Best Gift you EVER got for your kids?

[PatsGirl]

Good morning everyone This thread is inspired by the favorite three gifts you received as a child.

When I picked DD13 up from her babysitting job last night, she was telling me that the Mom showed her all the gifts she bought for her daughter who is 5. Her big Santa gift is Bitty Baby. The Mom says that Gracie hasn't stopped talking about the baby since she was at our house a few weeks ago for a babysitting gig that we did here so DD and Gracie could bake cookies. When they were done with their Christmas baking and craft fun, DD showed Gracie her room and her toys, posters, etc and then they played with Bitty Baby

Of all the gifts DD's has received, this is by FAR the best gift she has ever received. She still changes Bitty's outfit according to the season and she will be going into high school next year I just emailed the Mom to tell her the backstory in case she didn't know about it and to let her know I know the sacrifice she had to make to buy such an expensive gift. This is a teen single mother (well, now she is 23) who is scraping by day by day.

My son was always unexcitable (takes after me) and I'm not sure he ever LOVED anything I got him but he did like his matchbox "smash-em-up" tracks when he was about 4 or 5 and his BB gun he got when he was 8.

 

[monkeyboy]

The love of a father

A roof over their head

Food on the table

 

[mlynn]

I was a teenager.But I was hit in the neck by a puck at a Flyers game(shawn Antoski shot it). My sister worked at a diner in Philly (the melrose) where a couple of old Flyers ate breakfast each morning. Well she told Joe Watson I got hit and the guy in front of me kept the puck. Well the next day he showed up with a hockey sticked signed by the whole team.(lindros, leclair and my favorite Eric Desjardain.and everybody else.)and also a signed pictures of Eric D. She gave it to me for Christmas.It was my favorite gift and I still having hanging in my bedroom after all these years.I cried that christmas because my favorite sports team did something nice for me.

 

[skater]

I love to find that one thing that will really surprise them - something they really want, but had no idea they would really get. I've succeeded a few times, but I can't pull anything up in my memory yet this morning .

 

[GoldieSaysMeep]

Not *my* child, but 2 years ago I got my now 5 1/2 year old niece a set of princess magnetic paper dolls and she still plays with it all the time. This year, we got her and her sister (who is now old enough) each a new set with Cinderella and Snow White. That was kind of a surprise hit, just a little extra something I had picked up for her that year. I had no idea she'd like it so much but she does. Last time we were over she kept making DH play with it with her. lol (DH is in a thrash metal band and kind of looks the part so it's pretty funny to see him sitting there sticking magnetic hair styles and dresses on the princess with DN lol)

 

[tinker&belle]

Last year my daughter was 2. She kept asking for a 'big Goofy'. I got her one of the large plush Goofys from the Disney store. She loved that thing. She has played with it the whole last year and still sleeps with it almost every night.

I had gotten her lots of other presents, many of which she didn't seem to care about. We decided after that to make Christmas a little more simple.

 

[plutotek]

A Big Wheel. We got one for our son when he was about 3, and he was on that every day for the next 3-4 years until he wore the big wheel off. He spent hours just riding up and down the sidewalk in front of the house, or he'd race on the sidewalk while his older friend rode a bike

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't really know...sad, huh?

I just asked DD10 and she said littlest pet shop adoption center. My vote would have been for scooby doo clue or Josefina from AG. We spent Christmas in New Mexico that year so I chose her first AG to go with that theme.

DD8 was very excited when she got MIA.

DS3 enjoy his Thomas/Cars collection.

This is baby's first Christmas, so toys and mom!

 

[mom2travel]

We've had a few gifts over the years that the kids have been really excited about, but the one gift that really sticks in my memory was one DS gave DD for her first Christmas and only cost about a dollar. DS, who was 5 at the time, took his own money to school for a holiday sale where vendors set up tables of small gifts the kids can purchase. He came bounding off the bus that day grinning ear to ear, so excited to show me all the great gifts he had purchased (I got mine on the sidewalk ). Well, he bought DD a ragdoll with yarn hair and gave it to her that night. She has slept with this doll every night for 10+ years Baby is the first thing to get packed when we travel, and all of DD's friends know her by name.

 

[PUZZLDY5]

We've had a few gifts over the years that the kids have been really excited about, but the one gift that really sticks in my memory was one DS gave DD for her first Christmas and only cost about a dollar. DS, who was 5 at the time, took his own money to school for a holiday sale where vendors set up tables of small gifts the kids can purchase. He came bounding off the bus that day grinning ear to ear, so excited to show me all the great gifts he had purchased (I got mine on the sidewalk ). Well, he bought DD a ragdoll with yarn hair and gave it to her that night. She has slept with this doll every night for 10+ years Baby is the first thing to get packed when we travel, and all of DD's friends know her by name.

I still have the teddy bear that my aunt got for me my first Christmas and I'm 38 years old. I obviously don't sleep with it anymore and Teddy looks rough but he's still on my shelf.

