Santa Claus is Coming to Town This is the age when Christmas means everything! Letters and visits to Santa, school Christmas plays, (dare I say Elf on the Shelf), and young people with definite wishlists! The toy stores are full of present ideas for this age group, and the choices are rather overwhelming. Hopefully we have some ideas in this gift guide, to narrow down your options. Enjoy x
Gift 1: Haribo Fairyland and Haribo Starmix
It’s not Christmas without Haribo. And I don’t just mean for the children! The popular television adverts hits the nail on the head as we all revert back to being children when presented with a bag (or is that just me? 
) Haribo at Christmas takes many forms … there’s an advent calendar, these lovely tree-hanging stars, selection boxes, sweet-filled crackers, and selection boxes. Who needs chocolate …? Haribo are available in most supermarkets.
RRP: £2.99 (star) £4.00 (castle)
Link to purchase: HariboStar and HariboCastle
Gift 2: Un-Tamed Raptor by Fingerling
These finger-gripping dinosaurs are a huge hit in our house. There are four different Un-tamed Raptors in this Wowwee range of T-Rex’s … I can’t quite work out which one we’ve got (they all have names). They react to sound, motion and touch – and grip tightly onto your finger. Naturally they roar, snap their jaws and turn their heads. Quite endearing little characters!
RRP: £16.99
Link to purchase: FingerlingTRex
Gift 3: The Skies Above My Eyes, Published by words & pictures
This is an amazing book that has taught me lots in the last hour or so … It’s not a book per se, more a journey up, up, up into the skies above. You open the book at ground level, looking up at the birds, the window cleaners, the high-rise buildings. The pages then fold out, revealing the next portion of the sky filled with airplanes and helicopters. Higher again, through the ozone layer, into the mesosphere. Then through the imaginary Karman line, into space. Then to the moon … and finally the planets and sun beyond. Every step is filled with interesting and fascinating facts (did you know there are geese that fly higher than Mount Everest?) When fully opened out, this book is huge! What’s nice is that several children can be reading different facts at the same time. Fabulous book x
RRP: £14.99
Link to purchase: TheSkiesAboveMyEyes
Gift 4: Sweet Pups
Well these are very cute! You start off with a range of pastries. This could be a croissant, a raisin bun, or cinnamon roll … there are 12 different ones in total. When you open the pack, you are hit with the smell of the pastry – the cinnamon one is particularly noticeable. But this is just the start of the experience … Each pastry can be turned inside out, revealing a cute pup. A puppy dalmation, poodle, chihuahua, boston terrier and other breeds. Collect them all. You can always turn them back into the pastry! Definitely a fun stocking filler.
RRP: £7.99
Link to purchase: SweetPups
Gift 5: D.I.Y Crystal Card Kit by Craft Buddy
Millie-Mae has just started to make this card (it’s for Grandad). It’s a kind of crystal bead ‘painting by numbers’. The card has lots of letter-stamped circles – the penguin, the snow-covered rooftops. To make the card you first decide which part of the card you want to work on. Then you look at the letter in the circles, and find the corresponding bag of crystals. You pour these into the tray. Once you’ve done this, you get the pen, dip the end in the provided jelly wax. You gently peel back the cover on the card (not entirely, just enough to expose the area you are working on). Then you can carefully pick up a single crystal with the pen and place it on the lettered spaces, which are sticky. You then repeat the process until the card is complete. It’s a lovely Christmas art project.
RRP: £4.99
Link to purchase: DIYCrystalCardKit
Gift 6: SmartGlobe Myth by Oregon Scientific
This is the ultimate globe for your child. By day it shows planet Earth, with its political boundaries, oceans, country names and capital cities. During the night the globe is an illuminated star map, showing 88 constellations. There is also built-in audio, with fairy tales, zodiac stories and Earth facts – stories to listen to as your child falls asleep. If you have access to a tablet or smart phone, you can also experience 3D Augmented Reality, with landscape, animals, landmarks, weather, dinosaurs and a quiz!
This STEM-approved toy from Oregon Scientific requires 3 x AA batteries (or can be powered via USB).
RRP: £39.99
Link to purchase: SmartGlobeMyth
Gift 7: Child Snuggle Sac, Dalmation Dog
PackThePJs are MASSIVE fans of Snuggle Sacs. They’ve been part of our family since the children were babies. We’ve found them unbeatable for keeping the kids snug and warm when on long road trips (especially night travelling). More recently, they’ve become the children’s bedding in our caravan/tent awning … they love them. They have the equivalent of a 10 tog rating – so great in most weather. As well as being super-soft and cuddly on the outside, they are lined with 100% cotton, and there is space for a pillow. A zip opens half one side, and when not in use they fold up into their own bags. They are so much nicer than standard sleeping bags – we think anyway. Snuggle Sacs also come in different sizes, from toddler size to tall adults. This dalmation-styled Snuggle Sac is from their Child’s range, for a child up to 4’9″ tall. It is beautiful!
