droolicious : holiday shopping

10 Baby Gifts UNDER $10

Cathy Hale — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:30:00 GMT

Just in time for holiday shopping, BabyEarth unveiled a new "Under $10" gift category. There are lots of cute items to choose from, including plenty of organic and eco-friendly products. After much deliberation, here's my list of Top 10 Baby Gifts Under $10. Enjoy!

$8.00 - Organic Bear Teether by Under the Nile Organics

$6.00 - Boon No-Spill Sippy Cup

$9.00 - Roller with Sounds by Plan Toys

$9.95 - Green to Grow Bottle - 5 Oz.

$5.95 - "I do all my own stunts" Message Onesie

$7.50 - Baby Einstein Discover & Play Teether Book

$9.95 - The Oh-So-Famous WubbaNub Infant Pacifier

$8.95 - Organic Wash Cloths (set of three) by Bumkins

$9.00 - Mudpuppy Photo Album

$8.95 - HuggaCub Security Blanket

Toy Nostalgia: Mommy Remembers Fashion Plates and Barbie's Townhouse

Cathy Hale — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:45:00 GMT

Last month, as I was frantically trying to figure out which gadgets and gizmos I should buy for my two little birthday boys, I was suddenly struck with a wave of memories from my own childhood. And it consisted of two wonderfully fabulous toys - Fashion Plates and Barbies. Ah, those were the days. Let's revisit them for a moment...

My younger sister and I played with Fashion Plates all of the time. In fact, we named each ‘plate’ girl head and then renamed her when we switched her outfit. We had about 30 fictitious names committed to memory. When we got bored rubbing the girls onto paper, we started writing books. There were plots, personalities, do-gooders, evil characters, etc. We spent hours and hours coloring them and laughing at their silliness. I’m pretty sure my mom still has pages upon pages of our creations stored in a dusty forgotten box somewhere. Boy, would I love to see those again!

My other childhood obsession was Barbie Dolls. My sister and I each had about 15-20 Barbies and two small suitcases full of outfits, coats, dresses, gowns and teeny tiny shoes. To save time, we referred to single pieces of clothing as “clo” - pretty innovative, huh? I probably played with Barbie Dolls until I was 13 or 14 years old. That’s how simple my life used to be. My main concern was whether ‘Kim’ could wear her ruffled yellow dress with her matching yellow shoes. The vacuum cleaner was not a friend to Barbie’s shoes.

We had winking Barbies, posing Barbies that came with a camera, Malibu Barbies, fake Barbies, Ken Dolls, fake Ken Dolls, the Barbie dog that was really really fluffy… the list goes on and on. We named each one and gave them a story and their own special personality. ‘Sue’ was my sister’s most prized Barbie and ‘Kim’ was mine. ‘Julie’ was the most hated Barbie, ‘April’ was the ditz and ‘Star’ was the unlucky stunt Barbie that got stuck in trees on more than one occasion.

We had the townhouse and the yellow corvette, jeep and the horse trailer. Aside from the toys, what I remember most is the laughter. The completely spontaneous, genuine, goofy, loud, laughter. My sister and I had some of the greatest times ever playing in a room covered with Barbie paraphernalia. Taking a trip down memory lane certainly puts holiday shopping into perspective, doesn't it?

Modern Advent Calendar: Does it Exist?

Erin Behan — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:09:00 GMT

If you're not as crafty as flickr's modern cottage, you may have a hard time finding a modern-looking advent calendar (I did). The best selection of the best looking advent calendars that I could find, which coincidentally were also the best priced, all came from Target. My favorite for its minimal look and clean graphics is the above cream-colored advent calendar (on sale for $25). It's handpainted in a distressed white finish and the doors have a stay-closed locking system. See all of Target's advent calendars.

Charlie Harper Board Books at Old Navy

Erin Behan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:10:00 GMT

Interest in modern American wildlife artist Charlie Harper has seen a resurgence of late (death will do that for you), and now Old Navy has gotten into the picture with three beautiful board books that teach counting, the ABCs and coloring. The coloring book is only available at Oldnavy.com, and all are $9.50. I can't think of a better way to teach kids the basics and introduce them to a wonderful artist at the same time. This one's going to the top of my Christmas list.

Ho-Ho-Ho, Halloween's Over!

Aaron Burgess — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:04:00 GMT

Not that the impending shopping rush hasn't been crammed down our throats since, oh, before the economy collapsed, but here's a nice, affordable little way to kick-start your holiday '08 toy purchases: Playmobil's Santa Claus figure/stocking stuffer, just $3.29, and it comes with everything you see here (except for the snow -- you can keep that, Old Man Winter).

Babble Holiday Gift Guide Giveaways!

editors — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:30:00 GMT

Happy Holidays everybody! We’re very excited to announce our winners in the Babble Gift Guide Giveaway. Big thanks to all of you enthusiastic readers for entering. We were overwhelmed by the great response and are so happy to see you love our string dolls and whirling helicopters as much as we do. For those of you who haven’t taken a look, head on over to the guide so you can finish your shopping in the warmth of your own home/office/coffee shop. Then you can just hang out and lounge all weekend instead of going elbow to elbow at the mall.

Here are our winners:

Drummin’ Squirrel Onesie - Malissa dW from Reston, Virgina
Modern Bunny Bib – Kevin C from Wichita, Kansas
World Snack Books – Jennifer S from Wilmington, Delaware
BOB the Screentime Controller - Melanie C from Groton, Conneticut
Isadora the Odkin – Charlotte P from New York, New York
Girls Guitar Shirt - Kiersten M from New York, New York

Congratulations!