Toddler Gift Guide-Gianna and Ethan's Christmas Wish List

One item on my wish list is photoshop so I can use elements to create the nice little collages of pictures I see on everyone else's blog. Until I get it(hint hint hubby) I will have to list each item individually but here it goes.
A gift guide toddlers, aka my children!

Ethan
He is at such a funny age to buy for. 14 months. At that age they aren't really into anything yet but they are getting over their baby toys. Plus with his birthday in October this kid got everything he could possibly want that it was really hard to come up with gifts for him. But I tried and this is what I came up with

1. The Fisher Price Poppity Pop Musical  Dino

Ethan loves playing with this at a friends house. Let's see if he enjoys it as much when it belongs to him!

2.  Train set. Pottery barn had this amazing train set that I really wanted to purchase for Ethan

but I thought he was a little to young for it and I want to give it to him when he can really enjoy it and appreciate it. So I decided on this one by Fisher Price

Fisher Price Chase and Race town

3. Fisher Price Little People Batcave becaause every little boy needs a batcave

4. Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles

I love wooden puzzles and Ethan needed some boy ones!

5. A tool box. How cute is this

And that pretty much covers it for my little man.

Gianna(2.5 yrs old)
Gianna is loving anything girly. So my list for her went as follows

1. My little pony. She loves my little pony so I bought a couple of the little ponies as stocking stuffers

Pinkie pie is her favorite pony and I found this pinkie pie animated set that came with four storybooks which Pinkie pie read aloud. I know my brother got this for her for christmas. she is going to love it

2.  Little Figurines

Gianna loves little figurines. So I got her a set of tinker bell figurines and a set  of the characters from the new movie Frozen

3. Coloring Books

4. Jumbo Crayons

this girl loves her crayons and coloring books. They are the perfect gifts for he

5. Games

She also loves Sofia the first so I thought this game would be perfect

6. Crayola color wonder products

This is a gift that will be perfect for both kids. And I don't have to worry about the mess crayons or markers can make!

7. Dress up clothes

She loves playing dress up. This is one gift she asked her grandparents for!

8. An American girl doll
We are going to the american girl doll store the first weekend in Dec and I can't wait. If she seems to enjoy it and picks out a doll I will be getting her one for her big gift. I hope she loves it as much as I know I am going to

When it came to the kids I try to spend the same amount. It was much easier to buy for Gianna this year since she has distinct interests and is into all the little figurines. All the above things for her ran around 10 bucks or less on amazon or the store so while it seems that she will get to open more gifts than Ethan does, his are bigger items that cost much more than her coloring books did!

I must admit I did go a little overboard with each kid. Its so hard not to. You want to be able to get them everything. Who doesn't want their kids to wake up to a tree full of presents. However next year I think I will start something new. I have seen on the blogosphere and know many friends that do the following for gifts, Something you want, something you need and something to read. Do any of you do that? And then if so how do you work out santa? Right now I just split up the gifts with the majority of them coming from Santa

We also celebrate St Nick's on the night of Dec 5th so the kids will get a stocking full of goodies then. I went the movies and little toys route. And this year we are also doing the 25 books of Christmas so each night the kids will get a book that they open and that we will read together

One other tradition I like to do is getting the kids a combined gift. Last year I got them Jingle and Bell the interactive dogs from Hallmark and this year I got them

The little people nativity. It count's as both a toy and decoration. Score!

And that's it. What do you all get your kids? How do you control your buying during the holiday's?