rhubarb and rose, an usual flavour with floral hints – georgeous!

The drinks come as a 14 day trial box (£35), 30 day box (£70) or a subscription box (£65), a great idea for a gift that keeps giving, however the cost may be out of some peoples budget, worth checking the website for the different options.

Bean Body Coffee Scrub

This coffee scrub from www.beanbody.co.uk is not your normal body scrub! This comes in a funky packet just like freshly ground coffee would come in! It is coffee based but has coconut oil, vitamin E and sea salt, all vegan friendly products! The scrub has a lovely mix of smells including mandarin and coffee. When you initially scrub with it you smell the lovely coffee, you then leave for 5 minutes, and rinse. After the scrub has been rinsed off you are left with a lovely orange smell on your skin that lasts all day! This product really helped my dry patches of skin that were on my upper arm that has been left following the birth of our daughter. I would recommend this product for very dry skin as it has certainly helped smooth out my skin! It would make a lovely gift for a new mum, practical but funky make sure they are coffee lovers though, or love the smell of coffee! A great product! RRP: £14.95

We have loved reviewing all these fantastic gift ideas, there is something for everyone amongst these gifts!