 

[OceanAnnie]

"I" didn't get it, but when the kids were wee tots they got an Air Activity Table, I think it was by Playschool. Best. Toy. Ever. Oh my gosh! They loved it!

It's a table that blows air into these little compact, colorful tubes. The tubes have all sorts of do-dads inside them, that move, spin, clack when put on the table and the air blows through them. The air would go through multiple stacked tubes too! They were enthralled! It was a toy that kept them fascinated, and engaged. They played with it individually and together. I have looked around some (not aggressively) for one like it, and I haven't seen one. I'm holding on to it for them. The legs come off the table and it's quite compact.

 

[WeDisney4]

We've had a few gifts over the years that the kids have been really excited about, but the one gift that really sticks in my memory was one DS gave DD for her first Christmas and only cost about a dollar. DS, who was 5 at the time, took his own money to school for a holiday sale where vendors set up tables of small gifts the kids can purchase. He came bounding off the bus that day grinning ear to ear, so excited to show me all the great gifts he had purchased (I got mine on the sidewalk ). Well, he bought DD a ragdoll with yarn hair and gave it to her that night. She has slept with this doll every night for 10+ years Baby is the first thing to get packed when we travel, and all of DD's friends know her by name.

Oh I love your story!! The Santa on the sidewalk made me both dds want to pass out their gifts yesterday! And the simple love of a brother for his sis & daughter for her doll. Really sweet, thanks fo sharing!!
Merry Christmas!

 

[tiggger1]

my dd got a pony for Christmas this year! He came a week ago. we didnt want to wait until xmas day because we werent going to be home and we wanted to make sure he was settled in good before the holidays!

 

[SaraJayne]

For DD, it would be the tickets to see Hannah Montana in concert a few years ago and the Build a Bear polar bear last year. lol

For DS, I don't really know. He's not very excitable. I'm hoping the Harlem Globetrotter tickets in his stocking this year may do the trick (after he asked to go to the game and DH and I told him "no") and his favorite Packers jersey with an underarmour shirt.

 

[Pakey]

The down payments for their homes.

 

[Micca]

A horse. He was delivered on the street in front of our house on Christmas morning(nearly 25 years ago).

 

[rie'smom]

One year my older son was 4 got a toy workbench that he loved. This year he is 35 and bought a house. We're giving him living room and dining room furniture and rugs. He's very happy.

Son #2 LOVED the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and he got a mountain of all of them one year.

Our daughter is 16 and wants to me a hair and makeup artist. We bought her a mirrored vanity and 2 mirrored chests to store her makeup and bought her tons of new makeup. I think this will end up being one of her best gifts.

 

[wenrob]

When DD was 11 I used all my Best Buy bonus points and got her an Ipod Nano, she had no clue and was stunned. Up until last week I'd say she would consider that her favorite surprise. However her Godfather took her to see Forever the Sickest Kids, something her Dad and I just couldn't bring ourselves to do. (hey, we've hit that "What is this crap your listening to" stage of our lives.) She was over the moon! It was quite entertaining for me too getting random texts from him: "I'm in hell," "OMG it get's worse," "HELP ME!!!" He never let on to her though and he's her hero.

 

[indimom]

When DD was 11 I used all my Best Buy bonus points and got her an Ipod Nano, she had no clue and was stunned. Up until last week I'd say she would consider that her favorite surprise. However her Godfather took her to see Forever the Sickest Kids, something her Dad and I just couldn't bring ourselves to do. (hey, we've hit that "What is this crap your listening to" stage of our lives.) She was over the moon! It was quite entertaining for me too getting random texts from him: "I'm in hell," "OMG it get's worse," "HELP ME!!!" He never let on to her though and he's her hero.

Oh, that's just hilarious. What an awesome Godfather.

I don't know if the kids would call them their favorite gifts, but I know which gifts have stood the test of time in our house.
My son got two Lego pirate ships one year (Davy Jones and one of the British military ships). They are kept in a place of honor on his shelves (to protect them from younger cousins) and he still gets them down to play with regularly. Worth every penny.
My daughter thoroughly enjoyed her Polly Pockets for years (she accumulated a good number over years of Christmases and birthdays). She occasionally will get them out and honor a younger cousin or a girl she is babysitting with an opportunity to play with them (under her constant supervision).

 

[Liberty Belle]

Probably the Playmobil castle when my oldest was 4. I tell you, though, it about killed me putting that damn thing together on Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. My DH and I would switch places - one put together for an hour while the other slept.

Well, wait, then when that son was older (middle school), he'd been begging to get his ear pierced and we kept telling him him no. Finally Santa left him a gift card at Piercing Pagoda. In the middle of the night, I'm awakened by my 13 year old jumping on top of me in bed, hugging me. I mean he literally lept from the floor to on top of me. That's one I'll never forget! Oh, he's 17 now and about a year ago, he let his hole close up - and then thanked me for only letting him get his ear pierced and nothing else.