present ideas

We are having a birthday this week. Our youngest is turning 4. 4 I know, I can't believe it. Sometimes I feel like I never want my boys to grow up. They are at such great ages, and just like all things in life, once it's gone, it's gone.

Of course, the older they get, the more complex they are. My eldest is just surprising and delighting me with his creativity. We can read complex novels together and both really enjoy it (we're on the Harry Potter series at the moment).

But back to the younger one. It's been quite difficult deciding what to get him. We are very resistant to purchasing more plastic toys, that seem to get everywhere around our house. And of course, having an older brother, a lot of stuff gets handed down. But we have come up with a few cool presents that we think he's going to love.

We have bought him a Vtech Kidizoom Camera (suitable from 3-7yrs). It looks pretty good, you can zoom, do fun editing options and do small movies. I think it's going to be very popular! This is the first working camera that we have bought for either of our children, so I hope that it doesn't cause jealousy with the older one! We will see.

I also bought him a few puzzles and games from a lovely independent toy shop called WigWam in Brighton. There is another great toy shop in the North Laine, on Sydney Street called Daisy Daisy.

The lovely jigsaw we got is by Djeco. I love these, they come in different shaped boxes to fit around the character. They do a ballerina, a pirate, a Knight to name a few.

I love games and when I saw this small card game I couldn't resist. It's Happy Families, which I definitely played when I was little.

The illustrations and design style of these Djeco puzzles and games just make me so happy. I adore their sensibility.

I also picked up this lacing set, which is great for hand eye coordination. You get to make a few sweet pictures.

As my son's birthday is by Halloween, I bought him this very clever torch. In fact I liked it so much, I have bought more of them for other gifts. It doesn't have batteries, you just "wind it up" via squeezing it's sides. Clever!

I have probably spent more than I normally would but he's not having a party, and I can't help feeling as the second child that he misses out on lots because we've already got it/ done it. I hope that he gets a lot of enjoyment out of these gifts, I'm pretty sure he will.

Additional Note: I'm pleased to say that most of my gifts have been bought from independent local shops. And there isn't a huge amount of plastic - phew!