Sponsor: Fantaisie Kids

Fantaisiekids offers truly unique and beautiful couture for infants, toddlers, and children. Our collections include exquisite Christening gowns, Special Occasion dresses, and Casualwear that your little ones will cherish throughout the years.

Visit www.FantaisieKids.com

Swanky Stocking Stuffer Alert: Sipahh Milk Flavoring Straws

Want to add a super unique, supper yummy item to the stockings this year? Tell Santa about Sipahh Milk Flavoring Straws! This great little item comes in 4 tasty flavors: chocolate, strawberry, banana, & cookies and cream. The concept is simple yet genius, a plastic straw filled with flavor beads. The beads dissolve as you suck the milk through the straw. I happen to be lucky and my boys love milk, but if your little ones are reluctant to drinking milk, this is a great inspiring treat! You can pick them up at most grocery stores, but if you haven't seen them around, use the store locator to find some Sipahh Straws near you. If you don't have a local retailer, you can purchase them online here. My boys flipped for these and your kids will love them too! My personal favorite, use a chocolate and a banana Sipahh at the same time, YUM!!!!!

LilyBugs: Swanky Sippy Cups for the Holidays!

Looking for an adorable accessory for your little one's bottle or sippy cup this holiday season? Spice things up with some great new designs by LilyBugs. The lovable Snowman features a 3D carrot nose, big puffy fleece mittens to grasp, and an adorable green wrap around scarf. The friendly bear design has great furry ears with finger holes and is wearing a Santa hat! My boys recently sported their holiday LilyBugs at a Christmas party and all of the other kids were super jealous! Even the adults were eyeing them... I'm sure they were just looking for a clever disguise to hide what they were drinking!

Visit LilyBugs today and order up a few holiday bugs. Your kids and their sippy cups will thank you!

Chocolate Impressions: Yummy Holiday Fun!

Who doesn't love the gift of chocolate? How about delicious chocolate ornaments personalized with your own pictures? Well, let Chocolate Impressions impress your friends and family with adorable and delicious gifts that are sure to put smiles on faces and make tummies happy too! Chocolate Impressions makes everything from chocolate business cards to framed chocolate family portraits. Looking for a great stocking stuffer? Have Santa make some chocolate lollipops with your child's photo on them, pick something cute, like photos with siblings, cousins or pets. They also make great gift toppers. Have some made with your family photo on them and tie them to the tops of the gifts you are giving, they'd be adorable gift tags and everyone would know the gift was from you! Looking for party favors? Here you go! The possibilities are endless, you can't go wrong with chocolate. Visit the Chocolate Impressions site today and create some unique gifts that please everyone on your list!

Areomax Toys: Let them be WILD this Holiday Season

Who says costumes are just for Halloween? Dress up is a blast all year long. With Aeromax, your child can become just about anything their heart desires and guess what? Shipping is free through December 31st! After reviewing their products, I have come to the conclusion that Areomax has the most fun, most realistic, most hilarious dress up items for children. I mean where else could you find a Ride on Flamingo and a Jockey Costume? Combine them and your little one is a flamingo jockey, hilarious right!?!?!?! The quality of Aeromax products is fabulous and the plush is very high quality. Order today and let your little ones get wild this holiday season: ride a giraffe, fight some fires, visit the moon, or even help out the post office and deliver some mail. Visit Aeromax today, with 10 days left until Santa's arrival, there's still time!

Christmas Eve: Start A New Tradition with Museum Tour

Looking to start a great new family tradition this year? We always open one gift on Christmas Eve, this year, we are opening one gift as a family. However, my family doesn't know that it's already been played with! I really wanted to find a unique and exciting item for my family to open on Christmas Eve, something that would be fun for our family's wide age range of 3 to 35. I also wanted it to be something we could do together as a group. I knew I wanted a game or activity type of item, and when I looked through the amazing Museum Tour catalog, the choices were endless. I stumbled upon The New Touch Game and KNEW it would be a hit with my family. So, to properly review the item, some friends and I played the game while the kids were at school, (I Love my job)! This unique game is a plastic "dome" with a self adjusting opening.

