Annie Puskarcik's Holiday Gift Guide

Collection: Annie Puskarcik's Holiday Gift Guide

Hiiiiiiieee! I'm Annie - I have been a stay at home mom for the last 6.5 years to the two gremlin loves of my life, Auggie (6.5) and Olive (4). We are an eclectic homeschool household and have a love of picture books, open ended play, a good theme party/day/excuse to dress up and decorate, and all things vintage kitsch and weird.

My top list of gifts from McCoy Kids includes (minus books because that would be an entirely different post and your momentary break to scroll the 'gram wouldn't be enough time for my long winded ness on that topic).

Holztiger Animals! What's so special about these? They're heirloom quality, withstand even the fiercest of forest animal battles and play, promote open ended, imaginative play and make *the perfect* stocking stuffer for both toddlers and kids. I have popped a few animals in my kiddos' stockings for the last few years and it's been an easy way to grow their collection. They get daily play in our house and I know that our most played with animals will be saved for years to come because yes, I am that sentimental. Tender Leaf makes a comparable wooden animal that can also be stacked - the Tender Leaf animals make the perfect "babies" to our larger Holztiger.

If you're a fan of loose parts then you NEED Tender Leaf's My Forest Floor. Loose parts can be overwhelming to first invest in and this set has everything you need to set a Fall/Winter scene. Both of my kids, toddler and school aged, love when I pull this out. We have used this along with play doh, kinetic sand and just the daily wood animal forest set up. Bonus that it has its own wooden case for storage so you don't have to step on a pointy wood tree in the middle of the night.

I grew up in the 90's and thus have a love for gel pens that naturally transferred to a love of office supplies, and then an obsession with arts & crafts once I had kids. If you, ahem, I mean your kids, have never used an Ooly gel crayon or paint stick you're not even living. I love gifting and receiving art supplies during the holiday and Ooly really is just the best for art supplies for littles at an affordable price. Then gel crayons and paint sticks are opaque, easy to grip, and easy to clean off of surfaces that they are not supposed to be on. They even glide over printed ink on the side of a box for those who have children who can't get over playing with any box left on the floor. A gift of good art supplies last long beyond the holiday - they also make great stocking stuffers, too!\

There really isn't anything I wouldn't recommend from McCoy Kids. They have a thoughtfully curated selection of toys that I always have a running Wishlist of. Peep all the new Kikkerland they just got in - I am OBSESSED and will be taking one of each for my kids this year.

Happiest of holidays. If my selection wasn't your cup of tea, there's SO many good books to choose from on the site. When in doubt, gift a book!

Follow Annie on Instagram at @annielytic!