Tag Archives: Holiday Gift Ideas

Gifts For Travelers

Today is the official start of the 2011 holiday shopping season. Some people will shop and some will have a “no-shopping day”. Me? I’ll be hanging out with friends and studiously avoiding all shopping opportunities because I do all my holiday shopping online. But, in the spirit of the season, I have some travel-themed gift ideas for you.

Murph and sat down towards the end of our trip around the world with kids and, like good project managers, critically review the trip – particularly the products we carried and depended on for a full year. If we were to start again tomorrow, the products listed below are what we would bring with us. I can’t think of higher praise or a better recommendation for great gifts for travelers.

This list is in priority order.

	Kindle Keyboard 3G, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6″ E Ink Display – includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers We could not have completed our trip (sanely) without our Kindles. This wifi-enabled vanilla-plain 3G Kindle is our top pick for a travel gift.
	Sennheiser PXC 250 II Collapsible Noise-Canceling Headphones On long bus journeys, in noisy hostels and on airplanes with chatty seat-mates a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones can be the only thing you have to preserve your sanity. Sennheiser make headphones with audio quality that makes you feel like you’re in Carnegie Hall. The collapsible style helps conserve important backpack space.
	Canon G12 10 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.8 Inch Vari-Angle LCD The G12 is a great compact camera that takes dSLR-quality photos. If you don’t want to fuss with lenses and the complications of aperture and ISOs, this is a souped-up point-and-shoot that’s worth the extra cost. (We started our trip using a G11 but it was stolen in Santiago. We upgraded to a Canon EOS XSi but I still haven’t figured out how to use it!).
	ASUS Eee PC 1015PX-PU17-BU 10.1-Inch Netbook (Blue) You don’t need a netbook to travel – or a mac or a laptop. There are internet cafes everywhere and sometimes it’s just easier to use an internet café than futz about with trying to get wifi access on your own computer. But, I love my ASUS netbook. It’s small, light and easy to use – and affordable at $275. In it’s neoprene sleeve it fits in the top of my backpack.

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an un-gift holiday gift recommendation for kids

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Some of you who read this may think I am the meanest mom in the world. That’s OK. My kids have already accused me of the same. Those same kids who have 12 aunts and uncles and two sets of grandparents who shower them with gifts each Christmas and on birthdays and at various times in between.

Thankfully, both families now use Kris Kringle/Secret Santa which helps a little, but the pile of Amazon boxes under our Christmas tree is still positively decadent. So this year, the WanderDad and I decided to take the opportunity presented by holiday gift-giving to help our boys to develop a social conscience.

The Seattle Times recently reported startling increases in the number of people using local food banks. The line outside the food bank near my house has grown significantly over the past few months. With this in mind, I researched charities which focus on helping children and families such as Save the Children and UNICEF.

Unfortunately, although donating to these charities is pretty easy, it’s not very child-friendly. BigB is eight, he still needs a present under the Christmas tree and the excitement of opening it on Christmas morning. A little discouraged, but intent on my mission, I kept searching and I found the WWF Adopt-An-Animal program where gift donations come with 12″ soft toys. Perfect.

CAM has chosen to support Tree Frogs and BigB Snowy Owls (I suspect there’s a little Harry Potter influence there). After their initial horror at their crazy parents suggesting “no Christmas presents”, they’ve totally come around to the idea. The cute, plush animals definitely helped. Worth considering for your guy or gal?

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Tags:charitable giving

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gift ideas for kids who travel

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It’s that time of year again folks, time to start thinking about holiday gifts. We’ll be traveling for Thanksgiving this year, so travel is on my mind as I start making my list and checking it twice. Thankfully, this holiday flight is only a short two-hour hop to the Bay Area. As I shop for my nieces and nephews, I can’t help but take a brief trip down memory lane, remembering how I used to keep my children amused on long flights when they were much younger – and of course, think about what works for us today.

Here’s a selection of the toys and games which worked for me – at different ages and stages. Check it out, let me know what you think. I have two boys, so there’s a noticeable lack of Barbie, Polly Pocket and even Bratz on this list. If you have a daughter and I’ve missed a toy or game which keeps her amused when you’re traveling, please, leave a comment and let me know!

Infant (0-6): The Baby Whoozit was a big hit with my boys at this age.

Toddlers (6-24 months): Ah, the ’20-second-attention-span’ age group. I’m sure I carried half my bodyweight in board books in our carry-on bags when my guys were active toddlers. Books by Eric Carle and Dr. Seuss (The Very Hungry Caterpiller, The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham) were favorites. Fabric Activity books such as the JUNGLE FUN BOOK by Gund were a nice relief and allowed for a little independent play. Closer to two, reusable sticker books were a big hit.

Preschoolers (2-4 yrs): I don’t homeschool (and would most likely really lose my marbles if I tried), but I do use a lot of homeschooling activity books for travel. They’re very like the Disney-themed activity books easily found in your local drugstore, but without the Disney characters or price tag. These Poof Slinky Buki activity books are excellent for very young children – particularly when there’s an older sibling to emulate On one occasion, in a busy Portugese restaurant, I had four preschoolers (one of mine and his cousins) quietly working on math problems using a Pre-K Workbook while their parents chatted – and helped with some problems. No magic, just some age-appropriate puzzles and a little competition.

This is a good age to introduce audiobooks. My boys started with $10 walkmans and only recently graduated to digital music players. You can now pick up an Apple iPod shuffle for less than $50 at Amazon and Walmart. Unfortunately, the trademark white earbud headphones are just a nuisance with little kids. CAM and BigB use noise-cancelling headphones from Sony. Kid-sized, kid-priced. They even come with their own carrying bag.

Elementary School Ages (5-11 yrs): A little Sudoku, maybe a crossword puzzle book, MadLibs, some audiobooks on (4gb) iPod or Zune, a pack of cards and we’re good to go. Oh, yes, and the dreaded handheld video games. Believe it or not, it is possible for a child to play with his Nintendo DS for eight straight hours on a transatlantic flight. I’m not proud of that fact. I wouldn’t mention it except I did enjoy the movie I was able to watch and being able to arrive at our destination somewhat refreshed after a pretty decent nap onboard.

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