What We Gave our 10-Month-Old for Christmas

I love gift-giving at Christmas and spending time finding the perfect present for the people I love. I put a lot of thought into what to get Caroline for her first Christmas. I knew I wanted to keep it relatively simple for two reasons: (1) our house doesn't have a lot of storage and (2) she had absolutely no idea what was going on! I did a lot of research on the internet, including asking ladies in one of my favorite Facebook groups, on what's best to get a 10-month-old. I had some criteria I stuck to when selecting gifts. I wanted what she received to be things that would:

• be useful for more than just a few months
• encourage creative play
• largely not be electronic (I have absolutely nothing against electronic toys, and I'm definitely not a Millenial Montessori mom, but I'm way too easily overstimulated to have a thousand things singing at me all the time)
• include some "heirloom" items

Here is what I landed on to get her from Mom & Dad (& Santa!):

"Under the Tree" Gifts:

• Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair
• Three Sheep Shack crocheted sheep
• Shutterfly Caroline's Favorite People board book
• Kyte Baby pajamas
• Sheep in a Jeep board book
• Amazon pajamas (Kyte knock offs!)
• A trip to the Georgia Aquarium in the near future

Stocking Stuffers:

• Pop tubes
• Fish bath toys
• Arrowroot biscuits
• Puffs
• Happybaby pancake mix
• Boat bath toys

I also put together a list of items on Amazon for friends and family to choose from or to help them come up with ideas. Here are some things I included:

• Le Toy Van blocks
• Textured balls
• Battat activity cube
• B is for Buckaroo book
• Silicone placemat
• Ubbi starfish bath toys
• Melissa & Doug jumbo farm puzzle
• Melissa & Doug caterpillar xylophone
• Whale bath toy
• Sheep bamboo plate
• Battat stacking cups
• Battat pound & roll
• Battat pop up pals
• Hape vegetable basket
• Hape echo microphone
• John Deere Plant & Grow board book
• Lasso the Moon book
• Bamboo pajamas
• Dr. Brown's straw cups

The link to the Amazon list was sent to friends and family with a note that says we absolutely don't expect gifts for Caroline, but here are some things that she could use. 

It's not lost on me how blessed we are to be able to provide these gifts for our daughter. In a year that was exceedingly difficult for so many, we were just so thankful to have her and to be able to provide a few extra things for her to play with. We are also extremely grateful for all the gifts she received from others. 

I hope this will help if you have a young child or are wondering what to get a baby who is around 10 months to a year old! I feel any parent would love any of the above gifts for their child; most came highly recommended by other parents and child development specialists. 

Do you have any other gift/toy recommendations for a baby that age?