My Favorite Holiday Gift Guides

I had high hopes of of creating my own BBM gift guide this year, but instead I decided to compile a list of other gift guides for you to peruse. No need for me to spend the time making a list when others have done a splendid job of it already! Here are some of my favorite gift guides that I found for the 2013 holiday season!

Modern Parent's Messy Kids (MPMK)
This is the end-all-be-all of gift guides. You really don't have to look any further than MPMK's yearly compilation of gift ideas. They have it broken down into 10 different categories, i.e., Best Learning Toys for Quiet Time and Independent Play, or Best Building and Constructing Toys, making it all the more easy for you to find something for the kids you know so well. They have reviewed over 250+ toys, games and puzzles and asked countless parents, teachers and care-givers for their input when putting the lists together. You won't be disappointed with this gift guide!


Daily Candy gifts for Littles
Who doesn't love the Daily Candy emails? I remember receiving these 10 years ago. I would look forward to them each day, waiting to see what these ladies thought was the coolest thing to buy or see. They have compiled a great list of unique gift ideas for kids of all ages on their site. My favorite being this personalized memory game by Pinholepress.com that I have already ordered for my girls!

Personalized Memory Game c/o pinholepress.com

Real Simple Gifts for Kids
I love me some Real Simple magazine. I always pick it up and read it on plane rides, or when I am feeling like my house could use some organizing (which is always). Do I actually ever take the advice in the magazine? Of course not. I just waste my time looking at all the clean photos of people's anally neat closets and pantries and perfectly organized purses. But they do put together some great gift guides. Check out this one for kids for some unique gift ideas, including this fabulous monster hoodie. I want one in my size ASAP.

Monster Hoodie from cutesybutnotcutesy.com

They also have some amazing ideas for stocking stuffers, including this Ryan Gosling coloring book. Totally absurd, but every girl needs one right?

Yummy Ryan Gosling coloring book from blueribbongeneralstore.com

And for you parents with teenagers or tweens (God help you :) they have this gift guide full of unique gifts for those older kids with 'tude. I should add that I want everything on this list - what does that say about me?

Animal head from cardboardsafari.com. I want this!!

Time Out New York
Time Out New York compiled a great gift guide this year full of things you can find in New York City as well as online for us out-of-towners (or foreigners as we are considered by all New Yorkers). They have broken it down by age range, making it easier for you to shop for the kids on your nice list. I am in love with this all-in-one dinner set by Doiy Design.

If you live in NYC you can pick one of these up at E.A.T. gifts

Queen Oprah's Favorite Things
And then finally the gift guide for the rich and famous, or those that don't mind spending hundreds of dollars on truffle oil for their grandmother. Oprah's Favorite Things - because who doesn't need a chocolate nativity scene? I know I don't!

$79 for 3 baby bibs. BIBS. Bibs people!! Come on, Oprah. 

If you didn't find anything to your liking in the lists above be sure to visit my favorite gift giving sites below:
- Uncommongoods.com 
- Etsy.com
- Landofnod.com
- The MOMA store

Photo Gift Ideas From My Favorite Photo Sites

(Update: After writing this post this past weekend, I have discovered Pinholepress.com. You can create personalized memory games with your photos, wall decals, wine bottle labels and all sorts of other fancy things!) 

I take a lot of photos. A LOT of photos. As of today I have taken over 3000 photos this year, both with my camera and my phone. What do I do with those photos? I put them on a share site, and that is about it for most of the year. Occasionally I get them printed out and put them in frames around my house. But come Christmas time I love to use those photos (not all of them of course :) to make photo gifts for people. There are so many different things you can do with your photos that you might not know about, so I thought I would inspire you and share some of my favorite sites.

1. Blurb. Everyone loves a photo book. And nowadays they are easier than ever to make. I have been using Blurb.com since it's launch back in 2006. It is the best book making website out there. You will get the highest quality for the most affordable price. I started using them long ago because they offered the most variety when it came to page layouts. Since then other sites have gotten just has customizable, such as shutterfly.com, but the quality of your printed pages are far superior when you create with Blurb. The wonderful thing about this site is that once you create your book, you can actually sell it on their site! You basically become your own publisher. Pretty amazing stuff.

photo c/o blurb.com

2. Shutterfly. I have a love/hate relationship with shutterfly.com. I started using Kodak Gallery (anyone else remember when it was Ofoto?) back when I got my first digital camera in 2001, and then Kodak Gallery merged with Shutterfly, so I obviously just started using Shutterfly as my photo sharing site. Because it is so easy for me to create photo gifts on their site due to all my photos being there, I use it a lot come Christmas time for family gifts. I have made things like fleece blankets with photos on them, photo cubes, photos printed on glass, plates, cups, photo ornaments and key chains to name a few. All of them are of decent quality, and are loved by everyone that has received them. I also get photo books printed by them, but for some reason every photo or photo book I get printed by them is not up to par. The photo prints tend to be off color and the books are always a little funky. Most people don't notice these little things, but I am pretty picky when it comes to my prints so I don't usually get them done via Shutterfly (I go to Costco). I do recommend them for all those fun photo gifts though, as the resolution of the photo doesn't have to be that great for the gift to come out nice.

One of my favorite things I made on
Shutterfly was this iPhone case

3. Printstagram. I am obsessed with Instagram. OBSESSED. I have hundreds of square photos that I have taken and shared on the IG app. I even have IG friends - people I have never met in person, most who don't know my real name (I am bostonbabymama - check me out!) but whom I have developed "relationships" simply from commenting on each other's photos. Crazy, I know, but I love it. On Prinstagr.am (that is the web address) you can print your Instagram photos on beautiful thick card stock, in two different sizes - one being this 2x2 mini squares that are so fun for the kids to look at and play with. You can also get these "tiny books" made that that are only 1.5 inches square and are magnetized so kids can also play with them on the fridge. In the process of making these for my girls right now! 

How freaking cute are these!
photo c/o prinstagr.am

4. Artifact Uprising. This site is for the passionate photographer, who wants unique, quality, long lasting products to showcase their photos. I have personally never ordered anything from them, but they have come highly recommended by a few of my professional photographer friends. They tell me the prints are top quality, as well as their other products. One of the more popular products is their photo with wood block, which allows you to quickly showcase a different photo via the wood block stand. Another great thing about this site is that you can do all this directly from their iPhone app!

photo c/o artifactuprising.com

5. Gifts for the Baby:

Photo Stacking Blocks - If you are looking for a gift for your baby this year, check out these Photo Stacking Blocks. I will be filling them and giving them to Val, or I should say Santa will be giving them to Val, this year. She loves looking at photos so I hope she will love these took!

Customized Board Books - I am also planning to do a customized board book from Pintsized Productions for Valerie this year. This site, which came highly recommended by a friend, allows you to customize your own book for your baby, with your photos and text. Can't wait to see how it turns out!