cute fuzzy bunny
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What stuff did you get for the holidays that actually proved useful? Hopefully a guide for the rest of us with regards to making it easy to pick gifts for our friends and relatives this year? Not all of these were holiday gifts, nor were they necessarily from this past december, but they were all really, really good.
For babies:
We got gabe a Leapfrog "dreamscape soother". It screws onto the crib and has a big button on it to turn it on and off. It plays several threads of music, as determined by turning a large knob. Lights up and shows some pictures scrolling by. We turn the music on when we take him into the nursery to put him down and we've noted that he goes down in 1/4 the time when we start the music right away. 90% of the time if he wakes up in the middle of the night or early, he turns the music on himself and lays back down and falls back to sleep. It shuts itself off after 10-15 minutes. Eats C-cell batteries, which is the only weakness so far. Extremely highly recommended. It retails for $29, but I found it at Ross Dress For Less for about $12. They frequently have a handful.
http://www.leapfrog.com/do/findproduct?ageGroupKey=infant&key=dreamscape
We also got him a "Buggy Bagg". This is a padded shopping cart thingy that you put into the place where the baby sits. You can lay an infant down in it or sit a baby up in it. The padding is at least a half inch all around and completely covers almost any of the area of the cart where you or he touches. He was too little for a shopping cart seat until he was about 3 months old and after he hit his head on the handlebar and I got a cart with what appeared to be some sort of raw meat juice all over the handles, which he immediately wanted to gnaw on, I wanted to get something for him to sit in. His regular stroller just wouldnt hold enough groceries even for a quick trip. I can put this in the cart with one hand while holding him, about 10 seconds. I tried several different products and nothing else was as easy to put on, or as well padded. My only concern is with the elastic around the handlebars, that in a year or two it might lose its stretch. I paid $50 including tax and shipping. It even fits the large warehouse store carts.
http://www.burdickbaby.com/seatcovcomch.html
Silicone oven mitts. These are almost completely worthless as regular oven mitts as they're too stiff to get a good grip on a pan, but they have one key use thats irreplaceable. If you've ever tried to get a large turkey or a big roast or ham from a pan onto a carving tray, or you want to turn something large on a grill, you've quickly discovered the aggravation of trying to maneuver a big greasy item with tongs or forks. Not so with silicone oven mitts which are water/grease proof. Just grab the sucker and do what you want with it. Throw them in the dishwasher when you're done for easy cleanup. I paid $9 for mine on sale. The other silicone bakeware stuff is nothing to write home about, however. Mitts are highly recommended for anyone who ever cooks large meals. Get the ones that are 'ribbed' for your cooking pleasure...they hold the big slippery things better than the smooth ones.
Small rechargeable FRS radio's. Working on the roof and need a tool? Want to split up at the mall? Taking more than one car on a long trip? Realllly handy. No actual privacy as anyone can listen in, so watch what you say. I bought a pair for $26 on clearance. Granted you can use cell phones for these purposes, if you have two of them, it doesnt cost an arm and a leg to use them, and you have actual cell signal coverage. Our local mall has crappy cell phone service, and when we go up to lake tahoe we're more often out of cell phone range than in it. I also get weak or no signal at my house, but full signal at the end of my driveway. Go figure. These work for about a mile or so of the claimed 2 mile range, no matter where we are.
The Kill-a-watt electric metering tool already widely discussed is a great gift for a gadgety person. ~$32 on amazon.
For babies:
We got gabe a Leapfrog "dreamscape soother". It screws onto the crib and has a big button on it to turn it on and off. It plays several threads of music, as determined by turning a large knob. Lights up and shows some pictures scrolling by. We turn the music on when we take him into the nursery to put him down and we've noted that he goes down in 1/4 the time when we start the music right away. 90% of the time if he wakes up in the middle of the night or early, he turns the music on himself and lays back down and falls back to sleep. It shuts itself off after 10-15 minutes. Eats C-cell batteries, which is the only weakness so far. Extremely highly recommended. It retails for $29, but I found it at Ross Dress For Less for about $12. They frequently have a handful.
http://www.leapfrog.com/do/findproduct?ageGroupKey=infant&key=dreamscape
We also got him a "Buggy Bagg". This is a padded shopping cart thingy that you put into the place where the baby sits. You can lay an infant down in it or sit a baby up in it. The padding is at least a half inch all around and completely covers almost any of the area of the cart where you or he touches. He was too little for a shopping cart seat until he was about 3 months old and after he hit his head on the handlebar and I got a cart with what appeared to be some sort of raw meat juice all over the handles, which he immediately wanted to gnaw on, I wanted to get something for him to sit in. His regular stroller just wouldnt hold enough groceries even for a quick trip. I can put this in the cart with one hand while holding him, about 10 seconds. I tried several different products and nothing else was as easy to put on, or as well padded. My only concern is with the elastic around the handlebars, that in a year or two it might lose its stretch. I paid $50 including tax and shipping. It even fits the large warehouse store carts.
http://www.burdickbaby.com/seatcovcomch.html
Silicone oven mitts. These are almost completely worthless as regular oven mitts as they're too stiff to get a good grip on a pan, but they have one key use thats irreplaceable. If you've ever tried to get a large turkey or a big roast or ham from a pan onto a carving tray, or you want to turn something large on a grill, you've quickly discovered the aggravation of trying to maneuver a big greasy item with tongs or forks. Not so with silicone oven mitts which are water/grease proof. Just grab the sucker and do what you want with it. Throw them in the dishwasher when you're done for easy cleanup. I paid $9 for mine on sale. The other silicone bakeware stuff is nothing to write home about, however. Mitts are highly recommended for anyone who ever cooks large meals. Get the ones that are 'ribbed' for your cooking pleasure...they hold the big slippery things better than the smooth ones.
Small rechargeable FRS radio's. Working on the roof and need a tool? Want to split up at the mall? Taking more than one car on a long trip? Realllly handy. No actual privacy as anyone can listen in, so watch what you say. I bought a pair for $26 on clearance. Granted you can use cell phones for these purposes, if you have two of them, it doesnt cost an arm and a leg to use them, and you have actual cell signal coverage. Our local mall has crappy cell phone service, and when we go up to lake tahoe we're more often out of cell phone range than in it. I also get weak or no signal at my house, but full signal at the end of my driveway. Go figure. These work for about a mile or so of the claimed 2 mile range, no matter where we are.
The Kill-a-watt electric metering tool already widely discussed is a great gift for a gadgety person. ~$32 on amazon.
