Christmas Gifts: Last Minute Gift Ideas For Babies 6-12 Months

If you haven’t been following the blog the last few weeks, then you’ll be pleased to know that recently we’ve posted several Christmas gift guides for foodies, parents-to-be, new parents, those who are breast/chestfeeding and yesterday, we posted a last-minute gift guide for babies ages 0-6 months. So to finish off our 2021 Christmas gift guides, we’ll be sharing our last-minute gift ideas for babies aged 6-12 months in this post. All of the following ideas are gifts that Alice is getting for Christmas, except the booster seat, which we purchased before Alice’s arrival! So without further ado, let’s start the final guide for this year! 

That’s Not My Dinosaur Gift Set:

Fluffy toy? Check. Interactive book? Check. If you want to gift the gift of getting a little one to love books from a very early age, then Usbourne’s range of interactive books from its That’s Not My series are a great place to start! Each page of the That’s Not My Dinosaur book has textured areas for little ones to explore and develop sensory awareness, on top of the language awareness that reading from a young age brings. The That’s Not My Dinosaur gift set also comes with a cuddly purple dinosaur toy, perfect for little hands to snuggle up to! 

Vtech Sit To Stand Music Centre:

If you want a musical toy to last a good couple of years, then look no further than the Vtech Sit To Stand Music Centre! The centre comes with 15 melodies, 7 sing-along songs, various sounds and phrases, a microphone for the little one to sing into and 4 voice-changing effects. The panel containing the keyboard, drum, saxophone, guitar and microphone detaches from the stand to allow it to be used when sitting down. In addition, the centre teaches animals, colours, instruments and more and being suitable from 12 months to 3 years means that the centre is an excellent choice for a gift if you want something which will last. 

Carotina Blocks And Mat Set:

Previously reviewed on the blog (you can find the full review here), the Carotina Blocks And Mat Set is another excellent multifunctional, space-saving toy. Not only does the playmat come in a jigsaw style, but it also has pop-out animals and houses which can be slotted into some of the blocks for little ones to create their own themes and stories. In addition, the bright colours of the set catch little ones attention for more extended periods, allowing their creativity and imagination to truly flourish when playing with this set. There are 38 building blocks of varying sizes and colours in the set and 24 pieces that make up the playmat if you include the pop-out animals and houses. 

Benbat Portable Booster Seat:

We’ve posted about Benbat’s Portable Booster Seat before, but we’re posting about it again because we love just how useful this is! This portable booster seat has similar functions to a highchair but is lightweight, great for travel so you can feed little one anywhere, and can be placed wherever it is needed. Another thing I like about the Benbat is that not only is it portable, it also comes with storage compartments to pop some bits and bobs in for little ones. This is great, as you can forgo the changing bag and pop nappies, wipes etc., into the storage compartment of the booster seat when going out locally. As they get older, they can pack the storage compartment themselves, which further helps to aid their independence and development! 

That’s the Christmas gift guides for this year complete! If you’ve found any great gift ideas for the little ones in your life, add them to the comments to help others with their last-minute Christmas shopping! Although the gift guides may be done, we’ll also be sharing blog posts on how we’re prepping for Alice’s first Christmas, so do keep an eye out for those! 

This post contains affiliate links. This means that we receive a percentage of the revenue made from purchasing products when you click on a link. This does not affect you as the consumer or the price of the product or service. It is also not a paid for promotion or a collaboration/advert.

FamilyOfWanderlustersLeave a comment

Product Review: Multifunctional Toys For Babies And Toddlers

With Christmas not that far off, people are beginning to think about what gifts their loved ones might like and when it comes to babies and young children, what toys would be suitable for them. There are many different types of toys available, from games to cuddly bears and toys which aid learning and development, which can make buying gifts for babies and young children somewhat challenging.

Toys and Bears offer a range of toys and teddy bears, and their handy filters help you take the guesswork out of what to buy! You can filter by age, price, brand and more! In addition, they have a great range of educational toys if you wish to gift something that will aid development. Finally, if you’re interested in the Montessori way of learning and play, then Toys and Bears have a range of Montessori toys.

A multicoloured box containing a toy is laid flat on the floor. The box has a white baby on the front playing with building blocks and the animal cut outs which the toy contains.
The Carotina Baby Blocks Mat in its box.

In terms of toys that aid development, one that is definitely suitable for babies and toddlers is the Carotina Baby Blocks Mat. When in its box, the set doesn’t look that big; however, looks are deceiving, especially with this product. This multifunctional mat and blocks set can be used from around a year old up to four years of age and has many features making it an excellent choice if you want a toy that will last a couple of years rather than a few months.

The large building blocks are great for little ones to explore their creative side whilst developing their fine motor control through stacking and building. The blocks are the perfect size for small hands, and the vibrant colouring of the blocks make them attractive to babies as well as helping to stimulate their brain growth. The blocks also enable toddlers to learn how to count when they’re ready to, and with there being 38 blocks of varying sizes, there’s plenty of ways to get little ones learning off to a great start!

Bright yellow, green, red and purple building blocks are laid out on the floor. To the right is an open box containing several pieces of the playmat in with various colours.
The building blocks and some of the playmat pieces

Moving onto the playmat and the jigsaw style means that little ones potentially have their first 24 piece jigsaw within this toy! The playmat, when put together, measures 70x50cm and is double-sided, making for hours of learning and fun. Each piece has a different scene on the front; for example, an ocean scene for the shark and octopus jigsaw piece and a desert scene with pyramids in the background for the camel. The back of each piece has the backs of the animals and the back of the two houses on the most prominent jigsaw piece with a blue background with white polka dots.

Photo of playmat pieces with the backs various animals and 2 houses. The pieces have a blue background with white polka dots.
The back of the playmat pieces

However, the beauty of this entire set is that 11 of the animals and the houses pop out of the jigsaw piece, whilst a few of the building blocks contain slots on top. This is a fantastic feature as it allows little ones to create their own scenes and helps with many different areas of their development. In addition, the bright colours of both the jigsaw pieces and the blocks really stand out even when put together.

A small jigsaw style playmat is laid on light brown laminate flooring. Each piece of the play mat has a different scene with various animals in and each piece has various bright colours.
The front of the playmat

Right now, Alice is a little too small to use this toy as she’s only 2 months old. However, we can’t wait to see her using it in a few months when she sits up by herself, and we’re excited to see her start using it. The set is the perfect size for our house, especially as we’re pretty limited on space which is why I’m so happy about all of the functions that the Carotina Baby Blocks Mat contains.

This post is kindly sponsored, and we were gifted the Carotina Baby Blocks Mat for this review. However, the content is based on our honest opinions.

FamilyOfWanderlusters1 Comment