Holiday Gift Guide - Dress Up

Whether a Princess, a Doctor, a Pirate, a Clone Trooper, a Dancer, a Construction Worker or Superman, playing dress up is a great activity for children. There is something that is simply magical, almost transforming when a child puts on dress up clothes. It gives them license to be someone or something completely different than who they are. Sure, children can pretend without dress up clothes, but dressing up takes it to the next level.

My kids love to play dress-up. On any random day, it is not completely uncommon for them to decide it is time to dress-up. I think this is a great way for them to be creative. Plus, it is a great way to entertain them on a cold or rainy afternoon, where playing outside just isn't an option.

You don't need to have fancy stuff for dress-up. Before we had dress up clothes, I can remember tucking a baby blanket into the back of my son's shirt so that he could be transformed into a super hero. He would fly around the house and return regularly to be re-tucked. Or using a hat and a handkerchief tied around the neck to create a cowboy, who of course rode off on our rocking horse. Hats can be a great dress up accessory - plastic fire fighter hats, a Diego adventurer hat, a cowboy hat.

Then, we started our collection of dress-up clothes a few years ago at Halloween. After the events were all over (we try to maximize the number of events where the kids can dress up), we hung the costumes in their closets. We now have a Fairy Princess, a Tinker Bell, a Superman, a Darth Vader and a Clone Trooper in our former Halloween collection of dress-up clothes.

Sometimes though, we buy things specifically for dress-up play. One of my favorite places to buy dress up clothes is My Princess Party to Go. I found them a few years ago, when I was looking to get some additional dress-up clothes for my daughter. We had been to my niece's house for her birthday party and the two girls had so much fun dressing up as princesses, complete with shoes, jewelry and crowns. After watching them play, I simply had to get some princess wear for our house too!

My Princess Party to Go has always impressed me with the quality value of the product and the quality of their courteous customer service. The dresses they offer cost less than what I had been seeing at the store and the quality of the dresses have been completely satisfactory. They offer princess dresses, tutus, tiaras, wands, boas and more for girls. For my son, we have purchased prince capes and crowns and a pirate ensemble. Unfortunately, my daughter is starting to reach the top end of the princess dress sizes (for the most part they go up to a size 7) that are available at My Princess Party to Go, but she can still wear the tutus and fairy wings.

My kids enjoy dressing up and I am glad that we have a full assortment of random dress up clothes and accessories to foster their imagination. Sometimes, they will pull out a full outfit, other times it will simply be some of the accessories. I enjoy listening to the tales, describing what they are doing, "pretend that..." as they play in their dress-up clothes. Even my son, who has mostly moved beyond dress up play, still will on occasion turn into a clone trooper for a little while.

My daughter and her friends and cousins, love putting on shows for us. Whether in a Sunday dress, a princess dress, a tutu, or a dance leotard, they will come down, announce their show, asking us to sit down and will come out singing and dancing. This is another reason I am glad that we have a good collection of dress up clothes - so that there are enough for the kids and their friends.

As a mom, I like that dress-up clothes allow them to be creative and imagine. I think that pretend play and imagination are important in their development and that is part of why I recommend dress-up clothes as a holiday gift (or really, anytime).

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.

Holiday Gift Guide - Building Toys and Tracks

I'm not sure what it is, but building blocks, Legos, K'nex, Lincoln Logs and the like can occupy kids for hours.

There obviously are sets out there that have an objective of building a specific item, which is a great way for them to build an item and learn to work through directions. Actually, have you ever had something built and had it break...it can be quite a challenge to rebuild it without unbuilding it first. (Another great problem solving exercise.) Building something according to directions can be a great starting point for a child that is not as familiar with the products. Once they see what you can do with Legos, K'nex or Lincoln Logs, it gives them a great spring board from which to launch their very own creations.

For our Legos and K'nex, we have both types of sets. We have those that were designed to build something and those that are meant to build anything. I love seeing the creations that the kids come up with on their own. Each child has their own set of Legos and 2 base boards, one large and one small, on which they can build houses and more. As they build, they learn a little about stability, balance and building a sturdy base - lessons that I hope will someday make the concepts learned in advanced science classes easier for them to visualize.

After starting this post, I also added Tracks to this category. We have several tracks in our house. We have Thomas the Train plastic tracks, we have a Darden Car Track (including upside down loops), we have a Hot Wheels race track and a DaGeDar Track. At first, we build things "as expected", but with time, the kids have turned many of them into their own creations (race track aside - it only goes together one way).

