Gifts

Ghosts of gifts past. Flashback to your wedding and all the extraneous presents you received: the heart-shaped waffle maker, the butter curler, the nocturnal wildlife figurines that are perfect for … the garage. Admit it - you would’ve preferred cash.

Now that you’ve got a little bambino on the way, you have the opportunity, thanks to technology, to streamline the gifting process and tactfully tell well-wishers to show you the money. Online cash registries, all the rage in wedding world, are catching on for the stroller set. The newly-launched Deposit a Gift website enables you to collect cash for the stuff you really want, whether it’s, say, a top-of-the-line Bugaboo or a wipe warmer. Whatever your heart desires. You set up a web page for friends, family members and colleagues to peruse. Then they can give money (in increments you pre-select) toward either a specific item you list or a category/item suggested by the Deposit a Gift company (that you choose). There are even categories for college funds, swimming lessons, babysitting plus romantic dinners and weekend getaways.

The web page you create (a painless process) is also an easy way for you to share the latest pics of Junior, his baby announcement, etc. Deposit a Gift is free to join, and you decide whether to pick up the 7.5% service fee per order or pass the cost on to your gift buyers. Once there’s at least $200 in your account, you can take cash out in the form of a check, Visa gift card or direct deposit to your bank account.

So efficient. So 2010. So on the money.

Visit depositagift.com.

Having an urban baby means you’re not as likely to get sucked into a world drenched in pastels and overpopulated with little ducks just because you have a bambino. You still need to retain some sense of your pre-baby mod self. And what better person to help you achieve this goal than Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres.

The newest offerings from Torres’ Rock Star Baby company are bottle and pacifier sets decked out in black, red and white images of a skull and crossbones. Choose from Pirate Baby (pictured), Tattoo Pirate Baby, and Heart & Wings. These design antidotes to the more mundane and hue-challenged light pink and blue also have all the right “frees” going for them; they’re free of BPA, lead, PVCs and phthalates. Torres founded Rock Star Baby at the beginning of the last decade after his friends starting having kids and he wasn’t able to find any hip baby presents. And then there was his drum tech, a new dad, who came in one day sporting a diaper bag with blue elephants. Torres recounts: “He goes, ‘Tico, can you make me a bag? This is so embarrassing to walk around with this.’” Torres, a father himself, says his products obviously aren’t just for rock stars. “Most people are hip in general.” Just think of our own preferred mode of dress for going out: the LBD. And the “LB” certainly doesn’t stand for “light blue!”

Let it rock.

Available at rockstarbaby.com. Check out the UK side of the Rock Star Baby site if you want to see what other RSB products will soon be coming stateside.

Tico Torres photo credit: www.scholtenstudio.com.

January 2010. Time to wipe the slate clean and move past last year’s scandals du jour: the Madoff fallout, Chris Brown, balloon boy, Blagojevich, Governor Sanford, financier Stanford, Carrie Prejean (the dethroned Miss California), the White House party crashers, Tiger Woods, etc. New year. New beginnings. Although you can’t do much to prevent the nation’s ethically-challenged from engaging in behavior that will inevitably lead to a new crop of scandals and headlines, you can whip your own brood into shape.

Now you’ve got an easy, entertaining way to do that in the form of the book E is for Ethics: How to Talk to Kids about Morals, Values, and What Matters Most. Author Ian James Corlett knows a thing or two about how to amuse kids. He’s created, written and/or developed numerous popular children’s television shows, including The Adventures of Paddington Bear. (Plus he’s the voice behind hundreds of cartoon characters.) Each short story in E is about one core value - perseverance, politeness, courage, to name a few. The main characters, Elliott and Lucy, are loosely based on Corlett’s own two kids. The stories are infused with modern touches (In one, the kids play with “Danish-made generic building blocks.”) and aren’t preachy. So refreshing.

Each chapter ends with questions about the characters’ behavior for you to discuss with Junior. Corlett notes, “My purpose in writing this book was not to be the arbiter of morals and good values. I don’t want to tell people what to do. I just want to open up the discussion.” The most important value? Corlett says it’s honesty. “If you learn how to be honest, most of the other qualities will flow fairly easily.” Words to live by. Here are some others culled from quotes Corlett weaves throughout the book:

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -Nelson Mandela
[Side note: Go see Invictus.]

