Tips for preventing holiday "meltdowns"

With all the excitement of the season, its easy for young children to get overwhelmed and fall apart just when you want them to be on their best behaviour. The sugary treats, travel, visitors, presents, shopping, changes in bedtime etc., all can become too much for young children.

Try to remember that young children, especially toddlers, thrive with routine and familiarity. They feel more secure and safe and more in control of their experiences. So take a close look at everything that is different about this time of year and see what small parts of day to day routine you can keep going. It may be wake up routine, a familiar bowl to eat from that you take with you traveling, well loved toys, songs you sing every day, quiet time just with you, or a daily walk together. The littlest familiarity can go a long way.

And remember that good nutritious food helps stabilize moods, especially if there are lots of treats around. Keep the healthy food coming and don't let your child's blood sugar drop too much from over activity and not enough nourishment. A lot of "bad" behaviour can result from low blood sugar and hunger. A little attention given to routine and nutrition can make a real difference in your child's (and your) holiday time. Enjoy!

Stripes - fun and colourful long underwear!

Check out these multi-coloured, hi-tech polypropylene tops and bottoms from Stripes - perfect layering pieces for winter weather!

Kids just love Stripes long underwear. Not only does it keep them superbly warm, it is so much fun to wear!

Stripes long underwear is available online and in-store.

Happy Solstice to everyone!

Now that winter is officially here (as opposed to just being here) we thought we'd send a little Canadian humour your way. For our friends in other countries, we're sure you'll enjoy learning about this fun and frozen nation!

Here's Jeff Foxworthy on how to tell if you are Canadian:


If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May,
You may live in Canada.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there,
You may live in Canada.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time,
You may live in Canada.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number,
You may live in Canada.

If you measure distance in hours,
You may live in Canada.

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once,
You may live in Canada.

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again,
You may live in Canada.

If you can drive 90 km/hr through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching,
You may live in Canada.

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked,
You may live in Canada.

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them,
You may live in Canada.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit,
You may live in Canada.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow,
You may live in Canada.

If you know all 4 seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Road Construction,
You may live in Canada.

If you find 2 degrees 'a little chilly',
You may live in Canada.

If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your Canadian friends & others,
You definitely live in Canada.

Pressure rising?

Don't let the stress of the season get to you.

There is just so much you can do. Make yourself a reasonable, manageable "to do" list that you have a genuine chance of completing. Putting too much on your list just makes you feel defeated and overwhelmed.

Look honestly at your list. What is really important? What can wait until next year when the kids are older? What is just "make work or feel guilty?" Cross off what isn't essential and ask the other adults in your life to help you complete the core "must do's".

This season is supposed to be about joy, love, and appreciation. Not stress and anxiety. So be easy on yourself and have fun!

Magnets are magical!

Magnet games make use of the wonderful properties of magnets; mainly, things stick to each other... like magic! These magnet toys from Melissa and Doug are creative, imaginative, and make excellent travel toys (they stick together so it's harder to lose pieces!). Feedback in the store is that they all are very engaging and keep kids busy for long stretches of time! Another magical quality!

Take a look at our selection of magnetic toys online or in-store.

Bounce, roll, catch...

Bounce, roll, catch...babies and toddlers love to play with balls.

They are great for hand eye coordination, cause and effect learning, interactive play, taking turns, spatial relationships etc. Plus they are so much fun. Nobbie Gertie Balls, and Polka Dot Gertie Balls are sure-fire favourites. Easy to hold, roll, catch and throw, (and also easy to wrap and mail) they are a timeless, inexpensive gift with fabulous play value. Available online and in-store.

Worried about "leaks" when traveling?

Worried about "leaks" when you're visiting friends and family?

The Priva Bed Pad is an excellent traveling companion that your hosts will appreciate. Many kids have accidents at night when they are sleeping in a strange bed, and the Priva Pad will keep your hosts' bed nice and dry. It sits on top of the sheets, and if there's a leak, just take the pad off. No need for sheet changes!

Available online or in-store.

Warm Wooly Socks for Wintery Wanderings!

Keep those little feet warm when out in the snow and cold. These great wool socks from Wigwam, are soft, comfy and very insulating against the cold. Cold feet can make kids miserable and can cut short their playtime outdoors. Warm socks make a world of difference! Available online or in-store in toddler to youth sizes.