Last night, by way of example, my son took a portion of the DaGeDar track and used it as a launch point to activate the Toy Story Action Links and then to topple some dominoes. The set up involved a lot of problem solving. At first, the dominoes were in front of the Action Links, but quickly my son learned that the domino falling wouldn't activate the Action Links. Then, he rearranged them placing the Action Links first. Of course, this required the DaGeDar to land more precisely and we had to adjust the angle of the track a couple of times to find just the right trajectory to kick off the chain. Again, he had a target in mind when he started and used a lot of discovery in the form of trial and error and problem solving to do what he wanted to.

When it comes to our Thomas the Train tracks, we started with a basic set or two and then have purchased additional track pieces overtime, allowing the kids to make longer and more complex tracks. The kids have used the dishes from the toy kitchen to create tracks that cross over top of one another. There were bridges that came with the set, but they weren't tall enough to allow the train to run on a track underneath. I thought this was a great creative problem solving on their part to find a way to make the track high enough to allow another track to run underneath.

Building toys and tracks allow for hours of entertainment, as well as an opportunity to be creative, solve problems and stretch their minds.

Holiday Gift Guide - Dollies and their accessories

My daughter is 4 years old and loves her dolls. She has two special dollies, their names are Jammie Dolly and Purple Dolly. They were named by my daughter, based on their clothes. Jammie Dolly, as you might have guessed is wearing pajamas, not only does she normally wear a nightgown, if she is "undressed" her standard outfit is a set of yellow pajamas. Purple Dolly, wears a purple nightgown. When we got her, she actually was wearing a rain coat and boots, but she spends most of her time in her purple nightgown.

Our two dollies share a bed located right next to my daughter's bed. The bed that they use was the doll baby bed that my Grandma and Grandpa made for me when I was a child. A while ago, I had my parents pull it out of my closet, so that I could give it to my daughter. It was showing its age, so I repainted it and put a new mattress cover on the pad that serves as the mattress. I think that it is neat that my daughter is using the same bed for her dolls that I once used to use for my dolls.

We have one umbrella stroller that they try to share, but my daughter tells me that they don't fit well and usually wind up fighting. This means that one of the two is usually carried or stuck in a bag, when they are "traveling" around the house.

Those two dollies are an important part of my daughter's play. A few weeks ago for her birthday she received a gift card for the toy store, given the choice of what to buy she chose a new diaper bag for her dollies. This one evidently was better than any bag we already had and it included two additional bottles, some small cloths, a container of "powder" and a diaper. She makes sure her bag is well stocked before she heads out (around the house) with her two dollies. There are books, a set of Akron Aero dog tags that she tells me are her cell phone, iPod and DS, blankets, and of course, the bottles, cloths, powder and diaper that came with the bag. When she is done feeding them, she cleans the bottles with her cloth. When the dollies need to be changed, she finds a changing pad and changes their diaper (we only have one, so she pretends - because she knows that if she uses it for real, that it won't work again).

I love watching her play with her dollies. Some things, make me giggle, like the way that when the dollies are napping, she covers their face with a blanket. I asked her once why she covered their faces and wondered if they could still breath. She explained that she covered their faces because they can't close their eyes - there just is something about that line of thought - I never would have considered that they couldn't sleep if they couldn't close their eyes. Some things I find really touching, seeing how she is a little mommy to her dolls. She feeds them their bottles and then she washes them, wiping them clean with her new cloths. I definitely see a lot of things from her life acted out through the dollies. She takes them to daycare. Only she is both the mom and teacher, as she sets up centers for them to play. Occasionally, one of the dollies will misbehave and she will be sent to time out.

My daughter loves her dollies. I love how playing with dollies lets her act out the things that she is experiencing and observing in her life. My son pretended to be the daddy for his stuffed monkey, which I always found very sweet. Of course, he didn't have the advantage of all the accessories that come with a dolly. Sometimes, he will join my daughter in the play with her dollies, it is great to see them play together and to act as parents, teachers, etc to the dollies.

Speaking of accessories for a dolly, on important accessory (as any girl will tell you) are clothes! Last year, we found some pajamas for my daughter that came with a matching pair of pajamas for her dolly. She received them as a Christmas present from Grandpa. When she opened them, she was ecstatic and couldn't wait to wear the matching pajamas. I wasn't surprised at all by this - my daughter thinks it is great to wear things that are similar to mine, so why wouldn't she want for her dolly to match her?