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” -John Quincy Adams

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” -Oscar Wilde

“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” -Meryl Streep

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” -Mahatma Gandhi

“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” -George Orwell.

Available at amazon.com.

Toys to keep the little ones happy. For a few minutes at least, please, God.

Brightly colored plastic is not the loveliest thing to look at, but the Playskool Explore N’Grow Busy Ball Popper ($24.99) is one of those toys that will mesmerize both children and pets for a shocking length of time. Kids pop the big, soft (non-choke-y) balls into the popper, and press the plunger; a fan blows the balls in a wonderfully unpredictable way. Sometimes they come out the top of the popper, sometimes they fly across the room, whereupon the chuckling new walker runs to get them and starts the game over again. One warning: the toy does play obnoxious music, but cover up the speaker with some tape and it won’t bother you.

The urge to fiddle and arrange is strong at this age, but traditional wooden blocks may still be a bit of a challenge. Stacrobats ($56) solves the stacking challenge by magnetizing all its pieces: The friendly faced people, balls, and base all have magnets within their soft forms, so even a one-year-old can pick up and arrange the pieces. And pick it apart. And arrange them again.

If the essence of great gifting is to buy something for someone they want yet wouldn’t buy for themselves, surely the best gifts for new parents are gadgets that are over-the-top yet simplify their lives a tad.

For instance, the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer, a replacement for the battered school composition book Mom’s been keeping by the nursing chair. The reasonably priced ($26) handheld device tracks diapering, feeding (even time spent on the right or left side!), baby’s naps and nighttime sleep, and medication schedule (if any). The buttons are so intuitive to use that even a frazzled parent groping for the device at midnight can work them out, and the tracking saves a whole lot of middle-of-the-night anxieties. Oh, and it comes in pink, blue, and green for the indecisive.

Looking for a bigger-ticket item? Slide $69.96 Brookstone’s way and they’ll hand you back the Tranquil Moments White Noise Sound Machine for Baby, a sleek little bedside companion that offers a plethora of baby-friendly sounds: the loud whooshing of the womb, a soothing heartbeat, dolphins. Dolphins? Sure. Babies like it. They also like the Car Ride setting. No need to tiptoe around during naps with this baby on.

The last time some of today’s newest grandparents changed a diaper was back when Jimmy Carter was president, Star Wars was originally released, gas cost 65 cents a gallon and the Dow stood at 831. (The year? Check the end of this story.) So you can understand how the g-rents could be a little out of practice when it comes to caring for kids.

Time for re-training. Check out The Grand Parents Handbook: Games, Activities, Tips, How-Tos, and All-Around Fun by Elizabeth LaBan. The book explores how grandparents and grandkids can share and explore the world together. It also lists plenty of games, crafts and cooking projects and includes an entire chapter on a baby basics “refresher course.” This chapter instructs Nana and Poppa on how to diaper, burp and swaddle a baby, and it addresses kid-proofing a home and coping with battling siblings. The handbook offers tips for excursions to the zoo, dining out and staying in touch. Some of the off-the-beaten-path suggestions: making homemade pickles, creating a photo memory game and ramping up the entertainment component of bath-time with food coloring.

Even if you prefer that your overbearing MIL be MIA, remember grandparents are an integral part of your DCs’ lives. Plus, grandparents = free babysitting.

Answer: 1977

Available at amazon.com.

Yes, we know, mom jewelry is so square, but this is no kid’s birthstone or #1 Mother pendant. Helen Ficalora’s alphabet charms are a simple and beautiful way to wear your baby around your neck. Cast in 14 karat gold, the charms look great in multiples. Though at $115 a pop (plus another $70 for a chain, if you want one), you may just want to start with Junior’s first initial. Ficalora’s charms and jewelry have been worn by celebs like Brooke Shields and Sarah Jessica Parker.

If the alphabet thing does it for you, Adjowah Brodie makes magnificently simple pendants from vintage Royal and Smith Corona typewriter keys and sterling silver for her jewelry line, The Weekend Store. Each hangs on a 16-inch (collarbone-grazing) sterling silver ball chain to swing around your neck and costs a shockingly reasonable $36. The Weekend Store also sells rings, bracelets, earrings, and cufflinks.

