What are the most-wanted toys on kids’ holiday gift lists for 2011? Best to ask the experts — the kids themselves!

And that’s just what The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis does to produce its annual Top 10 list of kid-tested, kid-approved toys.

Each fall, the museum store invites children to test the newest toys, then vote on their favourites for the upcoming holiday season.

Can you begin to imagine how much fun that would be for the staff? I’m so jealous. :)

Here is the list of this year’s winners — I’ve sorted them by recommended age group — all available from The Children’s Museum Store or online:

• Barbie “Jam with Me” Rock Star Guitar (Ages 3+)
  Jam with Barbie with this toy electric guitar. Connect your MP3 player to jam along with your own tunes, take the guitar challenge and play along with Barbie, or just freeplay to create your own awesome songs!
  $39.95

• Water Wizard (Ages 3+)
  The water wizard lets you draw and create over and over again using only water! As the screen dries the images disappear leaving it ready for another amazing creation.
  $19.95

• Barbie Giant Activity Floor Pad (Ages 3+)
  This complete activity set includes crayons, marker, paints, paintbrush, scissors and gluestick along with 40 fun fashion activities!
  $14.95

• Flying Turtle (Ages 3-12)
  The best toy for active play, kids have a blast zipping around on the flying turtle! But since it is entirely kid powered, they get a ton of great exercise at the same time!
  $79.95

• Playmobil Pirates Prison with Ship (Ages 4+)
  This fun Pirate themed set from Playmobil includes large pirate ship, small row boat, island, prison, and all the people and accessories you need to create an amazing imaginary world.
  $59.95

• Darda Fireball Climb (Ages 4+)
  The World’s Fastest Motorized Cars! This race car and track set is completely kid powered! No batteries or electricity required. Just wind the car and watch it zip through the loops and twists!
  $39.95

• OgoBild Pod (Ages 6+)
  A brilliant combination of active and constructive play. Ogo Bild Pods lets your child build giant structures like bouncing balls and forts.
  $39.95

• Perplexus Original (Ages 6+)
  Perplexus Original is a bendy, trendy, can’t put it down challenge! With plenty of twists, turns, and barriers between start and finish, this puzzle ball will leave you perplexed!
  $24.95

• Laser Pegs 3D Lite Board (Ages 7+)
  This is the Ultimate Laser Pegs Kit – the world’s only lighted construction set! The 3D Lite Board gives you 40 power connectors on one board so you can build anything you can imagine.
  $85.95

• FyrFlyz (Ages 8+)
  Create amazing light shows by spinning, swinging and twirling your FyrFlyz.
  $11.95

Adults in need of holiday gift ideas for the children in their lives can make purchases from the Kid-Tested, Kid-Approved list and The Museum Store holiday toy catalogue both in the store or online at www.childrensmuseum.org/kid-tested.

What I like about most of the toys on this list — and most of the toys you’ll find carried by most museum gift shops, come to that — is that they’re both fun and educational, and especially good for stimulating the creativity of young minds. And most of the toys on this list would be fun for siblings to play with together, even where there are a couple of years between the kids in age.

Also very cool for parents’ on-going expenses, a number of these items are totally kid-powered and run on imagination — no batteries required — like that awesome Darda Fireball Climb race track!

Of course I’d love to see a most-wanted toy list where and fewer of the toys that are pointed at a particular gender (I’m looking at you, Barbie!). A losing battle, there, do you think? Okay, okay, the politically-correct Grinch is moving on…

Stay tuned for more great out of the ordinary gift ideas for kids — and for us big kids, too!

Okay, okay, I know you’ve probably all seen this amazing YouTube video before — the one where a whole group of trained dogs are home alone and they decorate the Christmas tree — but let’s enjoy the smart doggies one more time, heading into the holidays!

This is like a Christmas pageant for a dog training school (in Hungary, isn’t it?) and a really clever idea! If you watch carefully, you’ll be able to see what behaviours each of the dogs has been trained to do (opening the cupboard door, pulling the garland, carrying the Christmas balls, or whatever) and how the bits are all edited together to make this impressive show…

But you’d never see a video like this coming out of a dog obedience school in most major cities in the US or Canada.

Want to know why?

Because they’ve got unneutered pitbulls running around off-leash in the same room as other dogs, including a tiny toy poodle. And with all the successful push for breed-specific dog bans we’ve had in North America, people have come to believe — misguidedly — that certain breeds of big powerful dogs cannot be trained or trusted.

Hope this happy little Merry Christmas doggy video helps to counter that narrow opinion, and help the advocates for breed-specific legislation see that all dogs are individual characters — just like people — regardless of their shape, size, or breed!

Have a Very Merry Christmas & New Year’s Holidays, everyone!
Woof woof!

If someone on your “social obligations” Christmas gift list has a little girl… and that little girl is a fan of Hannah Montana… but, truth be told, you really don’t like her parents all that much… here’s the perfect (slightly evil) gift.