Reduce, reuse, recycle and be creative this Christmas!

It's fun to make your own Christmas Crafts with recycled materials!

Have a pile of old Christmas cards around? Try making little mini puppets with them. Have your kids (or help your kids if they are little) cut out their favourite pictures from old cards - Santa, reindeer, animals, snowmen, etc. Spread glue on a popsicle stick and glue the picture on. Voila! A little puppet. Make up stories together using the characters. Good creative fun and a great lesson in recycling.

Another recycling idea: take the lid from a cottage cheese or yogurt container. Use a hammer and nail to poke a hole through it so you can hang it. Take an old photo of your child that you don't mind cutting. You will want a photo that has your child's face small enough to sit it the middle of the lid. Cut the photo to the shape of the lid and have your child glue it in. Then take cotton balls and glue them around the photo. Dribble glue on the cotton and sprinkle glitter on it. Voila, you have an ornament you will always treasure.

Holiday crafts are always fun and children treasure the things they made themselves the most! We'd love to hear your favourite recycled craft ideas - please feel free to leave a comment!

Puzzled for a gift idea?

Puzzled? Let a puzzle solve your gift dilemma!

Puzzles are fun, educational, challenging and oh so satisfying when completed. Kids of all ages enjoy puzzles and love to do them over and over. They feel a real sense of accomplishment when everything fits. Puzzles encourage eye-hand coordination, shape and colour recognition, spatial understanding, whole and part relationships, problem solving, mathematical reasoning etc. An excellent gift idea for girls and boys!

We have a wide assortment of puzzles available online and in-store.

Swish down the slopes with confidence!

Swish with confidence as your child learns to ski with great ski learning aids!

Take the worry and anxiety out of teaching your child to ski (and getting him or her on the lift) with these wonderful, innovative ski training aids. Designed by serious, competent and experienced ski instructors, these skiing aids allow your child to have a real piece of the ski action while you have real peace of mind!

This fabulous Ski Trainer Harness combines the usefulness of a lift handle with 2 detachable learn-to-turn ski leashes, both comfortably attached to a useful little backpack. Ski Tip Clips help your child hold the snowplow position. The ski trainer harness and ski tip clips are also available as a set.

Available online or in-store.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou with the Super Skipper!

The Super Skipper will have your kids jumping and hopping!

It offers a great way to get that high energy harnessed indoors (or out if you're not having winter right now!) and it helps your kids stay fit and active. You can give it a go as well! The Super Skipper rotates around and kids have to jump over it as it moves by them. Lots of encouragement for coordination, reflex development, muscle building, cardiovascular health as well as sharing and taking turns.

The Super Skipper is available online and in-store. Want to receive our daily gift guide blog post? Subscribe to our rss feed.

"I made it myself"

Craft kits give children a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction and they make great holiday gifts. "Make your Own" craft sets as well as bead sets and other creative activities can all inspire the budding artist in your child.

Click here to view our great selection of craft kits online or visit us in-store.

Pizza? Sandwich? Fruit or veggie?

Wood food is good food for hours and hours of imaginative play.

Kids love to imitate what you do. It's how they learn about the world and their place in it. They watch what you do and want to do it too. And what do they probably see you do the most? Cook and serve food. This wooden food from Melissa and Doug is sure to be a sure fire hit with your kids as they play at being grown up and doing what they see as among the most important things that you do!



We have a number of different play food sets available online and in-store.

Wedgits: an award-winning toy

Which toy has been called "a manipulative masterpiece"? It's Wedgits!

Wedgits are definitely one of the best, most engaging, most creative, most educational, most fun and most award-winning toys ever made. Loved by girls and boys alike, the bright colours, fun texture and interesting shapes combine to make Wedgits an absolute hit with anyone 2-102.

Check them out! We have a number of different Wedgits sets available online and in-store.

Balaclavas

Tired of hats flying off your baby or toddler's head? Try out the good old fashioned balaclava. Balaclavas not only keep heads, cheeks, ears, chins and necks warm, they are almost impossible for even the most determined toddler to take off! Made from soft, organic merino wool, they can be worn on their own or under a snowsuit hood. Available online or in-store.

Best playdough ever - a fun homemade gift!

