2010 Holiday Gift Guide

It’s holiday shopping season, readers.

Actually, it’s been holiday shopping season since November 1, when all of my local retailers threw all of the Halloween merchandise into a clearance bin and started setting up Christmas trees!

We want you to have plenty of time to roast chestnuts, make hot chocolate and write fabulous holiday letters this year (because that’s what we do in our free time, right?), so we’ve put together our 2010 Holiday Gift Guide.

This gift guide will give you some great ideas for your holiday shopping. We’ve culled through all of the products we’ve written about this year and cherry-picked the best for you!

The gift guide has several sections, so feel free to skip directly to the part that interests you:

Mom Must-Haves

Best Bets for Baby

Preschooler Picks and

Standouts for School-Aged Kids

So let’s get right to shopping!

Mom Must-Haves

1. For The Chocoholic Mom: Chocomize Chocolate Bars

Chocolate may seem like a cliche holiday gift, but not when you’re giving it to a mom or girlfriend who needs and deserves a sweet pick-me-up. An upscale alternative to the normal box of chocolates, Chocomize Chocolate Bars let YOU pick what’s in the bar. You select the chocolate type (white, milk, dark) and the type of cool stuff to go in it. They have everything from nuts to uber-sweet Skittles to some really unusual stuff like diced lemon peel or crystallized rose petals.

With the basic bar running about $4 and most additional ingredients costing under $1 each, you can afford to buy several! Whether you pick a popular favorite like a dark chocolate bar with 23K gold flakes, or design your own from scratch, any mom is sure to love it!

2. For the Networked Mom: Shine Glossy Laptop Bag

Maybe there’s a mom or gal pal in your life who is always connected, and always on-the-go. Chances are, she’s lugging around a really ugly laptop bag while she stays plugged in. Why not up her style factor a bit with this Shine Glossy Laptop bag from Ice Red?

This gorgeous bag fits up to a 17″ laptop and has a separate organizer compartment for cell phone, keys,  papers, calendar, and whatever else we normally shove into the bottom of our purses!  The Shine Glossy Laptop Bag is available in four different colors – pink, red, black and silver – and sells for $69.95.

3. For The Eco-Conscious Mom: EcoJot Notebooks

If green’s her thing, consider a selection of beautiful recycled paper products for that environmentally conscious mom on your gift list. Ecojot has fabulous choices of notebooks, journals, calendars, cards and more. They’re made on acid-free, processed chlorine-free paper and board. Inks and glues are biodegradable. Even their manufacturing process uses locally available materials as much as possible.

But these products aren’t just great for the environment. They’re whimsical, beautiful and fun to use. At about $14 for a notebook, Ecojot products are reasonably priced, too!

Best Bets for Baby

1. Aden + Anais Dream Blankets

Every baby should have a wonderful, warm, snuggly, soft blanket. One they’ll keep with them through toddlerhood and beyond. One they’ll still think about when they’re all grown up. One they’ll want to give their own children. The Dream Blanket by Aden + Anais is that blanket.

Made of four separate layers of breathable cotton muslin, the Dream Blanket measures a generous 47 x 47 inches. It’s big enough for many years of snuggling. Dream Blankets are available in 9 different and beautiful patterns and cost $44.95 each.

2. Patemm Round Baby Changing Mat

Just because babies can be messy doesn’t mean your baby gear has to be so practical as to lack style. Skip the slimy, slippery vinyl changing mats for that little baby in your life and get him or her this versatile Patemm Changing Mat. This mat is gorgeous, and you can choose patterns made of 100% organic cotton or laminated cotton for easy wiping.

But Patemm isn’t just about style – it’s incredibly functional as well. First, it doubles as a play mat because it’s round and has some nice batting to it. Second, you can easily fold it up, so it’s small and portable for car trips and errands about town. Third, once you fold the Patemm, it has areas to store a wipe container, 1-2 diapers and a change of clothes (it does not hold bottles).

Once your baby outgrows the need for a changing mat, the Patemm can be used as a playmat for a toddler and can carry their change of clothes, crayons and other small toys. Patemm play mats run between $55 and $70, depending upon the fabric chosen.