Since she received those pajamas, she has asked more than once for more clothes that have a matching outfit for dolly. We found another pair of matching pajamas for the summer and got those for her, but I just wasn't seeing many clothes (outside of special occasion wear). Then, a while back, I came across a line of clothes that feature a matching outfits for girls and their dollies from Dollie & Me. We were shopping at Kohl's and they had a few different options of dresses and pants outfits. The outfits are available in sizes from 2T up to 16 (varies based on style) for the girls and the dollie outfit will fit their favorite 18" dollie. Dollie & Me also offers accessories and toys for girls and their dollie. They even have their own line of 18" dollies designed by the Alexander Doll Company, Inc.

I like that you can find their line of product from a number of retailers, both online and in stores, including Kohl's, Sears, and Amazon. The outfits and accessories retail from $6.99 to $80 and the dolls have a suggested price of $29.95. (you can link directly to the online sites through their Shop tab, select the style you are looking for and it will link you to the retailer or if there are multiple, let you choose which retailer to link to.)

We received a couple of dresses for my daughter and her dolly to check out. The clothing is cute and nicely made, the one skirt is even lined. The dress styles that we received both pull over the head to put on. This makes it easy for my daughter, who is super independent, to put on her own dress and then, I only have to tie the bow. I really like that the outfits for the dollie feature a full open back that is secured with Velcro tabs. This feature makes it a lot easier, especially for a younger girl like my daughter, to be able to dress her dollie on her own. No need for me to button and unbutton the outfit every time she wants to change her. Our dollies are slightly smaller than 18" and the sleeves are a little bit long, but I simply rolled the cuffs under and the dresses look fine on the dollies. I guess that summer outfits will be better for our dolls, since they are slightly smaller. I'd buy a new doll for her, but I'm not sure that anyone could ever take the place of Jammie Dolly or Purple Dolly - so we will just have to improvise.


Giveaway
Thanks to Dollie & Me, I have the opportunity to allow one A Busy Mom of Two reader to receive a free Dollie & Me outfit. The winner will be able to specify the size needed, but will not get to choose the style. I have set the giveaway so that the outfit can ship to the winner in time for Christmas.

To enter: Leave a comment sharing who would be the recipient of the Dollie & Me outfit - if you know the Dollie's name, include it too. I think that the names that little girls choose for their dollies are cute.

Additional Entries (leave a comment for each additional entry)

Follow A Busy Mom of Two on Twitter.

Follow Dollie & Me on Twitter.

Tweet about this giveaway. This can be done once daily, please be sure to leave a link to the tweet in your comment.

Like Dollie & Me on Facebook.

Post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment with a link to your post.

Sign up to receive daily updates. Leave a comment letting me know you subscribe (or that you already do).

Giveaway will remain open until December 6th at 6 pm and is open to residents of US only. Winners will be selected using Random.org random number generator. The winner will be contacted by e-mail (Please make sure that your email address is either in your comment or clearly visible on your profile or blog) and will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner may be selected. This is to ensure that the outfit can be sent in time for Christmas.

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. I received two Dollie & Me outfits for review. The outfit for the giveaway is provided courtesy of Dollie & Me.

Holiday Gift Guide - Crazy Forts

I've mentioned before how much my kids enjoy building forts. I think it probably all started with a tent and tunnel that my kids had when they were younger. It was easy to assemble and leave set up for them all of the time. As they have been getting bigger, it didn't work as well and we moved from a tent and tunnel to fort building. I based the initial fort building on skills that I had developed myself as a child - using cushions, pillows, blankets, chairs, couches, and tables to build forts. (I used to build forts with cards too, carefully laying out my rooms on the floor and then moving about my "house".)

A month ago, I had the opportunity to play with and review Crazy Forts. With Crazy Forts, you use the balls and sticks to build the framework for your fort and then you cover them with bed sheets to make a private hideaway.

My daughter is a little young to be able to design and build, but she loves playing inside. My son, on the other hand, has mastered building the Crazy Forts. We started with the directions, available on their site, for each of the forts pictured on the box. Then, we moved on to free-form forts. We built one, just last weekend, where we really only had an arched wall structure that bridged between our recliner and our sofa in the basement. Then, when we covered it with bed sheets, we put the sheets between the wall and the furniture to allow for a bigger fort.

The kids will play in the basement for hours with the fort. Sometimes, each visit to the basement to check on them reveals a new fort that they have built. They have left a "mailbox" outside their door, which is where I am supposed to leave notes to let them know when dinner is and such. I love sitting just beyond sight and listening to their pretending out loud that they do with each other when they are playing inside their private fortress.

I like that the directions for building the different forts - igloo, castle, rocket, house and tunnel - provided the foundation to help my son understand how to use the different angles on the ball to build varying heights and shapes. Now that we have moved on to the free-form forts, it challenges my son's (and mine, too) sense of spatial orientation to be able to construct the fort with different angles and have the sticks meet up to be connected with a ball. When we built our arched wall last weekend, we had to do a bit of a rebuild when we found that it wouldn't work the way that we constructed it. Building the forts also helps him understand a little bit about strength and stability in construction and where you need a supporting "beam" and where you can skip it.

