I've posted a few times before about kids' gifts . . . you can't go wrong with Barefoot Books!! Barefoot is an independent children's book publisher, so the products are unique -- nothing you'd find in Target or Borders. They are beautifully illustrated with really creative stories. I'd recommend books with singalong CDs (Animal Boogie and Farmyard Jamboree are great ones) or some of the board books -- great for little 1-year-old fingers. There's a cute one called "I Dreamt I Was a Dinosaur" or there are some farmyard-type books, too ("How Big is a Pig") -- and many of them have matching puzzles you can buy separately.
I love these products (and so started selling them recently) and parents & kids like them, too. You won't be buying anything that another birthday guest is bringing to the party, and parents like that it's not a cheap, big, plastic toy that will make incessant noise! Kids have too many toys, but NEVER enough books!!
Check out my website for more gift ideas -- and feel free to e-mail me for other suggestions. Thanks!
www.mybarefootbooks.com/LoriHachenski