It’s our favourite time of the year! We can’t wait for the magic of Christmas morning when our little kids come rushing to our room at 5am thinking that it is early enough to start the gift giving. Oh we just love giving gifts and we have the best ideas for the kiddos in your life. We use all of these products in our homes and we can assure you that these companies create amazing gifts to wrap up this year for Christmas.

It looks like Rayne was meant to wear a Santa hat - she will be the best little gift giver on Christmas morning. These toy cars are from Candylab Toys and they have a cool mix of modern and vintage cars and trucks in their shop. These cars are wooden so they are very durable and come in a variety of sizes and styles. Cruz is our car loving boy and I know he will love opening up one of these specialty cars on Christmas morning and driving it around the house. The burger car and donut are adorable.

Do you need a gift for someone who loves arts and crafts? Kid Made Modern makes quality craft kids that boost creativity and fine motor skills for little and big hands. These wooden DIY ornament kits make a really fun Christmas activity that you could keep or include in a gift to friends or family members. Kid Made Modern has such a large assortment of craft boxes and activities for kids and adults you should definitely take a look if you have someone creative in your life. The photo journal would be an excellent gift to keep track of a special trip, summertime or even a yearly scrapbook.

Both Chelsea and I love so many books that Penguin Random House has published and we have spent countless hours reading their books to our kids. They carry this ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas book that has such a beautiful cover that we are looking forward to reading to our kids on Christmas Eve. They also have a few Christmas stories that we will read throughout the month of December and I’m really looking forward to reading The Crayon’s Christmas, Jack and Santa and The Biggest Little Boy: A Christmas Story.

Every young kid needs to try the Imagine Ink drawing pads from Bendon Publishing. They are mess free and hours of fun for little hands. Bendon Publishing creates amazing educational and engaging activities for children that should be on everyone's holiday list (the kind of learning that kids do while playing and they don’t even realize it). The magnetic Travel Maze and Magna Fun Farm animals are the perfect size for a stocking stuffer and easy to pack around while travelling.

You guys, these books are incredible and I have been so eager to get my hands on these. Manda Group Publishers these beautiful books with so much information about the United States, US State Activity books and a book about their National Parks. The artwork is stunning and there are so many interesting facts about each state and place, I am just so pumped to do a little mini homeschooling unit with these books. A few of our other favourites titles are: Whose Habitat is That and Brilliant Ideas from Wonderful Women. I will also show you a quick flip through in our stories so you can get a better look at what is inside The 50 States book.

Next up we have a staple in our home, anything made by Djeco. They carry puzzles, stickers, paints, activity sets, etc. So many different products that can be used at your kitchen table to create an absolute masterpiece by your kids. We can attest that Djeco makes really high quality art supplies and activities that spark creativity and will get well used in your home by your little artists. If you are local you can shop Djeco items at Dilly Dally Kids in Vancouver. They have so many gifts to encourage creativity for the holidays including: Multi Activity Kit Flower Garden, Foam Fun, Colour Box, Observation Puzzles and Magnetic Geoforme.

If you can’t tell yet, books are one of our most favourite gifts to give. A new story to read is so exciting and our kids just sit and listen for what feels like hours. Now if I can learn not to yawn through books 4, 5 and 6 then I’ll have really mastered this whole mom gig. Raincoast Books is a company that we have received new titles from for many years and their list of amazing books is never ending. They carry our favourite Little Blue Truck series as well as new stories such as Little Red Sleigh that teach us to never give up.

Our kids highly favour playing with animals, setting up animals, making habitats, creating their own books about animals, it’s just never-ending we love it. Schleich has just a crazy big collection of all things animals which could make a cute stocking stuffer or gift if you also have an animal lover in your home. The King Cobra and Lion with her cubs set will be seen in countless animal set ups in the future!

Books that develop imagination in our kids and are educational are some of our favourites to read to our kids. Thames and Hudson has a whole series called “The Big Book of….” and they contain a variety of topics that answer incredible questions about animals, plants, and our Earth. I can think of many ways to work these books into our homeschooling units or just curled up on the couch to learn something new about whales. I know our older kids will love to read the answers to some of these amazing questions like why does a crab run sideways? A few of our favourite titles are The Big Book of Blue, The Big Book of Blooms, the Big Book of Bugs, The Big Book of Belonging and 1001 Ants. The newest book in the series is The Big Book of Belonging and it is beautifully illustrated sharing so many connections between us and the planet.

If you ask our boys if they have any NHL games on their docket today they will pull out their hockey cards and let you know the exact lineup of games that is happening and who is playing who in “their NHL season.” It’s crazy how detailed their made up schedules can get and we are happy to provide them with what they would love so much at Christmas - hockey cards. Upper Deck has all the top players in the NHL and each pack is always a surprise to Jake and Cairo which just adds to the fun on Christmas morning - will there be any Canucks or Jets players?!

Zonderkidz has such a variety of books that teaches our kids about character and the story of Jesus. This year I knew that I wanted to include Cairo’s first bible since he started reading the past year and that feels like such a cherished moment - a parent giving their child their first bible. Zonderkidz also has such a wholesome line up of stories, devotionals, activity books and so many other gift ideas for your kids. These are some of our most favourite stories to read because there is always such a good reminder of how to show God’s love to people around us.

This is one tradition we have kept alive in our households - adding Purdys chocolates to stockings! Our parents always included Purdys in our stockings and it was definitely one of my favourite parts because their chocolate is just so good and so creamy. This year the candy cane truffles and Sweet Georgia Browns may need to make it into our stocking. Do you have any traditions that seems to make it down through generations of gifting? Also, when you purchase Purdy’s Dear Santa bars, $2 will go to one of Purdys partnering Children's hospitals. See here for this year's hospital partners.

We have been gifting our kids so many sweet things from Manhattan Toy for the last few years and we can attest that these toys are high quality, durable, and our kids use them on the daily. Kovie sleeps with the same little bunny every night and I know these chickens, Henley and Cooper, might make it into her bed this year too. Manhattan Toy carries such a variety of products too, from dolls and accessories to learning games and stuffed animals. Baby Stella is one of our favourite dolls for little ones as they are soft and cozy and the Doll crib is the perfect matching accessory. The Little Nook Collection dolls are smaller and perfect for little doll houses.

Our little girls just love wearing hair clips so it is just lovely to include these gorgeous ones from local shop Mai Bebe. These are super soft and stay on really well, just exactly what you want in a hair clip. They have a huge variety of colours and styles on their site and these would just make a really sweet gift for a little girl in your life. This is also a Canadian company which we love!

We just came across Daily Prestige and they make this Car Rescue Adventure obstacle course. I haven’t seen something like this and I’m excited for my kids to learn motor skills, problem solving, logical thinking and a little hand-eye coordination. Best thing? It doesn’t take batteries - everything is mechanical which is such a huge bonus.