For about ten bucks, you can pick up a singing Hannah Montana collector doll.

She comes with a snazzy outfit that the kid can put on and take off her until it falls apart, a doll display stand that someone’s bound to step on, and a delightfully tacky Hannah Montana “keepsake” in a convincing gift box.

Apparently, batteries actually are included, too!

But don’t let that fool you — this toy has genuine potential to ruin a parent’s holiday.

Because the Hannah Montana doll only knows one tune — she’ll sing Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree until every adult in the house wants to smash the doll with a case of Tylenol bottles.

How perfect is that?

Delight the child.
Annoy the parents.
And most likely get yourself off the hook for giving anything to that particular family next year!

Really, it’s the next best thing to giving the kid a drum kit for Christmas…

Allow me to introduce the lovely and talented Ching Ya, a dear friend and social media geek with a delighthful creative streak. Today, she’ll teach us how to fold our own paper stars in this photo tutorial. Enjoy! ~ Jen

The Cute Little Stars

Twinkle twinkle little stars
How colorful and adorable you are…

I’ve always loved them, it’s my dream to hold the stars in my hands and admire their beauty.

Guess what? My dream came true after all!

Cute isn’t it?

I sprinkle these little ones around my Christmas corner, along with the tree of course.

So, do you want to spice up your Christmas decorations with these little ones? I can assure you, by the time you finished reading these instructions, you’re gonna shout out, “OMG!! It’s THAT simple??”

How To Fold Your Little Paper Stars

What do you need?

A half-used colored/wrapping paper (I prefer recycled ones, you could use brand new if you like), a ruler and scissors. That’s it.

Are you ready to rumble?
Here goes:

Step 1.
Measure and cut a strip approximately 1cm width and 20-25cm in length (depends on your liking).

Step 2.
Do it as if you are making a perfect knot.

Step 3.
Make sure ‘A’ is on top of the tail. Then continue to tuck ‘A’ inside the hole.

Step 4.
Pull ‘A’ through gently and flatten the knot.

Reminder – Make sure ‘A’ is neither too long nor short. A considerable length as shown in the picture will be just right.

Step 5.
Bend the excessive end to the back. (Cut it off if too long.) Now a pentagon is formed.

Step 6.
Bend the long tail according to the sides of the pentagon. That is, go up from underneath the pentagon as illustrated, following the direction of the blue dotted line.

Continue the ‘pentagon-wrapping’ method (see next 4 photographs) until it almost reaches the end.

Here’s what your star will look like at this point:

Step 7.
Slip the tail into the body of the pentagon. Cut off the excessive part if necessary.

Step 8.
Hold your pentagon as shown in the next photograph. Press in hard until the pointed ends are formed.

Continue pinching with other sides until the star becomes “puffy”…

… and VOILA!!

Now you can carry on with as many of them as you wish. Even fill up a jar with stars, and give it as a present to your loved ones. Now they’ll never running out of wishing stars for Christmas!

Ching Ya loves traveling, photography, and acoustic guitar! She owns a blog It’s My Life ~ It’s Now Or Never where she talks about her interests in movies, music, events & occasions, fun sites, personal thoughts as well. It’s her passion to write and share the fun with her readers. That’s why she has a Christmas theme on-going right as we speak!It’s All About Christmas so why not check it out and get into the groove? Or visit Ching Ya at Drama Sum It Up, where she follows her favourite TV drama -– currently, that’s “Prison Break.”

Heirlooms to treasure, or just plain creative family fun — either way, there’s a special magic to Christmas decorations that you make yourself at home, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Here’s a round-up of patterns and how-to tutorials for frugal holiday decorations that you can make yourself:

Cardboard, glue, tiny pine cones, and scraps of birchbark — topped off with a sprinkle of glitter, the only special craft item you’ll need to do this — create a rustic miniature Christmas village! Kristin Nicholas –”Getting Stitched on the Farm” — gives a clear step-by-step tutorial for making your own.

Snuggle the houses on a landscape of poly fibrefill or quilt batting snow, if you’ve got some on hand, or just drape a white cloth over crumbled balls of newspaper to make a winter landscape to showcase the minature village.

Squawkfox makes soft stuffies in the shape of tiny trees from leftover scraps of fabric. Quick and easy to sew, it’s a great project for anyone just learning to sew — and you can have amazing fun in embellishing the simple stuffed trees with buttons and bows and fabric paints, whatever you have on hand! Download her printable 2-piece pattern and make yourself a whole forest of stuffies!

Popcorn garlands were always a part of Christmas when I was a child, for example. Sometimes we’d have a bag of those big burgundy-red cranberries to string along with the popcorn — beauty! And sometimes the family dog would sneak a snack from the Christmas tree. I still smile at the memories…

Becca spreads the seasonal joy (and festive decorations) outdoors, with molded bird seed treats — pretty wreaths to feed the birds while they decorate the trees in your yard. (These would make a terrific frugal gift for a birdlover, too!)

