**Many of you, or the majority, have already purchased the surprise Christmas gifts for the little ones at home. The advent of new technologies and the development of online shopping has enabled the organization and planning of gift purchases from their desired letters to Santa Claus and the Three Wise Men.
At some point, you may have wondered, “What and how many gifts should my children receive for Christmas? Which ones will bring them the most joy? Which ones will help them more in their cognitive and intellectual development? Which ones will they get tired of later?” Today, I want to help you answer these questions. Four years ago, my friend Maria, who is a psychologist, guided me a bit on this topic, and the result has been a complete success in the specific case of my daughters.
Both my daughters and I create our wish lists for Santa Claus and the Three Wise Men. Normally, we don’t watch conventional TV or YouTube channels, so they aren’t heavily influenced by television ads for toy brands. We live in a town of 3,500 inhabitants, and although we go to the city quite frequently on weekends, it’s for movies, theater, or playing by the river in Valencia. In other words, we also don’t visit large toy stores before Christmas.
What we do have as a tradition is to consult a physical toy catalog, which I sometimes request from the town’s hardware store, and other times my husband brings it from the big city. We dedicate an entire week to going through the catalog and studying the types of toys they would like to receive. They cut them out, organize them by their favorites, and finally, we create a list with 4 or 5 toys, of which Santa Claus and the Three Wise Men will bring only 3.
I always make sure there are toys of three types:
1. A Storybook
2. An Individual Intelligence Game
Two years ago, I discovered this type of game, and it surprised the entire family because we all ended up hooked, trying to advance to the next level. I’m referring to multi-level challenge or strategy games that people aged 6 to 99 can play. I’ll give you some examples: “Three Little Pigs Game,” “Antivirus” (this is the one I bought, and they loved it), “Parking Puzzle.” They are from the Smart Games brand, and I can assure you that they can be entertained for hours, also developing their problem-solving skills.
3. A Stuffed Animal
Being dedicated to designing and selling stuffed animals is not a coincidence; I’ve loved stuffed animals since I was a child, and to this day, I still adore them. Seeing my daughters hugging a stuffed animal, whether it’s from my brand or not, brings me joy; they evoke so much tenderness. Sometimes, I think about how fortunate those big stuffed animals are to receive the care and affection of the youngest members of the household.**
**I don’t mind giving them stuffed animals because they never end up abandoned in the toy drawer. My daughters have been their teachers, doctors, mothers, and friends to all the stuffed animals we have at home. And whenever they go through the stuffed animal section of the catalog, they always circle one. This year, it’s a cute little kitten in a soft bag that will come as a surprise at Christmas. Even though she didn’t mention it in her letter, she circled it in the catalog, and that’s enough for me to know that it will be her faithful travel companion this Christmas, along with the story “The Monster Eats Book Yum Yum.”