Here's a classic playdough recipe that's easy to make and lasts a long time. It's non toxic and is way cheaper that buying commercial playdough. Wrap it in wax paper, put it in a box or gift bag, and it's a great present! Kids of all ages (and adults too!) love the soft squishy feel of playdough. It's a fabulous tension reliever, encourages imagination and creativity, develops hand and finger strength and dexterity and is just plain FUN! When I taught in preschools and daycare, I always had one table set up just with playdough and assorted accessories (rolling pins, plastic knives, cookie cutters etc.).

Here's the recipe :

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoon cream of tartar (available in the spice and/or baking section) - this is a critical ingredient. don't leave it out!
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
food colouring

Mix first 4 ingredients in a pan. Add water and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 – 5 minutes. Dough will become difficult to stir and form a “clump”. Remove from stove and knead for 5 minutes–add food coloring during kneading process. Play dough will keep for a long time stored in a covered plastic container or plastic sandwich bag.

If your children are 2 and up they can help you make this playdough - all the more satisfying to them if they made it themselves!

We'd love to hear your ideas for homemade gifts for kids - please feel free to leave a comment and share your ideas!

The perfect gift

Here's a beautiful story from Judy, owner of Mountain Baby and our "Main Mountain Mama", about the perfect gift and the magic of the season.

In late November, a mother and daughter came into Mountain Baby to find a birthday gift for a friend's child. While the mother was waiting to pay at the till, her daughter wandered over to the costume display and was standing below a pink, shimmering fairy dress.

“This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” she said, her eyes wide with awe and reaching up to gently touch the sparkling silver wings that fanned out from the dress. She turned to her Mother and pleaded, “can I have it, please? Please?”

“No, we’re here to buy a birthday present, that’s all for today,” she replied, wishing she could say yes, wishing it was that easy. She was trying to be a full-time Mother while working part-time. There weren’t enough hours in the day to make that work as well as she wanted, and not enough money coming in to buy all the Christmas presents she’d like to. But how do you explain that to your little girl?

“But I want it! I really, really want it!” cried her daughter.

Her mother couldn’t buy it but she couldn’t say no again, not looking into her child’s tear-filled eyes. So she said, “maybe Santa will bring it for Christmas.” The second it came out of her mouth she regretted it. She knew Santa wasn’t going to come down the chimney with a fairy dress in a box tied with a bow, not with a paycheque this small.

Behind the till, I watched all this transpiring; I watched both Mother and Daughter wanting something so badly that they just couldn’t have, and watching their hearts break because of it.

I leaned over the counter and said quietly to the mother, “what if you just paid a little each week and picked it up in time for Christmas?” The mother’s face lit up. She could make that work. She told her daughter again, this time with much more conviction, that Santa would bring it.

“But how will he know where to find it and what it looks like?” asked her daughter, distressed. I came around the counter and knelt down to her height.

“I talk to Santa all the time,” I said. “I tell him exactly which dresses and toys kids want.”

“But how will you remember that it’s this one? What if you forget?” I reached up and brought the dress down to her.

“Why don’t you tell me what this dress looks like and I’ll write it down and give it to Santa just to be sure?”

She touched the dress carefully like it was the most precious garment in the world, looked over it inch by inch. She began to describe it to me, in the most precise detail; the different shades of pink, the places where it shimmered, the shape of the wings, the way it felt to the touch. I read it back to her and asked her if I got it all right. She nodded and smiled wide.

Every week for a month, the mother came in and put a little money towards the dress. She beamed when she told me how excited her daughter was for Christmas, and how glad she was that the magic of Santa Claus was going to be so real for her daughter this year. She knew her daughter would live in that dress, would treasure it until the wings fell off and the pink faded. She finally picked it up on Christmas Eve.

After the Holidays the mother came in to tell me what a special time Christmas had been for her and her daughter. The dress was all she could afford that year, but it was enough; her daughter was so happy to have the one thing she had really, really wanted that it didn’t matter if there were 2 or 10 presents under the tree.

In the advertising frenzy leading up to the holidays and in these tight economic times, it’s easy to worry that you aren’t going to make your children happy with enough gifts. But remember that it’s not always about quantity; the right gift, the one your kid had at the top of his or her list mailed to Santa, is worth a whole pile of presents. Let us help you pick the perfect presents for your kids, your grandkids, your nieces and nephews; presents that will last for many Christmases to come, that make the magic of the season come alive for the little ones in your life.