Tiny pieces of felt, a little stuffing, and a couple of paperclips — that’s all it takes to make these cute ice skates mini-ornaments from a tutorial by Not Quite Vintage (inspired by her grandmother). Add sequins or seed beads for buttons, or whip a bit of colourful embroidery floss up the front edge to look like laces.

Another favourite do-it-yourself Christmas decoration around our place, growing up, was salt dough modelling clay we’d shape like Play-do into stars and trees and angels, bake in the oven until they dried, then add a touch of craft paint and a ribbon for hanging… My salt dough modelling clay recipe is here, if you want to give it a try for yourself.

Maybe paper crafts are more your style?

Design Sponge has the DIY on this clever paper ball ornament — make a whole lot of them from those tag-ends of gift wrapping paper that are too small to use for much else, and dangle from a swagged evergreen garland, or hang them in a window or on your tree.

Want more Christmas paper crafts? You can find instructions for making the best ever 3-d paper snowflake at Cut Out and Keep . (I tell you, forget those paper snowflakes you might have made in kindergarten — this is in a whole other class!)

And if you’re short on time and/or patience, but you still want the snowflake bling, you can always go for this pretty blue snowflake, from the collection of free printables at Canon.

At the price of printer ink, though, I’d be inclined to print out one copy of the pattern and use it as a template for making snowflakes from plain white paper. I’ve done something similar with lightweight cardstock (empty cereal boxes, actually), then used a little thinned-down white glue and glitter to make them into stars…

This year, the holidays are going to be especially tough for a lot of families — so what better time to rediscover the true meaning of the season, sitting down with the kids to create new traditions that have more to do with sharing the moment than with spending hard-earned money at the mall?

Today’s guest is DazzlinDonna, who lives up to her name with a simply dazzling personalized gift idea that combines the virtues of thrift and creativity with the kind of real meaning we seek in the holiday season. Thanks for sharing this, Donna! ~Jen

Christmas Remembrance Gifts

The holiday season is meant to be a joyous one, but as we age we often must deal with loss. Many of us have lost parents and grandparents, or other family members in the past, and they are very much missed at holiday gatherings. Nevertheless, they can still be a part of the festivities as we honor them with remembrance gifts.

I like to give remembrance gifts that utilize some bits of the loved one’s favorite clothing, knick-knacks, or crafts. For example, this year, we purchased several cobalt-blue glass jars from the local Dollar store (for $1 each), along with a few bags of pot-pourri. We then used my grandmother-in-law’s old lace doilies that she had crocheted many years ago, wrapped one around each vase, and tied a ribbon around the neck of the vase to keep the doily “attached” to the vase. Next, we simply filled the vase with pot-pourri, and it was ready to be given to her grandchildren as a gift to remember her by.

Of course, you don’t have to use a doily. You could cut up an old flannel shirt that your father used to always wear, or a cotton sweater that was a favorite of your mom’s, or any piece of cloth that represents someone’s past life. As long as the item evokes memories, it can be used in some way to create a remembrance gift, even if it is as simple as placing it within a nice frame.

A few years ago, I purchased several hair brushes that were identical to the one that my mother had used for as long as any of us could remember. I gave one to each sibling. It wasn’t the exact same brush we’d all used as kids, but it looked just like it, and that is enough to keep her in our hearts each time we use it now.

Little remembrance gifts such as these can make the holidays much more special as we honor those who used to share the holidays with us. May you and your family have a wonderful holiday season, and may you share your memories in very special ways, each and every year.

~ DazzlinDonna

Technorati Tags: Christmas, gifts, guest post

Elizabeth, over at the Chic Design Cafe, got me into browsing the Christmas ornaments at West Elm — Not your Grandma’s Christmas ornaments, she says, and right on!

Venetian glass lizards for the Christmas tree, anyone?

Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like an elegant reptile…

Can the way you shape your family’s Christmas traditions help your kids to avoid those adult diet pitfalls? Our favourite guest foodie, Guilherme Zo’C, thinks so — and he makes a compelling point about the role of food in our holiday memories. ~ Jen

Start a Healthy New Holiday Tradition

How your Christmas celebrations can help your children to succeed with their New Year’s resolutions

Christmas is upon us and at this time of the year we are often full of the fondest memories of childhood, of simpler times, of delicious Christmas feasts, of a time where, for most people there was no concern about the weight. But also these days, in some cultures, it is time to see that another year has passed and maybe it’s time to include, once again, lose weight into the New Year’s resolutions list.

I have seen, time and again, people who are on some kind of weight control make a break during Christmas celebrations because, in theory, it is too hard not to abuse of food on Christmas. Christmas is this time of the year when all should seem magical and effortless but requires us a lot of effort to do it so.

