Holiday Custom Gift Ideas for Christmas

With the holiday season just around the corner, you start racking your brains to think of the right gifts to buy for your family and friends. You want people to appreciate the thought that goes into choosing the gift? Try custom holiday gifts.

You know your dad loves books and you can never go wrong if you choose the topper on the New York Times bestseller list. The Amazon Kindle may be good choice of custom holiday gifts for him this year. The Kindle is an electronic handheld reading device that you use to read a book and store books like a library for future reading. How about buying an Amazon Kindle for your dad this year and ordering his must-read book through Kindle?

Perfumes, bath and spa products, gift baskets with gourmet food and chocolates, you have given them all to your spouse or your mom and now you are looking for something different. Why not make a custom gift basket of your own? Collect her favorite scented bubble bath and perfume, add a bottle of wine and lovely candles, an iPod loaded with her favorite music or the latest book by a favorite author and a gift voucher at a spa to pamper herself.

Looking for a gift for a child who is too young to take care of pets or has a parent with an allergy? Stuffed toys don't excite you? How about an alive pet from the Discovery store? It responds to touch and falls into sleep if left alone for five minutes. Customize the gift by adding a monogrammed toy bag adding the child's favorite fruit and cookies to the basket. Creative craft supplies and building blocks, music CDs and DVDs of favorite films are easy to customize holiday gifts for children, based on their individual talents, tastes and preferences.

Custom holiday gifts make a lasting impact at Christmas because the receiver understands and appreciates the thought, the time and the effort that you have invested to ensure that your recipient is pleased with the gift.

Ideal Safe Toys for your Baby

Even at a young age, playing fosters your child's physical and mental development. It is essential however that you provide babies with toys meant for their specific age group. Also, always remember to check that they meet the required safety standards.

These are some ideal toys for your three to six month old child:

• Soft Cuddly Toys: Soft toys such as dolls and teddies are good for babies at this age. It is important that it does not have parts such as sharp wires that can cut through and hurt your child. Similarly, avoid toys with buttons, eyes, or ribbons that can be torn off and swallowed.

• Squeaky Toys: At this age, a baby learns to grasp and feel things. Toys that squeak will encourage your child to squeeze and explore objects in different ways.

• Rattles: At this age, children learn to associate cause and effect of events. Rattles and other toys that they can shake or manipulate to produce different sounds will help them to understand this better.

• Board Books: Reading to a child helps develop your baby's language skills. Children also love to be shown pictures which they associate with the stories. Besides, board books are made to withstand the attentions of younger children.

• Toy Bars: These are bars with different plastic toys that can attach to your baby's stroller or car seat. These can provide endless enjoyment during a stroll or drive.

Making Baby's First Christmas Special

Even more than your wedding day, having a baby feels like the creation of your own family. And families can create strong bonds through traditions that build meaning over time.

Some of us even get teary-eyed remembering mom's Christmas stuffing when far away for the holidays or remember fondly playing family touch football before Thanksgiving turkey.

As a new family, you can create your own traditions, reaffirming the ones from your past and replacing the ones you didn’t enjoy.

Here are a few traditions you might consider:

• Christmas eve church service
• Annual engraved silver ornaments for the tree
• Tradition around the trimming of the tree (perhaps a hired pianist)
• A special holiday cocktail that always kicks off the cookie-baking or the Christmas eve dinner
• Volunteering at a food bank or a soup kitchen as a family