20 March 2014

Irish Inspiration: Toddler St. Patty's Day Gifts


Hey all!
So since St. Patrick's Day is such a big deal in our home what with my Irish heritage and all, we do St. Patty's Day baskets, much the same as the whole Easter basket tradition. I thought I'd share our toddler-appropriate gift items, which would really work well for Easter baskets, birthday gifts, or Christmas stockings too! And don't forget to check out the other fun Irish Inspired posts from this week...

Wed: Toddler St. Patty's Day Gifts (that's today!)


Alrighty... and now onto the gift ideas for the wee cuties in your life ;)


(1) Books
We're a big fan of Tomie dePaola around here. He has fun illustrations and a great way of telling stories. Two of my favorite St. Patty's day books are Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato as well as Fin M'Coul, the Giant of Knockmany Hill (which she got last year, but would be much more appropriate for toddler age).  There are a great many Irish books out there- do you have any favorites?

(2) Food
OK, so I don't usually condone sweets per say, but this little one takes after her father and is a chocolate fiend already! We try to limit it to just a few small pieces. I hid a few chocolate mints in some green camo Easter eggs as well as some green-foil-wrapped Hershey kisses in a small container wrapped with a yellow tulle bow! Some other non-sugar ideas (which she'll actually be getting in her Easter basket!) would be Happy Baby Apple Kale Super Toddler Bars or Happy Baby Green Puffs (also available in green apple flavor).

(3) Stuffed Animals
Our little one loves her stuffed animals- her collection is already rivaling mine when I was little! Some of her current green stuffed animals were actually passed down from me, like Shamrock the Saint Patricks Bear by Ty. The one pictured is Skully, the parrot from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, one of her favorite shows to watch on Netflix!

(4) Shiny Things
If your little one is anything like mine, anything that flashes or blinks and/or has buttons is golden! The one bracelet we picked up at our local zoo, and the other one has LEDs in it, so it flashes when you hit the button on the side. She loves it! I picked up a whole pack of a few colors- we'll be bringing the extras to Disney World in the fall, so she has something to play with during the evening parades :)

(5) Clothing
Let's be honest- the little ones grow like weeds and are always in need of some new threads! Now is a great time to check out the clearance sections at your favorite stores for next year's St. Patty's goodies! Check your local consignment stores too! The leg warmers shown here I made from women's knee socks last year. The Minnie tee is from Old Navy. The flip flops are for her dress up kit- they were actually a gift for me (she loves wearing my shoes! What wee one doesn't, really? hehe) but I don't enjoy the plastic flip flops so off they went into her stash!

(6) Motor Skills
I didn't actually buy anything new to make this piece of her basket. I rounded up some green pom poms, pipe cleaners, and straws and stuck them in an empty sugar canister. She loves dumping everything out and then putting everything back in- bonus points for getting her to work on her motor skills with this "toy."

(7) Arts & Crafts
I ordered some Crayola construction paper, cut up some white, orange, and green pieces, stapled them together- instant Irish flag coloring booklet! She got some fresh Crayola Pip-Squeak Markers (perfect for little hands) and Crayola Triangular Crayons, but only the green, orange, and white shades for today!

(8) Stickers
This little one just adores anything remotely related to a sticker. She got two variations in her basket this year- first, some adhesive foam shamrocks which came in three shades of green as well as some simple removable office color coding labels in green. Be sure to stick with kids stickers or ones that are marked "removable" or you might be scraping stickers off everything for weeks!

(9) AND (10) DIY Crafts
Check back in tomorrow where I'll show you how to make these super simple Irish-inspired crafts either FOR your little ones or WITH your little ones!



Hope to see ya'll tomorrow, friends :)
God bless,
Shauna


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