This gift guide should be named ‘Our Favorite Toys’. We own everything on this list and these items have been my girls’ favorite toys for the past 3+ years. I know the “job” of bloggers is to give readers unique and hard-to-find holiday gifts ideas but whenever I look at gift guides I always wonder, ‘have real moms tested these toys with their kids?’ Instead of scouring Etsy for the most gorgeous (but 50/50 chance they’ll play with them) toys, I’m rounding up our tried and true favorites.
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One: Melissa and Doug baby stuff // If you have baby lovers in your house, these are the best pretend play sets I’ve found. The girls even prefer them to the American Girl bitty baby accessories because everything opens and is more “real”. We also have the bathtime play set.
Two: Manhattan Toy Company soft doll // These are a mix between a stuffed animal and a baby doll and they come in different genders and ethnicities. Being soft and machine washable, these would make good starter dolls for the 12-24 month age range.
Three: Scooters // This is the less expensive option to the Micro scooters. They’ve held up great and the light up wheels are a big hit.
Four: Play food // This is the BEST pretend kitchen food. The set isn’t cheap but it’s huge and very high quality. It will not only last through multiple kids but I can already tell will be passed along to another family whenever we outgrow it.
Five: Solid Wooden Blocks // We got these blocks for Caroline’s first or second Christmas which may have been a little young since both girls didn’t seem interested until age 2. However, now I’m constantly blown away by how much these “boring” wood blocks are played with. They are the ultimate imaginative play toy used by both girls to make castles, houses, obstacle courses, and often combined with Magnatiles and the dollhouse in various creations.
Six: Play makeup set // The most realistic pretend makeup set. We’ve given this as a gift a few times too, and it’s always a hit.
Seven: Dollhouse (ours not pictured) // If I had to pick our most loved/most used toy of the past (almost) five years, it would be the dollhouse I found on Craigslist last Christmas for $75. It’s an absolutely massive – 47 in. wide – antique wood dollhouse. My parents had saved all the dollhouse furniture from my childhood which helped with furnishing it, but it’s been fun for the girls to add to it over the past year. Hobby Lobby has tons of minatures and my friend Lynsey has found great stuff for the girls on Amazon. I think the key is that everything is tiny, wood, and very realistic. I’m not exaggering when I say one or both girls play with the dollhouse for at least an hour, EVERY DAY.
Eight: Magna Tiles // We will keep adding to our Magna Tiles collection over the years because the girls always want to build bigger and more intricate creations.
Nine: Doctor kit // A staple pretend play toy that every kid needs. There are a lot of options out there but we love this one.
Ten: Playdough kit // Playdough is a house favorite. If I go too long without making a new kit, Caroline will gently remind me. 🙂 Use my DIY tutorial here, or if DIY isn’t your thing, Young Wild and Friedman is the OG playdough lady.
Eleven: Lakeshore Learning dollhouse families // I love that you can buy these dollhouse families in different ethnicities to keep our toy collection representing the world around us!
Twelve: Daniel Tiger family and friends // These and the Peppa Pig figurines I wrote about in our Road Trip Essentials post are some of the girls’ most loved dollhouse occupants.
Thirteen: Melissa and Doug shopping cart // Probably the most realistic play toy on the market, this shopping cart has been with us since Caroline was 18 months. My girls have always been very good at stearing it, but beware if your kiddos aren’t – your baseboards will take a beating!