Going through Christmas without food abuse seems a complete betrayal of our childhood memories, and we must sacrifice something to honor them. After all, this kind of memories help us to hang on when difficult times arise along the year and they deserve to be as special as they can.

The taste of food is strongly cultural, you learn to like food as you grow. That is clearly visible when you see how cuisines can be easily classified by geographical criteria, and how the taste of a culture is often linked to products available in the region: naturals as well as industrialized.

The very fact that Christmas food remains the same year after year is proof of that. There is no reason why some food is better on a certain day of the year, other than a cultural one.

Now, what if our fondest Christmas memories were linked to healthy food and healthy habits in healthy amounts? Probably it would be those habits that would help us overcome the difficulties along the year, and maybe we would reach New Year’s Eve without having weight-loss as a challenge for the following year.

Even if it seems impossible to change old habits and seems that is too late for us, the old ones, it is just the perfect time for those who are children today and will have healthier memories in their future. And because food taste is strongly cultural, there is no reason why a healthy Christmas feast can’t be delicious.

Guilherme is a Web Designer and works freelance in northern Italy.

He is happily married to Anna, and in his free time he enjoys cinema, traveling, cooking and eating.

Here it is November… what, the 26th already?

And you’ve got no Advent calendar to keep the little kiddies calm through the pre-Christmas countdown?

Marilyn Scott-Waters, The Toymaker, can bail you out with her free printable Advent calendar.

Just grab the two PDF files from Marilyn’s Christmas web page, and fire up the ol’ colour printer.

You’re going to print out one copy of each page. On the page with the Christmas tree picture, cut out three sides of each of the numbered doors.

The second page is glued on behind, with tiny seasonal pictures to be revealed as each door is opened day by day through December.

Easy-peasy!

For a last-minute Advent calendar, you can’t beat a quick (free) print job.

And the Toymaker’s design has real old-fashioned charm — like all of her paper toys — but all the speed and convenience that a busy modern parent could hope for.

A colourful wreath hand-sewn from sweater remnants gives an eco-friendly twist to a traditional holiday decoration, in one of the more imaginative recycling ideas of the season.

It reminds me a bit of those wreaths made with tied strips of plastic bags that I’ve mentioned before, but only in the sense of an unconventional material used to fill out the basic wire wreath armature — the sweater fabric makes these wreaths so much more warm and friendly!


And while we’re keeping old sweaters out of the landfill and turning them to a festive purpose, why not go for sweater-sewn Christmas stockings, too?

These stockings each have a tiny outside pocket to hold an extra-special small gift.

Round out the woolly winter decor with ball-shaped ornaments bound with colourful yarn — somewhere between a homemade toy for a very pampered cat, and the layer-wrapped gift balls that the Victorians so enjoyed.

All three style of decorations are found in the Eco Accents section at Viva Terra.

Now here’s a clever idea for a Christmas decoration!

LOVE DOVE is a greeting card which transforms into a hanging decoration. The red heart and white dove from the front of the card pop out and lock together forming the body and the wings of this 3D dove.

The pretty birds are just one of the inventive paper-based designs from Polli’s range of modern Christmas ornaments, designed for tabletop or tree.

Here’s another clever Advent calendar to make yourself, all thrifty and creative…

And I’m really liking this as a great way to re-use those styrofoam flats that are still widely used for protective packaging (like when you buy electronics gear), because many recycling programs won’t let you put them out in your recycling bin.

Anyway, this particular Advent calendar is the invention of a crafty Texas chick who goes by the name of burstandbloom on the Craftster forums. She’s thoughtfully provided a tutorial for making this advent calendar, with photographs of each step — but here’s the general idea:

1. Cut out 24 circles from a block of styrofoam — and see how nice B&B’s calendar looks, with an asymmetrical arrangement of different sized circles! That took a little advance planning, for sure!
2. Cover the raw edges of styrofoam with festive holiday paper, using a rough decoupage technique (glue it all down and shellac over it with Mod Podge or a similar clear protective goop), then embellish your calendar as you like.
3. Cover a piece of thin cardboard with pretty paper and glue it on the back.
4. Cut circles of cardboard large enough to cover the circle cut-outs in the styrofoam, and decorate them as you like, pinning each in place with a tab and a brad so they can be flipped up to reveal a tiny surprise inside.

You’re on your own for deciding what should go in each day’s hole in your Advent calendar, but I have faith that won’t be a big problem! You can’t go wrong with foil-wrapped chocolates…

B&B picked items that had special meaning for herself and her boyfriend — like a miniature cow, referring to an inside joke — or an object that signified a special holiday activity that she had planned for that day, like miniature cookie cutters for the day they’d bake Christmas cookies together or a tiny gift box for the day they’d be wrapping up gifts…