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!

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…

When I spotted this set of Elvis Presley Russian nesting dolls — you know, where you open the wooden doll shape to reveal a smaller one; open it and there’s a smaller one yet; and so on — it sparked all sorts of ideas!

Decoupage, my friends!

See, I knew you could get blank (unpainted) sets of Russian nesting dolls (Amazon’s got them in the $10-$16 range, depending on how fancy you want to get, and who the vendor is), but I’ve always been a bit intimidated by the idea of trying to do a good enough painting job to justify the purchase. You know, the whole charm of the Russian dolls depends on the decoration…

Then I saw Elvis.

And after I finished laughing, this idea came along:

You could make your own Elvis set of nesting dolls by applying cut-out pictures of The King with decoupage glue onto the blank wooden dolls.

Or, of course, you could make a set of dolls for whatever celebrity you have a not-so-secret passion for… or more than one. The members of AC/DC, maybe, or all the actors who have played James Bond?

Or never mind a celebrity — what about Russian nesting dolls to represent your family?

Take photographs of the members of your family, and decoupage them onto nesting dolls in order of age and size. If you’ve got a small family and run out of people before you run out of dolls (I believe most sets have 5 figures), then make the smallest ones into your dog and cat — heck, do a favourite houseplant, for that matter! An awesome gift for a grandparent, don’t you think?

Only a soul that’s devoid of joy can fail to love a good sock monkey, or to smile at that goofy knitted-primate face and gangling limbs. More fun yet, when the sock monkey gets celebrity status!

This little guy, from the Sock Monkey Jungle of Lancashire, UK, channels Elton John at his most groovy, complete with over-sized sunglasses and a star-spangled red-striped outfit you wouldn’t have been caught dead in even in the depth of Disco Days. (The slouchy newsboy cap? Maybe.)

A self-described “sock monkey addict,” crafter Blue Saphire makes a wide range of unique sock monkey characters — from amusing rips of Batman, Rocky, and even Santa Claus — to girly-girl monkeys with fancy party frocks and long flowing hair. And I spotted a Bride and Groom couple, which seems to me just about the perfect wedding gift — way better than giving the newlyweds yet another waffle iron!

Gift certificates, sock monkey kits and patterns, even sock monkey notecards, as well as the cuddly critters themselves, can be found at bluesaphire.etsy.com.

Okay, girls, let’s talk about Wedding Favours: those little gifts for your guests that also serve to decorate the tables at your reception. I beg you right now, forget all about those tacky little plastic cups filled with after-dinner mints and wrapped in tulle. Really? No one is impressed with that originality. And no one over the age of 5 will eat the candy… You can do much better, for quite a low cost.

Ta-dah!

When my own beloved soon-to-be-niece asked about personalized flower seed packets as a wedding favour / guest gift, I went looking for a simple-yet-elegant version in her chosen wedding-theme colours (celadon green, with many shades of white).

This 3″ x 3″ favour is a combination of two pieces of paper — your chosen colour and a translucent piece with your personal wedding details printed on it — with box-folded corners to keep the seed packet safe inside.

I always worry about getting stuck with a soppy pre-printed message on personalized items, but here again we’re in luck! The message inside is smply this:

Thank you for sharing this special day. Please plant these seeds to create a garden of lasting memories.

You get to choose from a bunch of different flower seed types, and complete growing instructions are included. Some assembly is required, but heck, what are all those bridesmaids for?

The price is $1.55 each if you’re ordering 100 or more, $1.65 for 50+ pieces, and so on; available at Plant A Memory.

We are the only ones to blame when the old family memories start to fade or our traditions are lost to future generations. Kate Walling suggests a way that we can help to preserve the past— put together a family time capsule! Hey, if it was good enough for our skyscraper-building forefathers…

Why not find a really special container (an antique sea-chest? a Chinese urn? a hand-crafted wooden puzzle box?) to make it a decorative accent to display, a conversation piece as well as a piece of treasured family history?

Preserve Family Traditions with a Time Capsule

by Kate Walling

American kitchens pretty much want for nothing anymore. From the ever-convenient microwave to electric ice cream and bread makers, we have access to tools that help us make just about anything we want in our own kitchens. There is no shortage of ingredients, either. I can get exotic fruits and spices at my local grocery store. I can buy as much flour and butter as I want.

My grandmother Betsy recently explained to me how cooking and meals changed during World War II. During that time, sugar, coffee, butter and beef-steak were among the types of foods that were in short supply. Women were encouraged to plant “victory gardens,” that would provide food for the family if even harder times arose – such as an attack on American soil.

