December is here and if you are anything like us, you have been Christmas shopping since August. Well, at least perusing and seeing what special items you can give to others this Christmas. Both of us get SO MUCH JOY when we get to give gifts to others and of course that includes our children.

Today, we are sharing many of the items that we are gifting our kids this year or friends of ours, and you can tell there are a few that just fit our kids interests so well.

We know the importance of reading aloud to our kids so we always like to give our kids “something to read” at Christmas time. Raincoast Books is a Canadian publisher that feature so many incredible books for children. We love adding a few holiday themed books to our line up and this year some of our favourites are: How to Hide a Lion at Christmas, Santa is Coming to Canada, Santa’s Cookies, and 12 Little Elves Visit Canada. These titles can all be found on Amazon.ca or at Indigo.ca.

As kids we grew up doing puzzles, especially at Christmas. I remember many years of taking all the puzzles we owned off the shelf and completing them together as siblings over Christmas break. We have instilled this love for puzzles in our kids and Ravensburger has the best ones! Woodland Friends, Firehouse Frenzy and Heartsong will make their way into our children’s stockings this year.

In addition to puzzles, Ravensburger also has a plethora of board games that are great to give as a family gift this Christmas. We grew up having family games night and that has definitely instilled in us the importance of making time to play together as a family on a daily/weekly basis. Brio’s My First Farm is a great first train for any young child. The set comes complete with a track, a few train vehicles and some wooden farm animals.

We have children in the 0-7 age range so here are a few new games we are adding to our collection this year: Make n Break Junior - a building challenge game, Friends of a feather - a colour matching game, Ocean Labyrinth - underwater spin on the classic Labyrinth maze game and Domino Maze - kids can build dominos to set traps and hit targets.

After a cold winter day, there is no better ending than a warm bubble bath and our kids agree. Lolo bath products are Canadian made and we actually first found them at a Simons store in Vancouver. Their bubble bath is vegan and great for children with sensitive skin. However, we may be borrowing that soap from our kiddos because it is so smooth. The fragrance free, olive oil based soap will make an excellent stocking stuffer.

We read a ton in our homes so we actually give our kids quite a few books, either at Christmas or even sometimes we pull out a special book on a rainy day in January or February. Clever Books specifically has these Learn Shapes and Learn Numbers books that work well while we teach preschool at home this year to Cairo and Kinsley. One other tip we have for gift wrapping with kids this year, you can pick up a Christmas sticker book - like this one from Clever Books - and just wrap a gift in kraft paper and let your kids decorate with stickers!

Arthur’s Holiday Adventure and Olivia’s North Pole Adventure are board books in the shape of animals from Clever Books. They are an adorable read for a little ones stocking. Our kids favourites are the Holiday Season Sticker Book and Look and Find Holiday season - excellent activities for this time of year.

These jammies you have been seeing are from Kyte Baby and they are just so cozy because they are made from soft, bamboo fabric. Our favourite sleepers to put our babies in are Kyte Baby and we have just recently tried the toddler sizes out on our older kids and they are clearly a hit. Also, is there anything cuter than cousins in matching jammies on Christmas morning? The red and white stripe is adorable for the holidays…now we just need to find some to match in our adult ones (hint hint…keep an eye out from Kyte Baby)

This year our boys both became interested in playing cards, trading cards both for game and in sports. Pokemon cards have made their way into our home and to be honest I didn’t know a lot about them before. However, I am finding that boys love to battle and collect, which Pokemon is perfect for. We’ve even sat down and learned how to play the actual card game for Pokemon. The Elite Trainer boxes are a perfect stocking stuffer as it comes with many different mini packs inside.

Cairo has been sports minded for a while now (probably because I watched baseball games with him since he was a baby) and last year he got to go to his first Vancouver Canucks game with his dad to see them play the Winnipeg Jets. He has fallen in love with hockey cards and I am SO PUMPED to give him these ones from Upper Deck. He can name almost every MLB team so we need to get him going on learning all the NHL teams and these hockey cards will definitely help ;)

You all know that Frozen 2 is now out and although our older kids haven’t seen it yet, they are quite familiar with Elsa and Anna so this lego set is a great gift for them under the tree this year. Lego is not only an awesome toy but it is helpful for fine motor development as well as problem solving skills so we build lego regularly in our homes.

This little one will have her first stocking this year. Although she won’t remember much, our favourite Ryan and Rose pacifiers and teether will definitely make their way into her stocking! The Cutie Pat Flat is so soft for babies gums and the Teether handle makes this item double as a pacifier and a toy. Both of our girls loved using the Cutie Teether Rattles and the Cutie Clips save parents from having to search for the pacifier all day long!

Have you ever tried Baby Bum Sun Bum sunscreen? We are a picky sunscreen family and love our sunscreen to go on smooth and easily. Baby Bum is one of our favourite sunscreen brands for a couple reasons. The Sun Bum adult spray smells incredible and for little ones, Baby Bum offers a roll on face stick that is fragrance free. The roll on face stick helps putting sunscreen on little faces easily.

December is usually filled with many events; concerts, plays, Christmas parties, etc. Through this busy season, we really like to take time each day to talk about Advent and what our main focus is during the Christmas season. We read a bit of scripture, talk about some names of God and maybe a small activity each day. Zondervan has bibles and books for various ages so that we can talk about God using language that is exciting for our young kids.

OOLY is our favourite art supplier all year round! They always create the most amazing art supplies that are excellent quality and child friendly. This year we are trying out their new Scratch and Scribble Art Kits with a dinosaur, magical unicorns and ocean life theme. We know the Unique Unicorn Erasable Pencil Crayons will be a hit for Kinsley and OOLY’s Itsy BItsy stickers are the best stickers for little hands to peel off!

One of our newer brands we have discovered is Monbebe. These socks are pure cotton and come in the most beautiful palette which can be found at Bug and Bean Kids. Our daughters are very particular about how their socks feel and these are the coziest pairs!

We couldn’t forget about our two newest babes this year, Kovie and Rayne. The cutest little shop - Bug and Bean Kids - has so many hand picked items from incredible brands that make beautiful stocking stuffers for little ones. The Wooden Star Wand from Bannor Toys and Heavenly Soft Swaddles are adorable! Both of these items along with so many other small shops are found at Bug and Bean and we love the incredible quality of each piece.

If you have met Kinsley, you know she loves anything to do with horses, ponies, dancing and unicorns. So, naturally, a few items from Breyer Horses would be the perfect stocking stuffer for any pony, horse or animal lover. Breyer Horses offers a variety of items from figurines, toys, collectables, music boxes, blind bags, colouring books and play sets. The Lucky Acres Luna Unicorn changes colour in the bath and the Horse Crazy blind bags are perfect surprises for a stocking. Our girls (and boys) love doing crafts so the paintable horses and stained glass horses will be wonderful winter activities.

Moonlite is new to our homes this year but my husband has been talking about this company for so long. They bring story book reading to life by using story reels and the flashlight on your phone to project the books. The words from the story show up on your phone and the images are projected on to your ceiling or wall. We are so pumped to try Moonlite out as part of our bedtime routine this year!

Would it be Christmas if there wasn’t a little bit of chocolate sprinkled in? Purdys always brings back so many memories from when we were children. Now, there are so many beautiful tins and even an advent calendar you can custom create!

Merry Christmas! We hope this inspires you and helps you out when shopping for the kids in your lives!