Local holiday gift list—kids edition!

This week, I enlisted help from a hard-working team of research assistants. With a range in ages from 9 to 14 years old, they were kind enough to browse the Lexington Center shops to compile lists of great gifts for all of the kids in your life. The recommendations below can be found at Crafty Yankee, Center Goods, Maxima Books, Omar’s World of Comics, Michelson’s, Liberty Sweets, the Lexington Visitors Center, Conte’s Bike Shop, Marathon Sports and Theatre Pharmacy.

Many thanks to my team: Adelaide Norman, August Sengupta, Bennett Babineau, Claudia Norman, Ethan Fiedler, Mikayla Norman, Olivia Babineau, Ruby Khalil, Theo Waitzman—they found lots of treasures!

(Check out week one of our Local Holiday Gift List)

For kids of all ages:

1. Jellycats: Everyone used to want Squishmellows, but now kids want Jellycats. They’re from England and they have lots of cute animals and other things. (Crafty Yankee)
2. Comfy Socks: Kids love socks that are fuzzy, soft, and warm. (Center Goods, Crafty Yankee, Michaelson’s, and Maxima)
3. Puzzles: Puzzles are a nice thing to do with your whole family. (Maxima)
4. Super Duper Sugar Squishers: These are perfect for school because they help when you’re doing a test and you can have a fidget with you. Squishers are very satisfying and everyone loves them. (Liberty Sweets)
5. Family Games: It’s fun to play board games and card games with your family. I like the Exploding Kittens Board Game; it’s a good riff on the card game. (Omar’s and Maxima)
6. Hair Clips: The hair clips at Center Goods are very unique. They’re the perfect size for clipping back long hair and short hair. (Center Goods)
7. S’well Travel Bottle set: This would be useful for travel or carrying around your skincare stuff. (Center Goods)
8. Eco bags: These bags have fun patterns and you can smoosh them up really small.  They’re good to carry groceries, or things to school, or to babysit. (Center goods)
9. Kooshoo hair bands – Really good because they actually stay in your hair.  There are sets that blend in with all hair colors.  And they don’t have any plastic in them. (Center Goods)
10. DNI Umbrella: These umbrellas are colorful, cool, and fun.  You’re going to need an umbrella in the spring so why not get it now? (Center Goods)
11. Advent Calendar: Waking up to a nice chocolate is so good. (Liberty Sweets)

Under Fives

1. Baby Clothes: The baby clothes at Crafty Yankee are so stylish and they look soft and comfortable. (Crafty Yankee)
2. Magnatiles: Magnatiles are good for kids’ imagination; you can build a lot of things. (Crafty Yankee)
3. Board books: There are lots of different categories of board books. You can find one for all interests. Bluey is a very popular character right now so that could be a good choice. (Maxima)
4. Peter Rabbit Dish Set: This is a nice dish set to look at. It’s very cottagecore and older kids might like it too. (Center Goods)
5. Organic Cotton Muslin Stork Blanket [Mom pick]: There’s nothing softer than these organic muslin blankets. Perfect for swaddling a newborn. (Center Goods)
6. Teddy Bear: Add some nice Lexington flair to your house and little kids can start to learn about the Battle of Lexington. (Lexington Visitors Center)
7. Robeez Slippers [Mom pick]: Adorable and cozy slippers for tiny feet! (Michelson’s)
8. Waterproof mittens [Mom pick]: colorful mittens to keep hands warm in winter weather. (Michelson’s)
9. Melissa and Doug play sets [Mom pick]: These quality crafted, wooden sets are a go to for pretend play. (Theatre Pharmacy)
10. Balance Bike [Mom pick]: Both of my kids learned to ride a balance bike and later transferred to a big kid bike in 24 hours, no training wheels required. (Conte’s Bike Shop)

Elementary Aged

1. Picture Books and Graphic Novels: Books are nice for kids to focus their minds. When it’s cold and snowing it’s nice to be inside with a good book. (Maxima and Omar’s)
2. Dogman: Big Jim Believes and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Party Pooper: these graphic novels series are very popular and everyone will want the new one [titles above]. (Maxima and Omar’s)
3. Favorite Games: Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Exploding Kittens, Sushi Go, Happy Salmon, Lego: Brick Like This!, Super Mario Uno (Maxima and Omar’s)
4. Rainboots: Rainboots are good for your kids to have; they’re cute and waterproof.  Your kids might want to use them for stomping in puddles. You can also use rainboots in the winter if your snowboots get too wet. (Michelson’s)
5. Art supplies: Marking art is a good way to express kids’ creativity and feelings. (Maxima)
6. Coloring Books: Using coloring books can be very relaxing. It’s a good non-screen activity. You can use them for a while without getting bored. You can use them if you’re having trouble falling asleep. (Maxima)
7. Lunch box: Lunch boxes are good to have for school. Your kid has probably had their lunch box for a long time and it smells, so get a new one. (Center Goods)
8. Harry Potter Sweets: You could make a little gift basket for someone who loves Harry Potter. You could add books. (Liberty Sweets)
9. Spyglass, Tricorn Hat, and History Smashers: The American Revolution book [Mom pick]: a perfect gift set for my nephew who loves American history. (Lexington Visitors Center)

Tweens and Teens

1. Woobles: Good for anyone who might be interested in crochet. They’re not that hard, so they would be good for beginners. And there’s a variety of styles. (Maxima)
2. Cookbooks: It’s fun to make your own food, especially with a cookbook that walks you through step-by-step. Cookbooks can help you learn to cook and that’s a lifelong skill. (Maxima)
3. Make-up: Center Goods make-up is good for teenagers who are starting to use make-up.  It’s all really safe for your skin since there aren’t many chemicals. It’s good if you have skin that has a lot of break-outs. It’s fun to dress-up and look fancy. (Center Goods)
4. Sneakers: We like HOKA, New Balance, and On Cloud running shoes. They’re comfortable and supportive. They’re good for running or walking or lots of activities. (Marathon Sports and Michelson’s)
5. Oofos slides: These are nice, squishy slides. They’re really easy to put on when you just need to run out the door, or if you want to take off your cleats after a game. (Marathon Sports)
6. Shoxz ear buds: These are nice ear buds for running, or to just chill and listen to your music. (Marathon sports)
7. Uggs: Last year kids wanted the Ultra Mini Uggs and those are still good. But everyone wants Tasman Uggs too this year. (Michelson’s)
8. Purses and Bags: When you go to the mall or a football game you always need somewhere to put your phone and lip gloss. We would like bags that are bold and colorful but not too crazy. They need to fit a phone but be pretty small. (Crafty Yankee)
9. Skincare: The skincare at Center Goods is very safe for your skin. It’s organic or it doesn’t have a lot of chemicals. We would like a good face cleanser and moisturizer or oil. We always like lip balm. (Center Goods)
10. Blue Lock and One Piece manga: There are popular graphic novels. They can give your eyes a break if you’ve been reading a long book. (Omar’s)
11. Birkenstocks: Boston Birkenstocks with the closed toe are the kind boys want. (Michelson‘s)
12. Magic the Gathering Cards: This is a really fun game. It requires your mind to think.  It’s portable. You can make your own deck so it’s creative, and you can collect lots and lots of cards. (Omar’s)