We’ve just updated Lil’ Duck’s Amazon store to reflect current favorites and to replace out-of-stock items (of which there are many already, order now if you haven’t yet, I just got a great price on this little Lightning McQueen car after looking everywhere for it in real stores around here). I’m especially excited about starting him on the Geotrax items, this is a great starter kit and then he can get add-ons to allow it to grow with him!

As our little ones grow, it’s a great year to begin some Christmas traditions that will last for years. Here are some ideas to get you started, add your own in comments!

1. Opening up a gift of a new pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve, to be worn that evening and for the opening of gifts on Christmas morning. (more…)

Here are some ideas for the moms in your life (from Mama Duck’s gift list, of course):

- The Perfect Bubble Bath Gift Box - along with an evening of child-free relaxation to enjoy it (a mom can dream, right?). (more…)

Here are some gift ideas for the dads in your life (from Daddy Duck’s gift list, of course):

- XBox 360 wireless controller - because the little one can’t keep his hands off the wired controllers!

- Of course, the XBox 360 to go along with it - he can dream, right??

- Final Fantasy XII - if he doesn’t have this game already, it’s a definite must-have, Daddy Duck deems it “the best of all the Final Fantasy Games”, mainly because of the new battle system (no more cheesy battle warps, your enemies appear on the same screen with your characters) and the incredible graphics. (more…)

This year as we are decorating our Christmas tree, we have been looking for sturdy, toddler-safe ornaments to hang on the bottom part of the tree, as he is now old enough to enjoy putting ornaments on (and taking them off) the tree. We got some strands of Christmas garland and cut it up into short pieces for him to hang. We also have things like pine cones and plastic snowflakes, which are still ornament-like but safe for little hands.

THIS, however, was not what I had in mind. Come back in a few days to see the little people hanging by ribbon from the Christmas tree branches, as my tree will have been taken over by those Fisher Price Little People!!

This Christmas, we are using white tissue paper (heavy white paper from a print shop underneath for the stuff that can be seen through tissue paper) made especially festive with a bit of thin ribbon (on clearance, of course) and some strands of Fun Fur. A ball of this fun stuff lasts forever, and adds interest to all packages. I also use it for wrapping my products before I send them out, as it doesn’t get crushed like regular bows would. We’re shipping a lot of things to far-away relatives this season, so we have to have something that travels well.

Be sure to visit the rest of the Works For Me Wednesday tips for other great ideas as well.

While making Lil’ Duck’s Christmas list, I find that the big items are fairly easy, but it’s all the little things that I tend to forget. Here’s some ideas from his list for your own reference - feel free to add your own ideas in comments as well!

• Bath squirt animals
• Ty beanie babies of the Backyardigans (great size for pretend play)

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While looking for ideas for the Christmas list (why is it so hard to think of things that you want to buy, that you will receive for free?? There should be miles of list….. alas….. a late-night search on odd websites was amusing), I came across things I didn’t even knew existed. Sick of the boring old iDog?? Get a floppy iFish, guaranteed to give you nightmares!

Since this is a ducky blog, some of you might like rubber duckies…. well, I found the ultimate rubber duckies for the serious collector (or small child, I’m not saying that the little guy wouldn’t LOVE these) - Flashy Quackers. They are so smart that they even know to stop flashing when they leave the water!

Well, if you have a need for a gift for that special someone who has everything, just go to the Sharper Image website and browse around for a few laughs and certain ideas…. hee hee.