RRP: £50.00
Link to purchase: SnuggleSacDog
Gift 8: Nick Baker’s Pocket Microscope, Window Bird Feeder, and Worm World
These are fantastic presents for any child curious about the natural world around them. Designed by My Living World and manufactured by Interplay UK, the Pocket Microscope magnifies items by 30 times. It comes complete with a ‘mini lab’ consisting of a textile slide, insect slide, 3 x blank slides, 4 specimen jars, 12 specimen labels and clear covers, some tweezers and an info guide.
The Window Bird Feeder (of which I already own one) is a brilliant addition to any window. We have a family of blue tits that nest in our garden every spring. As I work in my office, the parents often pop down to our window feeder and it’s lovely to watch them. We spend hours bird spotting from our office desks!
The Worm World let’s your child into the underground world of the really important earthworm. Everything is included, except the worms!
RRP: £12.99 to £14.99
Link to purchase: WormWorld, WindowBirdFeeder, PocketMicroScope
Gift 9: Baby Born Soft Touch, Boy
PackThePJs missed out on the baby doll phase … neither child showed any interest. I’m afraid the only thing likely to be pushed in a pram would be a dinosaur!
This 43cm interactive Baby Born doll has 9 lifelike functions. Being soft, he’s huggable too! The doll features moveable arms. It cries tears, drinks water, and eats food … an easy to press tummy button helps it go to the toilet too! As well as the doll, there are also 11 accessories included – potty, feeding bowl and spoon, milk bottle, dummy, friendship bracelets, nappy, food sachet and birth certificate. Baby Born can also be taken into the bath. When you lie him down, he closes his eyes to sleep. Awww ….
RRP: £39.99
Link to purchase: BabyBornSoftTouchBoy
Gift 10: So Slime DIY Case and So Slime Shakers
What is it about slime? Kids are obsessed with it … if they are not making it, they are watching YouTube videos about others making it! Well, parents needn’t worry about sourcing borax to make slime, as these kits have everything your child needs to makes tubs of glittery colourful slime.
Aimed for children aged 6+, the only ingredient you’ll need is water! Brilliant gift this Christmas.
RRP: £9.99 and £19.99
Link to purchase: SoSlimeDIYCase, SoSlimeShakers
Gift 11: Illumi-Mates Portable Night Lights
These themed Illumi-Mates are cool and trendy colour-changing nightlights. Small enough to pack away in a bag when camping, on holiday etc – a portable light. It never gets warm either. Our selection contains some Marvel characters (Spiderman, Captain America) and Star Wars characters (Darth Vader and Stormtrooper). A quick google has also shown that Illumi-Mates can also be found in TV characters (Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, PJ Masks, In The Night Garden, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), film characters (Despicable Me, Trolls) and others including Shopkins and various emojis. Brilliant stocking fillers x
RRP: £7.99 to £12.99
Link to purchase: Spiderman, CaptainAmerica, DarthVader, Stormtrooper
Gift 12: Baby Secrets (Pets and Merbabies) Pocket-Money Toys
Brilliant Stocking Fillers …. Baby Secrets Single Packs; there are 50 baby dolls to collect; their nappies change colour when wet to reveal if they are boy or girl. Each baby comes in its own bath tub with it’s own personalisable birth certificate.
Baby Secrets Pets Single Packs; 32 characters to collect. Each set includes a pet, barrel, and birth certificate.
Baby Secrets Merbabies; 24 to collect, including rare and special edition figures. You dip the mermaid’s tail into water to reveal if it is a boy (blue) or girl (pink). You can wind up the tail, and release in water to see the mermaid swim. Every shell pack includes a pearl with charm accessories inside, and a birth certificate.
RRP: £2.99 each (£15.99 for pack of 3 Merbabies)
Link to purchase: BabySecretsSinglePack, BabySecretsPets, BabySecretsMerbabies
We hope our selection of gifts has given you some inspiration? What is on your child’s Santa list this year? Please tell us about them in the comment box below.
A couple of the items above have been gifted to PackThePJs in exchange for our opinion (we only include things we really like though!)
End note: Would you like your products included in our future Gift Guides? Please add us to your mailing list tracey@packthepjs.com and huw@packthepjs.com x
What a fab gift guide! I love the fingerling, Harry would love that!
I’ve heard lots about Fingerlings, but this dinosaur one was the first I’d actually played with … it’s a lot of fun!
These are some great ideas! I love the illuminated night lights, my oldest loves superheroes and he’d go crazy for these!
They are good aren’t they – I’d not heard of them before. But there’s such a wide range of styles too
So many fab gifts!! Love the Haribo sweets and also the book too xx
That book is amazing – my favourite book this year so far
My boys will love those portable night lights as they are Star Wars mad
I think when they light up they look really good! Well, quite sinister, but that’s their character isn’t it!
I want the Fingerling dinosaur! We have some of the Baby secrets and they are quite cute. My youngest son has a Baby Born boy but we didn’t get him a soft touch one: wish we had!
The dinosaur is quite a character actually!