I am amazed by these stories, but I have to say, I want proof! Not that I don’t believe my grandmother, but I want to hold a package of powdered margarine in my hand or see a ration ticket. Through mementos like these, we are able to experience what our grandparents and other relatives went through; know more intimately what was happening in their world. Keepsakes such as these provide us with a unique view of how our families evolved and why certain traditions came to be.

The simplicity of establishing a family tradition is making sure it is passed down from one generation to the next. Stories from the past, whether they involve recipes or what people did for a good time back then, are one of the best ways to keep those memories alive as well as help ensure that family traditions persevere. Another great way to safeguard tradition is to create a time capsule.

Time capsules never seem to decrease in popularity – they’ve simply evolved over the years. When you think of a time capsule, you probably imagine something you fill with mementos and bury, right? Well, today’s time capsules take many forms – from custom-made scrapbooks to video diaries. It is easier than ever to preserve our memories, so why aren’t more of us doing it?

The beauty of a family time capsule is that there are no rules. The dated, penciled-in lines that record your children’s changing heights on the door jam even qualify. Here are some ideas for creating a time capsule for your family that will withstand the test of time:

Birthdays: Create a time capsule that captures the memories of each family member’s birthday. In the beginning of the year, designate a box for birthday memories. Be sure to take pictures at each family member’s birthday celebration and record party attendees, birthday cake details, gifts asked for and those received. Place that year’s birthday memories in the box, date it by year and stash it away. Make a rule that you must wait at least five years to sneak back into a birthday box.

Christmas/Holiday Book: Purchase a large, hard cover journal with blank pages. Ask each family member to record an entry each year, listing three important things that happened to them that year. You can start the book when the kids are in elementary school and maintain it long after they’ve moved away and started their own families, returning each year during the holidays.

Summer Vacation: Does your family return to the same vacation spot each summer? Use this opportunity to capture memories and preserve them in a vacation time capsule. From photos to recipes and videos, be sure to note what the weather was like that week, who was there, and what was the best part? As children grow and start families of their own, they may return to this same place to start their own family traditions.

Family Meals: Do you need to pull out a couple card tables when your family gathers for a meal? If so, chances are there are some well-loved family recipes being served year after year. Ask family cooks to write down these recipes, take pictures of the family during mealtime, record memories and details on special event meals. This way, you can pass on the memories as well as your family’s traditional foods.

Whichever theme you decide on, or even if you don’t choose a theme, be sure to include some standard time capsule components: a recent newspaper, coins, postcards, or a listing of top news events. This will provide a backdrop for your memories when you crack open the capsule sometime down the road. Write names and dates on the backs of photos and other items and do not include perishable items! You may love your Mom’s chocolate chip cookies, but you won’t after 10 years in a box. Use the recipe instead!

We are the only ones to blame when it comes to fading family memories or lost traditions. Taking the time to protect these traditions now is the best way to guarantee that they endure.

About the Author:
Kate Walling is founder of Secret Ingredients (www.TheSecretIngredients.com). She so cherished the traditions passed down in her family that she came up with a way to help other families do the same by creating personalized heirloom cookbooks. Visit http://www.thesecretingredients.com or contact her at kate@thesecretingredients.com. Article Source: ArticlesOn.com.

While looking around for gift ideas that fit with our family’s philosophy of trying to “live lightly on the earth” I came across a good idea in the Eneract Newsletter:

Always keep in mind that the best gift is one that uses the least resources. So write a letter, sing a song, promise to paint a wall, help install their new fluorescent fixtures or programmable thermostat or cook them dinner. How about making something? (but please, guys and gals, no cheesy gifts or I’m sending them right back!)

No one would send back a thoughtful homemade (and “green”!) gift like this, however:

Homemade Mulling Spices

Combine equal portions of cloves and whole, dried allspice berries. Place 2 tablespoons of the mixture into the middle of a small square of cheese cloth along with 1/2 a tablespoon of ground nutmeg.

Tie the top of the bundle along with two sticks of cinnamon — a perfect package for mulling 6 cups of cider!

Package it in a reusable container, write the instructions (1 unopened package in 6 cups of cider, heat gently) on a card and … voila!

That’s just one idea — and Eneract has an entire fact sheet of other green gift ideas that you can check out for more inspiration!

Layer a few colourful ingredients in a wide-mouthed Mason jar, decorate the lid with fabric, ribbon, dried flowers, etc., and tie on a small wooden spoon or cute cookie cutter — and you’ve got a quick and easy gift that’s sure to be appreciated.

Take a little Google around the internet and you’ll find plenty of recipes for cookies, soup mixes, and more.

Better yet, adapt one of your own favourite recipes for a truly personal touch! Makes a nice gift for busy single parents or elderly friends who appreciated home-made goodies, as well as a popular item at craft sales and church bazaars.

Don’t forget to label the jar with instructions for how to mix and bake!