Urban legend has it that red velvet cake was invented at New York City’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. A customer was so impressed with the dessert, she asked for the recipe. After being charged $100 for her unusual request, the enraged patron, hell-bent on revenge, circulated the recipe for free. Whatever its origins, this strangely-hued, baked confection is a perennial palate pleaser … and looks just as delicious as a handbag.

Petunia Picklebottom, the pioneering company that first broke through the utilitarian (ugly) diaper bag barrier in 2000, is out with a limited edition Red Velvet version of its Cake collection for the holidays. Cake by Petunia is the company’s high-end line. The Red Velvet Cake, as the name suggests, is a delicious crimson and cranberry. It combines a vintage-inspired, floral, European cut velvet with a coordinated wool tweed. The Cake comes in three chic styles: the Cosmopolitan Carry-all, the Cameo Clutch and the Society Satchel. They all (even the adorable clutch) have pockets galore for baby paraphernalia, water resistant lining, a plastic wipey case and changing pad. They’re a fusion of fashion and function so a woman doesn’t feel like she’s carrying a diaper bag. Hey, vanity is allowed to come into play here.

So you can have your cake and wear it, too.

Available exclusively at petuniapicklebottom.com through January 1, 2010.

Let’s be honest. Shopping for men can be sort of boring. But that doesn’t mean the present you get him should reflect that sentiment.

The book Firsts: Origins of Everyday Things That Changed the World is filled with conversation gems and water-cooler material sure to appeal to anyone who has a healthy appetite for trivia. Author Wilson Casey, a.k.a. The Trivia Guy, has compiled over 500 “firsts.” Below is a sampling of some of his more amusing items:

-The first Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition was published in 1964.

-King Minos of Crete has the dubious distinction of owning the first indoor flushing toilet.

-The first area code ever assigned in the U.S. (for use by telephone customers) was 201. Go Jersey!

-In 1891, Brooklyn was the home of the first mechanical slot machine.

-The first known sandwich was made in Jerusalem.

-The first “mechanically presliced packaged bread” was available in 1928.

-The first vasectomy was performed on a dog in 1823. Seventy-six years later, the first such “notable” procedure was done (voluntarily!) on a 19-year-old inmate.

-The first e-mail was sent in 1971.

So when it comes to obscure, minimally useful facts, father knows best.

Available at amazon.com.

Do you Zhu Zhu? With our penchant for turning nouns into verbs - “friend,” “defriend,” “Google,” “Facebook” - it’s only a matter of time before this year’s must-have holiday toy gets its own verb. Meanwhile, many parents are already so over Zhu Zhus. These pet hamsters scamper around, appearing just a little too life-like. Not a welcome sight for city residents already dealing with urban rodents that have a tendency to visit even the poshest pads in the zip code.

Today, we start UrbanBaby’s “Gifted,” our guide to holiday shopping. Obviously you know about the above-mentioned hot hamsters and their scarcity on store shelves. Well, coming off Thanksgiving weekend, we thought we’d begin Gifted with gifts that give back:

Saving animals -Help save homeless animals by purchasing a Poppy the Bulldog t-shirt, available in both child and adult sizes at recession-friendly prices. Proceeds from shirt sales are donated to animal shelters and organizations committed to providing veterinary care for homeless animals. For when you’re sick of all the holiday bull.

Swimmin’ with the fishes - Adopt a sea creature through Oceana, the world’s largest international organization solely dedicated to ocean conservation. If you “adopt,” say, a seal, Junior will get a plush version plus an accompanying adoption certificate. Your donation will go toward helping these pinnipeds (fin-footed animals), whose icy habitats are falling victim to global warming. This year’s sea creature spotlight belongs to the sea turtle. In addition to stuffed animals, Oceana’s Adopt-a-Creature program also offers cookie cutters. This present is anything but!

Supporting the troops &
Operation Shower - Operation Shower, an organization that coordinates unit-wide baby showers and “showers in a box” for expectant military families, and the website Extraordinary Mommy are sponsoring Holiday Shoperation. Proceeds from sales at various online retailers, including babyhautecouture.com (European children’s clothing), bumblecollection.com (upscale diaper bags, etc), and cuddlebee.com (baby accessories made from high-end fabrics with a nod to “yesterday’s flair”), help pay for these all-American baby showers.

Less risk of buyer’s remorse.