Great toys for toddlers

Toddlers just want to GO! 

Toddlers are movers and shakers with an amazing capacity for a short attention span.  They move from place to place, object to object.  Check this out, taste it, squish it, throw it, move on to the next thing.

So, what makes a great toddler gift?  Every toddler needs a good sturdy ride-on toy that allows him or her to move and explore in new and different ways. The John Deere Tot Tractor or the Radio Flyer Classic Wood Tiny Trike are old time reliable favourites for a toddler's first set of wheels.

The John Deere Tot Tractor is available online and in-store.  The Radio Flyer Tiny Trike is not currently available through our website, but if you call us at our toll-free phone number (1-888-990-2292), we'd be happy to answer any questions and arrange shipping.

Big blocks, little blocks, square blocks, round blocks...

Big blocks, little blocks, square blocks, round blocks, wood blocks, cardboard blocks - all kids love blocks! Blocks are a timeless gift that have been a favourite with children for centuries. 

Blocks are a classic "open ended toy" - there is no right way to build with them and the creative possiblilites are endless. They help children develop eye hand coordination, small muscle development, balance skills, problem solving skills, reasoning and mathematical thinking, undestanding of cause and effect, and learning about a wide range of concepts such as more, less, here, there, up, down, over, under, big, little, and on and on. Every preschool, every day care and every kindergarten has blocks for a reason. 

Check out these different kinds of blocks for kids of all ages avaiable online and in-store:

Classic wooden ABC 123 blocks with a storage pouch, from Melissa & Doug.

ABC block cart, from Melissa & Doug.

Jumbo cardboard blocks, from Melissa & Doug.

Planning for a low stress holiday

Getting anxious about the holiday season?  There's a great old saying... "People before things".  Take some time to think about what's really important about the holidays for you and your family.  Keep those things central in your planning.

If you have a young baby you're probably tired most of the time.  Limit how much you take on this year.  Be realistic with people about how much you can really do.  Consider potluck Christmas dinners, smaller gatherings, less travel, fewer presents.  A frazzled, exhausted, stressed out Mom is NOT what families need to create lifelong happy memories (it's amazing how many people remember their mothers being totally strung out at Christmas).

So start planning now and take a serious look at what you can comfortably handle.  When your children are older you'll be able to do more. Taking care of yourself is a great holiday gift for your family.

To have great gift ideas and holiday tips delivered daily, sign up for our rss feed. 

Zoobie Zoobie Zoobie Do Wah Wah!

They're jazzy, they're cool, they make great gifts for any child between newborn and 6. They're Zoobie Pets, the three-in-one toy that's a cuddly stuffy, a comfy pillow and a cozy blanket. Take them anywhere and everywhere you go. Zoobies have won multiple awards and are loved by all. Choose your favourite Zoobie Pet as a friendly companion for your little ones. (So hard to choose...we love the new Very Hungry Caterpillar Zoobie!) Zoobies are available online and in store.

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Get down with down

Here's a great gift idea that's practical for families who want to be outdoors: fabulously warm down jackets and bunting bags.


It's cool to be chill but not chilly! Check out our kid and baby sized super warm down outerwear. Made by Molehill Mountain Equipment, they are tough, beautifully made, and life time warrantied. Down is an amazing insulator: soft, light, and ever so cozy and warm. What baby wouldn't want to be tucked into a soft down bunting bag? And how cute are these tiny down jackets for the toddler and preschool sets? Check them out online (click here for bunting bags and here for jackets) or in-store.

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Mountain Baby Gift Guide

December is gift giving time and we want to "Tweet" you to a range of ideas for great gifts for the little ones in your life. Every day we'll present some products for different ages that we think are great. Some will be fun, some will be practical, all will contribute to your child's well being and healthy development. We will also offer suggestions for ways to build holiday traditions, ways to stay sane during the season, ideas for enjoying the colder days and general helpful parenting tips.

So, check back daily for gift ideas for kids of all ages and some different perspectives on celebrating the holidays. Follow us on twitter for daily gift guide tweets!

If twitter just isn't your thing, you can also sign up for the rss feeds for this blog as well.