First Birthday Presents

Zac turned one on the 14th March – so crazy! I cannot believe I have been his mummy for a whole year. First birthday’s are such an important celebration, I mean it is their first ever birthday. It’s about celebrating a whole year of them and how much they have grown (as well as surviving one year of parenthood!).  So it is only natural to want to mark the occasion and want to buy them lots of first birthday presents. However there is the dilemma of what to get them! They are only one, they don’t understand that it is their birthday and there are only so many toys they can play with. So realistically it is better to be selective and try and reign in the spending and be practical (you have got to store all these toys somewhere after all).

So I thought I would give you a little summary of all of the first birthday presents Zac received.

1. Large Wooden Activity Cube

This was originally intended as a Christmas present but when sorting through all of his presents, we realised he had too many! So we kept this aside for his birthday. I LOVE wooden toys, I think they look so much nicer and are much better quality than plastic versions. What toddler doesn’t love an activity cube, there is so much for them to play with and keep their little minds occupied. Zac has loved moving all the beads along, opening and closing doors and spinning bits. I think he is the perfect age for this toy.

2. Car Transporter

Zac has recently become obsessed with cars – or anything with wheels! It’s so cute watching him push them along the floor (or walls, doors and TV!). His nanny and granddad bought him the Big Steps Vroom Super Car Transporter from Smyths which comes with 6 little cars. He absolutely loves them! and even puts the cars back in the truck.

3. Wooden Puzzles

I wasn’t sure if Zac was a little young for these but I couldn’t resist buying them when I saw them in TK Maxx. He actually plays with them a lot – although not how they are intended. All the pieces get taken out and he claps them together (or puts them in his kitchen). He hasn’t learnt how to put them back on the board. But maybe that will come with time, and after all Christmas isn’t for another 9 months so I thought it was best to give them to him now – maybe by Christmas he will be playing with it properly.

4. Bouncy Castle

As Zac is a March baby we need to think about what he is going to need/want between now and Christmas. We are hoping to make more use of our garden this summer and get him some bits to play with outside. My parents have bought him a  bouncy castle – yes that’s right an actual inflatable bouncy castle! He is going to love it in the summer – although I need to find somewhere to store it until then.

5. Trixie baby dining and cutlery set [Gifted]

There are only so many toys that children can play with so sometimes practical gifts are great. We were kindly gifted this Bamboo set from Trixie Baby. It is a lovely set and perfect as Zac is almost fully weaned now. They have so many cute designs but we just fell in love with the grey racoon!

6. Little Brian Paint Sticks [Gifted]

Now Zac is a little older I think it is about time that we started doing some arts and crafts. We haven’t tried any painting or drawing yet but these paint sticks from Little Brian look perfect. They will be easy for Zac to hold and hopefully less messy than a paint brush!

7. Crochet dinosaur [Gifted]

The lovely lady over at Cutie Pops Crochet made Zac the cutest little dinosaur. Now Zac is one we are giving his bedroom a bit of a makeover and it will be a Dinosaur Themed Bedroom. So this little dinosaur will fit in perfectly. I think handmade gifts like this are so special, and this is something we will keep with all of his memories and keepsakes.

8. Bean Bag Chair

As Zac is getting older I thought it won’t be long before he wants to chill and eat his snacks while he watches a little bit of television (Yes fully fledged member of the #badmumsclub). So I thought this little bean bag chair was just perfect! Its the perfect colour to fit with my grey obsession and is even personalised! It is from RU Comfy and was in the sale for £45 which I thought was really good! (This was a present from Ricky’s parents)

9. Toy box [Gifted]

Well if ever there was a prize for a practical first birthday present I think this wins hands down! A big, gorgeous and personalised toy box to store all the other gifts! This toy box from Dreambox is completely customisable, you can choose the seat fabric, colours and shapes. It even comes in different sizes. It is also delivered fully assembled so can be used straight away!

10. Kitchen

Zac’s main birthday present from us was his play kitchen. I saw the idea on Pinterest and decided to try and recreate it, which is never usually a good idea. We bought the basic Duktig play kitchen from Ikea and then upcycled it. I will do a full blog post on it (when it is actually fully finished!) but it has basically just been redecorated! We then also bought him some wooden pots, pans and food, from Melissa and Doug, to go with it. He absolutely loves it! It is definitely the best present he got. He plays with it every single day, opening the cupboards, getting out all the food and putting things in the sink! It is so lovely to watch.

I thought I would also leave some other suggestions here. These are toys which Zac already has and loves, so would make great 1st birthday presents!

Ball Pit

We were really lucky to win Zac’s ball pit from Tilly & Reuben. It is such amazing quality and looks gorgeous in his nursery. Zac has so much fun in there (he also loves getting all the balls out!).

Tunnel

Zac loves his pop up tunnel and finds it hilarious crawling through, or me popping my head round and playing peek a boo! HE currently has a cheap one from Aldi however the bright colours do play with my OCD. I do love this grey Kids Concept tunnel from All Mamas Children , it would look beautiful in his nursery!

My 1st Photos Book [Gifted]

These little books from My 1st Photos are so cute! They are a soft fabric book which is personalised with your own photos. Zac’s has photos of all his close family. He sits there and turns the pages, I am sure he recognises everyone in the photos! I am hoping as he gets older I will be able to teach him to point at the photos and say who Is in each of them.

I hope you have found these suggestions useful and maybe got a little bit of Inspiration!

Thank you for reading!

Speak soon,