Inside are lots of fun goodies, everything from vehicles, to snakes, dinosaurs, and more. You use your sense of touch to find an object on a fact filled card. The hilarious part? Half of the dome is clear, so your opponents can see you feeling your way through the objects. The game features a built in timer, 20 theme cards, and 49 play pieces. You can also get expansion packs to change up the game or cater it to a special interest your family might have. The four expansion packs to choose from are Farm Animals, Sea Life, Dinosaurs, and African Wildlife. The New Touch Game is fun and educational. I know my family will have a blast playing the game by the fireplace on Christmas Eve.

Start a new tradition this year, visit the Museum Tour site today and pick up something your family will love. The site is fantastic, easy to navigate, and you can shop by category, price or age. All items on the site are carefully chosen and most are award winning products. Put your money to good use and buy something that will inspire, entertain, and enrich. You will love the Museum Tour selection and guess what? SO WILL SANTA!

Visit www.museumtour.com

Her Majestee

I have to say, I LOVE Her Majestee tees!! They have the coolest tees for the whole family but I’m especially excited about the bling tees for boys!!! I get lots of reviews but not a lot that are made for boys! My son has the Gold Skull Chain Tee and it is SO cool! It is black with 100 near 100 Swarovski® crystals combined with over 1000 gold studs. Now that is a lot of bling! And it looks like he is wearing a gold chain, so funky! I think boys deserve a little bling too! Her Majestee has tonnes of hip designs to choose from, check them out! The perfect Christmas gift for the little fashion queen or king in your life!

Visit www.hermajestee.com

Holiday Fun for Everyone with Learning Resources

The Christmas countdown is on! With just a few shopping weeks left, be sure to visit Learning Resources for all of the "nice" children on your list. The teacher in me LOVES to find toys that are educational and fun. Learning Resources has an endless selection of toys that will exercise the mind while creating smiles.

I think that games are the greatest holiday gifts, reason being, the whole family benefits from game time. Visit the Learning Resources site and check out some of my very favorite games & toys! All of the games on my "favorite" list are for ages ranging from 3-10. For the younger end of that age range check out Bunny Hop and Crazy Creatures. Bunny Hop is a color "memory" type of game that will keep kids on their toes waiting for the bunnies to hop out of their holes, very fun! Crazy Creatures is a super fun game focusing on animal sounds, you roll a die and move the farmer around the board. Depending on where he lands and the sound you hear, you get a different "part" of an animal. Hear an "oink" pick up a pig head or rear. Add it to your "middle" even if it's a cow or a horse. The first person with a complete animal is the winner. Even if it's a "shig" or a "cowse."

Mr. Scrambles is a must have! Another 3-10 year age range (even though adults will love it too), Mr. Scrambles is a friendly interactive egg, yes, I said egg, that can play 7 interactive games. He comes with a large spoon and an even larger personality. Play "Mr. Scrambles Says" or "Pass the Egg" or "Egg Hunt" and you'll have as much fun as the kids! I promise.

Freeze Up is my new favorite family game. The "technical" age range is 8-99, but my 6 year old loves it, so I'd say the range could go a little lower depending on the child. What I love about freeze up is that it's a great family game and a great party game too. This category countdown game forces players to be on their toes and not "Freeze Up." The electronic device gives you a category and you have only a short time to answer. An example, "name a state, letter A." Answer quickly and you stay in the game. Freeze Up and you're out! With over 170 categories and two modes of play, family and friends will have a blast competing for first place! The game can electronically keep score for 2-8 players. FUN, FUN, FUN!

Some other toys I love are the Talking Clever Clock, a great way to teach your child how to tell time, and the Jump and Jam Jungle, a super fun electronic mat with adorable graphics that lets kids get the wiggles out while learning about shapes, colors, and animal sounds.

All Learning Resource toys are high quality and built to last. Their website is easy to navigate and you can shop by subject, category, theme, or brand.

P.S. Santa will love this site too!

For a limited time, Learning Resources is offering a LOW shipping rate of $4.95 on orders over $65. So, shop away and pay less than $5 for shipping. Just use the code FSWEB07 at checkout.

