Stocking Stuffer Ideas For Preschoolers and Toddlers

I'm on a roll, posting once a year, woo woo!  It's that time of year again, so I thought I would share some things I am thinking of using as stocking stuffers for my kids.  Once again I have a son and a daughter, so some of these things are a little gender specific.  I love these ages, it seems so easy to buy gifts for, because they are excited about EVERYTHING! I must warn you that my kids are really into art right now and we had a recent trip to IKEA, sorry!

Preschool Boy:

(Age 3 1/2)

01:  IKEA hand powered flashlight 

(These the the BEST, especially for night time potty runs!)

02:  Marvel Super Hero Figures

03:  Flossers

04:  Magic Wash Rag (I buy them at Dollar Tree)

05:  Slippers 

06:  Chalkboard Chalk

07:  Smelly Markers

08:  Sandwich cutters 

09:  Straws

10:  Card Game

Toddler Girl:

(Age 19 months)

01:  Melissa & Doug Color Flap Mirror

02:  Baby Doll Bottle

03:  Bath Books (Dollar spot at Target or Dollar Tree usually has them)

04:  Small Stuffed Animal

05:  Flashing Ball

06:  Toddler Markers

07:  Jumbo Crayons (They say they're harder to break, I hope so!)

08:  Panties (I'm hopeful!)

09:  Toothbrush

10:  Detangling Brush (My friend Livia just did a post about these, I'm excited!)

We will throw in a couple cutie oranges and a candy cane and call it good!  Some of these won't end up in the stockings and will probably just get wrapped as a gift.  What are some of your favorite stocking stuffers for these ages?

Mama Style

Hi, remember me?  Yeah, I have been really bad about blogging, but I managed to get a post done for my cute friend Livia's Mama Style series.  Check it out HERE.

Family Picture Editing


It's been ages since I posted, but I wanted to share my family photos for 2012. I really LOVE how they turned out, and my dear friend Brandee did an amazing job as our photographer. I don't have photoshop, but I wanted to share a little secret of mine. I did all the photo editing MYSELF!! There's an amazing photo editing website I use. Right now, many of the premium features are FREE. So get your Holiday pictures taken, and upload them to Picmonkey, and see how GORGEOUS you can be.

BEFORE:

AFTER: (eyebrightening, spray-tanning, cloning, and cropping)

Stocking stuffer ideas for babies and toddlers.

I bought these stockings years and years ago, when I was single.  Why I bought such a random number, 3, I dunno.  I have to get some new ones this year, since we are now a family of 4!

When it comes to holiday shopping, I spread mine out for a couple months, and then I like to be completely done by black friday weekend.  I like to be done, so that during the Christmas season, I can sit back, relax, serve others, and enjoy the season.  This also means I have *most* of my stocking stuffer presents already done too.  I have to pick up little clementines right before the holiday, so they obviously don't go bad.  This year since I have a baby and a toddler I started thinking of fun things for Santa to put in their stockings.  Once I started thinking, I got a pretty good list going, so I thought I would share it.  Obviously, I am not going to put all of these things in them, that would be some big stockings!

Since I have a boy and a girl, these are specific to them, but some of these items you could find for either gender.

Toddler Boy:
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Bubblebath
Travel size loofah (I have found these are perfect for babies and toddlers!)
Character Bandaids
Matchbox car
Disney movie (Cars, Incredibles, etc.)
Mini Magna Doodle
Kids tape measure (My son LOVES playing with Daddy's.)
Glow sticks for bath time
Roll of pennies (He will love putting them in his piggy bank one by one!)
Camelbak water bottle
Bath Boats
Mini boxes of raisins
Small bag of pistachios (Weird, but my 2 1/2 year old LOVES them.)
Clementines

Baby Girl:
Toothbrush
Travel size loofah
Baby Bee wash
Piggy Paint Nail Polish (I like to paint her toes!)
Soft headband
Mermaid rattle (they have pirates too!)
Sili squeeze or baby food pack (I really like the sili squeeze my sister in law gave me!!)
Fisher Price Disney Princesses
Camelbak water bottle (I found out my 5 month old can drink out of it when she grabbed mine!)
Teether
Disney movie (I know she is way too young, but better start the collection now!)
Tights
Trumpette Socks (These actually stay on!)
Board Book
Sinucleanse kids mist

What are your favorite stocking stuffers for babies or toddlers??

One Dollar Wednesday...mini rubber band organization.

I have three little girls. They have lots of hair...lots of hair means lots of hair accessories. I always buy the rainbow colored, mini rubber bands for my two youngest. I have always stored them in a plastic sandwich bag. Why? I have mo idea...ghetto..yes. It worked for us though. I finally decided, one chaotic morning, that i was tired of digging through the bag to find the right color of band. I knew a trip to The Dollar Tree would give some ideas to organize these little guys.




This pillbox, was just what I needed, though I didn't care for the days of the week on top. I swiped them with a cotton ball dipped in acetone fingernail polish remover, and off came the days of the week.

Before:

During:

After:

So easy, and so organized!!

Money Saving Monday

We've all seen them...the FABULOUS posts about making your own laundry detergent, and saving "LOADS" of money. I fully support that type of thing! Unfortunately, my time manager, does not. This little money saving trick took me mere minutes to complete... and that, my friends, is all the time I have for "projects" these days. I gathered my supplies: My "DELIGHTFUL~touch of softness~ detergent" that I LOVE!! My cheap-o, store brand detergent, and a large empty container.

I just mixed them up together (2 cheapo scoops, per one lovely scoop).

I printed out a cute label... though I wanted color...our ink is out.

Adhered my label to my plastic container, and ended up with this...

Not too shabby for 5-10 minutes of work. It still smells like lovely lavender, but I have twice as much!!

Thrifty Thursday

I just wanted to share a little project that I completed recently.

I got this coffee table at my local thrift store. I loved the lines of it, and thought it had great potential. The finish HAD to go though...

I topped it with a quick coat of primer, and followed up with a couple coats of "oops" paint that I found at the Home Depot. I sanded it a little, for a distressed look.

Then finished the whole thing off with a couple coats of poly. I LOVED the original hardware, so I just gave it a quick coat of black spray paint...

What do you think...do you like how it turned out? If you're in Arizona and are interested in purchasing this table, leave a comment and I can work out a GREAT deal for you!!