So here I am typing this blog post with my left pointer finger. It’s slow and torturous to say the least. Just capitalizing letters makes me sweat at the moment. Yesterday I had surgery on my right hand due to an apparent unknown fracture from my snowboarding days years ago. The operation went surprisingly smoothly and I was even able to watch it on a monitor while they were doing it. Fascinating and slightly repulsive at the same time. They even gave me a copy of the operation which I made my entire family watch yesterday evening. As you can imagine they were all extremely thrilled and enthusiastic.
Now I’m supposed to not use my right hand/arm for a minimum of six weeks. We’ll see how that goes. Being a mom of three very active kids who do tons of activities will make it a huge challenge. And don’t get me started on not being able to cook, bake, sew, paint etc for that long! Wish me luck.
I have a few blog posts prepared for the coming days but I also asked some of my favorite bloggers to help me out with some posts to keep things interesting on this blog in the coming weeks. Stay tuned because there are some great ones.
Today I wanted to share some of my favorite kid gift ideas. I’ve bought all these products as gifts for various people this holiday season and some have already been opened and loved (remember that our kids receive their presents on December 6th for Sinterklaas).
In our family we like to keep the whole gift side of the holidays quite low-key and simple. We try and buy gifts that are unique and usable and we try and support small businesses/designers whenever we can.
So far we’ve made some lovely purchases. Here are a few:
I bought my daughters these dainty little Louisa Misha bracelets. They are made with a gold chain and embellished with ceramic beads and cotton tassels. They come with a chain fastening that can fit the tiniest of wrists and up to when they are teenagers. I bought them from a great online website called Mini-Mei that has a vast selection of Scandinavian clothing and accessories for kids up to 6 years old.
For my daughter who is learning to play the classical guitar I bought this guitar case from French designer Lale. It’s so pretty with the yellow stripes and turquoise edging. I ordered it online from smallable.
Another great gift for the little kids in the family are these Ellie Bellie Kids robots. These absolutely adorable and soft little robots come in boy and girl versions and in seven colours (and are delivered in a funky carrying case). An added bonus is that they are made with renewable plant based materials and are constructed ethically with a minimal carbon footprint. What more could you want in a gift?
Since my children were wee little ones I’ve been dressing them in the Danish kid’s clothing line Mala. Mala clothing is always so unique, colourful and such good quality. My kids look forward to their new Mala Christmas clothing every year. It’s a bit on the pricey side but well worth it!
For my son we couldn’t get away from buying him Lego. Lego is his life. He spends hours in his little “Lego corner” in our living room and is so ecstatic when he receives a new box. We decided that we’d buy him his Lego but from a local family-owned store and not from one of those online mega-stores (even if it was cheaper!). We bought him this Volkswagen Camper Van for Sinterklaas and he was over the moon about it. He spent days building it and was so proud when he had finally finished (especially since the age on the box was 16+).
Have you made any unique gift purchases this holiday season? Do you support small, local businesses and designers as well?
Jillian In Italy 