3. Quemeez Moccasins

For a stylish and unique way to fancy up a baby’s feet, why not a pair of handmade moccasins by Quemeez? They are soft, comfortable and such a cute departure from the uber-trendy shoes every other baby is sporting. These moccasins are hand beaded by Algonquin beaders.

Designed specifically to stay on a baby’s foot, Quemeez are available with about 7 different bead designs on the top of the foot. For a nominal fee, the baby’s initials can also be placed on the moccasin. Quemeez run in sizes 1 through 10 and cost $40.

Preschooler Picks

1. Zoobies Stuffed Animals

Whether the little one on your gift list requires a blanket, a pillow AND a furry friend to sleep, or he’s just plain bananas over stuffed animals, a Zoobie is a fun choice for any preschooler. Zoobies are soft plush stuffed animals that can convert into a pillow…and then, a supersoft blanket.

Velcro straps convert the animal into a pillow, and the fleece blanket is inside a zippered compartment within the body of the animal. The blanket detaches and is fully washable. Zoobies come in a dizzying array of animals as well as popular storybook characters and cost $33 from the Zoobies website.

2. Teach Me Time! Talking Bedside Alarm Clock

The Teach Me Time clock is an ideal gift for a preschooler because it makes learning how to tell time fun, easy and entertaining. Equipped with a nightlight, this functional clock can work as a traditional clock or in educational mode. A child need only push the clock’s big foot to hear what time it is.

As the child grows, and wants to learn how to tell time himself, you can set the clock to ask the child what time it is. The child makes a guess and pushes the big foot to hear the right answer. The only drawback? Once a child knows how to tell time, there’s  not much ability to lie about when bedtime is! The Teach Me Time! Talking Bedside Alarm Clock and Night Light is available at Target for $39.99.

3. Skuut Bike

Bikes make a great holiday gift. There’s nothing like the squeals of delight when a child sees a big shiny bike under the tree. But for some kids, bikes can be scary. The Skuut Balance Bike is a terrific gift option if a child is between riding a tricycle and moving to a big kid bike.

Skuut bikes are designed to teach kids aged 2-5 to first learn how to push forward with their feet, then coast on two wheels with confidence. In many cases, it eliminates the need for training wheels on a big kid bike. It’s super light, super portable and only limited assembly is required (so important at midnight on Christmas Eve!).  Skuut bikes run about $90 and can be purchased from Amazon and specialty toy retailers.

Standouts for School-Aged Kids

1. First Spark Toshiba Laptop

A new laptop is a great gift choice for older kids. But until recently, there wasn’t a laptop available that was designed specifically for children. Now, there is! The Toshiba First Spark laptop has all of the features that a kid needs in a brilliant, hard-to-destroy package.

From the rugged exterior to the wipeable keyboard to the pre-loaded kid-friendly browsers, movies and games, this laptop is perfect for tech-savvy kids who are ready to move to the next level of computing.  The First Spark laptop is available exclusively at Best Buyfor $499.

2. Scribble Kit

Budding artists and poets-in-the-making will have plenty to rave about if they receive a Scribble Kit from Dwell Studio under the tree this year. This kit is perfect for long road trips, waiting at the doctor’s office, or just quiet time at home.

The Scribble Kit is a 10″ x 8″  entertainment tote with zipper closure. Open it up and the child finds a zippered interior pocket, perfect for storing crayons, decks of cards, scissors, craft supplies and more. On the other side is a scribble pad for drawing pictures, writing notes, or even making paper airplanes. The possibilities are endless and the style can’t be beat! Scribble Kits are available at Dwell Studio for about $21.

3. Family Dinner Games

For the child who likes dinner and a show, or who just needs to eat more vegetables, Family Time Fun Dinner Games will keep mealtime fun…and maybe even spark some interesting conversations! The Original Dinner Game is a set designed for families with kids ages 6-12. It contains 51 different mealtime games, all on laminated cards housed in a metal recipe-style box.

Some games focus on building math, vocabulary or memory skills; others address social situations commonly experienced by school-aged kids, and others are just silly and fun. But with names like Guess The Macaroni, Counting Moo, and Pass The Pepper, dinner is guaranteed to be anything but boring. The set will run you about $14 at Amazon.