Gift Ideas

If you're looking for inexpensive, last-minute gift ideas for a little girl this Christmas, I recommend the Graco line of doll accessories. Graco makes products for baby dolls which are modeled after their real baby products. Two of my girls have birthdays this week, so we made a trip to Wal-Mart yesterday so they could spend their birthday $. My ten-year-old bought the pack 'n' play pictured above for $9.22! Last Christmas the three oldest girls got strollers for their baby dolls. Lily is always stealing someone's doll stroller, so we got her one which matches the pack 'n' play for $7.87! If you've done much toy shopping, you probably know that you can't find many things for under $10 that won't be broken in less than a week; however, our doll strollers from last Christmas are still in use.

I like to see toys which encourage little girls to play like little girls (which in this case means playing like little mommies) rather than toys which promote negative, inappropriate dress and behavior for our daughters. I'm not sure how you can create a "baby" line of toys where the dolls look like streetwalkers, but MGA Entertainment managed. I don't even understand what this tagline is supposed to mean:

All nine Bratz Babyz™ know how to flaunt it, and they’re keepin’ it real in the crib!

Huh?

And check out this "manufacturing error." Obviously I'm not the only parent out there who is offended by this trash. I think this post is doing double duty: gift ideas and "what not to buy."

We're only two days away from the big tea party! I have found some fascinating teapot cake ideas at coolest-birthday-cakes.com.