I will say that you have to make sure that you put the words Crazy Fort on the ball up to ensure things align correctly. This also puts the flat spot on the bottom, which is good for the bottom layer. Sometimes, you will find that you have to rotate the ball 45 degrees, to get some of the angled positions where you need them - as long as you figure this out early enough in the build, this is fairly easy to accomplish. In addition, you have to make sure that the sticks are firmly seated in the ball so that they don't come undone as the children are crawling around and bumping into the frame as they play inside. It took us a little while to master this, but now we know to simply do a once over to check all the connections before adding the sheet. We still have instances of the sticks coming loose, but there aren't as many as their had been initially and typically are simple enough to reconnect.

I like that Crazy Forts challenges my children to think, but also provides them hours of entertainment. My kids like playing with Crazy Forts - in fact, they have added a second set (and third, if you consider they both have asked for another set) of Crazy Forts to their Christmas lists, so that they can build bigger forts with more space.

No compensation was received for this post. I was provided with one box of Crazy Forts to review and share my experience. All opinions expressed are my own.

Holiday Gift Guide - Dress-Up Clothes

There is something that is simply magical, almost transforming when a child puts on dress up clothes. It gives them license to be someone or something completely different than who they are. Sure, children can pretend without dress up clothes, but dressing up takes it to the next level.

Before we had dress up clothes, I can remember tucking a baby blanket into the back of my son's shirt so that he could be transformed into a super hero. He would fly around the house and return regularly to be re-tucked.

Then, we got a few hats that they started to use for dress-up. We had a hat that I think might have been a Diego hat. And, then some plastic fire fighter hats that they received at school.

Then, we started our collection of dress-up clothes a few years ago at Halloween. After the events were all over (we try to maximize the number of events where the kids can dress up), we hung the costumes in their closets. We now have a Fairy Princess, a Tinker Bell, a Superman, a Darth Vader and a Clone Trooper in our former Halloween collection of dress-up clothes.

Last Christmas, I learned of an online company called My Princess Party to Go. I was looking to get some additional dress-up clothes for my daughter. We had been to my niece's house for her birthday party and the two girls had so much fun dressing up as princesses, complete with shoes, jewelry and crowns. After watching them play, I simply had to get some princess wear for our house too! I went together with a few friends to save on shipping and we purchased some dresses, crowns and wands. I also picked up a Pirate set for my son, not wanting for him to be left out of the dress up fun. I was impressed with the quality value of the product. The dresses offered cost less than what I had been seeing at the store and the quality of the dresses have been completely satisfactory.

Since that time, I have had the opportunity to experience more of their product. I won a Twitter giveaway, a giveaway on a blog, attended a birthday party where the dresses and accessories were from My Princess Party to Go and purchased some dress-up clothes for my daughter's 4th birthday - both princess and prince gear.

My kids enjoy dressing up. Sometimes, they will pull out a full outfit, other times it will simply be some of the accessories. I enjoy listening to the tales, describing what they are doing, "pretend that..." as they play in their dress-up clothes. As a mom, I like that dress-up clothes allow them to imagine that they are something else. I think that pretend play and imagination are important in their development and that is part of why I recommend dress-up clothes as a holiday gift (or really, anytime).

Giveaway
Do you have plans to include dress-up clothes as part of your holiday gifts? Thanks to My Princess Party to Go, I have the opportunity to provide one lucky A Busy Mom of Two reader a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to My Princess Party to Go.

To enter: Visit My Princess Party to Go and then come back and leave a comment on what you think you would use your $25 towards.

Additional Entries (leave a comment for each additional entry)

Follow A Busy Mom of Two on Twitter.

Follow My Princess Party to Go on Twitter.

Tweet about this giveaway. This can be done once daily, please be sure to leave a link to the tweet in your comment.

Post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment with a link to your post.

Sign up to receive daily updates. Leave a comment letting me know you subscribe (or that you already do).

Giveaway will remain open until December 1st at 6 pm and is open to residents of US only. Winners will be selected using Random.org random number generator. The winner will be contacted by e-mail (Please make sure that your email address is either in your comment or clearly visible on your profile or blog) and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner may be selected.

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. My initial experience with My Princess Party to Go was through a purchase I made last holiday season. Since that time, I have won two separate giveaways and made an additional purchase. The gift certificate for the giveaway is courtesy of My Princess Party to Go.