Perfect Present Alert: Olive Kids Personalized Place Mats

Looking for a quick and easy holiday gift that will make any little one smile? Check out Olive Kids for their personalized holiday place mats. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, Olive Kids has got you covered.

Also, check out their new personalized name tags, a great stocking stuffer! perfect for backpacks, overnight bags and luggage.

Visit http://www.olivekids.com/

Stocking Stuffer Alert: PEPPERMINT PEEPS!

Santa always likes to stick a few special treats in the stocking and this year some favorites are from the super fantastic candy company Just Born. You know, the makers of Peeps! You've GOT to try the new Peppermint Peeps, yummy white marshmallow stars with flecks of peppermint candy cane on them. If you're not a Peeps fan, I ask you to open your mind, because these are truly YUMMY! They're sure to make little ones smile and mom and dad will enjoy sharing them too. Oh, and just for kicks, visit the Peeps website, yes, there is a whole site dedicated to Peeps. You must check out the recipes and crafts section. There are some really cute ideas. I mean a Peep Snowman on a stick in a cup of hot chocolate? Come on, so cute!

AND, Keep your eye out for the new flavor of Mike & Ike's coming Summer 2008. Lemonade Blends! I've always loved the original Mike & Ike's, but I've also always loved lemonade. I was recently lucky enough to try some out at the All Candy & Snack Expo in Chicago, and they are super delicious. They also benefit a great cause, Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Warm up the Holidays with a Slanket!

Looking for a great way to keep your little ones warm during the holidays? Check out the new Slanket for kids! This is a miniature version of the adult Slanket which is quite possibly the greatest thing you never knew you needed! A giant over sized, super soft, fleece blanket with sleeves that allow you to read, surf channels, snack, and whatever else you may need to do with your hands while trying to stay warm. Unfortunately nose picking is usually what my three year old chooses to do with his hands free warmth. The Slanket is a great gift, I purchased 5 of them this holiday season and I am actually having them embroidered with the recipient's names to make them a super special gift. When we received our Slanket for review, my boys immediately started fighting over it. Needless to say, everyone in the family has their own Slanket now. The Slanket has been a HOT holiday seller, so unfortunately, the adult versions are sold out through the holidays. However, the kid versions are still available. AND trust me, any kid that gets a Slanket will LOVE it. Keep checking the Slanket site, as they are hoping to add more adult inventory. You know it's a great item if they can't keep them in stock. So, bookmark the home of the best blanket in the world and check back often. With this kind of popularity, we may very well see Slanketeering become a sport in the Winter Olympics!

For more info, visit http://www.theslanket.com/

Little Marmara

Photography by Yalcin Erhan

Little Marmara is a beautiful line of organic clothing and accessories for kids! All their products are tagless and made with 100% organic Turkish cotton and low impact dyes. They reflect the designer’s Turkish heritage and are unisex styles. Now you can dress your kids in something hip that you feel good about for the environment and they feel comfortable wearing!

Visit www.LittleMarmara.com

Make your Holidays Colorful with CRAYOLA!

There's nothing better than a box of pointy, shiny, never been used new crayons! EXCEPT, 150 pointy, shiny, never been used crayons. Crayola, the best of the best in crayons, and the ONLY brand I use, has come out with the ultimate coloring experience. You must check out the Crayola Telescoping Crayon Tower. The tower comes with 150 crayons: 118 Regular Crayons, 16 Metallic FX Crayons, and 16 Glitter Crayons. The circular unit stores flat, but with a little pull and twist, two layers pop up and create the beautiful tower of color fantasticness. My boys are in love with the crayon tower and I have to say, I am too. It's genius! There is even a built in crayon sharpener. Look no longer for the perfect gift, pick up a Crayon Tower, a couple of coloring books, and you're set!

Crayola has tons of other great holiday gift ideas and everything can be purchased from the online Crayola Store. Visit today to check out some super fun new items like the Color Explosion Glow Board and Crayola's new Model Magic Fusion. AND, for little ones, check out the new Beginnings line. Being a former teacher, I have used tons of different art supplies. Nothing compares to Crayola, it's the only brand we use!

Most items ship in one business day and tell Santa that Crayola has lots of great stocking stuffers too!