Traveling with kids is exciting, but also exhausting: airports and train stations are huge and chaotic, and children’s legs—and attention spans—are short. To the rescue of frazzled parents everywhere comes ‘Trunki’, the world’s first ‘ride-on’ luggage designed for children! 
How brilliant is that? With Trunki in tow, kids have a place to sit and rest at any time. And when those little legs wear out, children can be pulled along on their Trunki. Click here to see a video of Trunki and kids in action.
Made of the same lightweight, durable plastic as luggage for grown-ups, Trunki features 18 litres of interior cargo space. ‘Teddy bear seatbelts’ help keep toys and clothes neatly packed inside, while secure catches on left and right edges keep Trunki closed until it’s meant to be opened.
A comfortable saddle, horn ‘grips’ and an extra-wide wheelbase, with integrated wheels for stability in cornering, make this a safe and comfortable high-performance racing suitcase! Trunki will hold children up to 23 kg (50 lbs), but weighs only 1.7 kg (under 4 lbs), so it’s easy for children as well as parents to wheel and tow. Trunki is priced from $49.99.
Also available is the Trunki Saddlebag, a clever little messenger bag that doubles as a saddle with pockets. Some padding eases travel-weary little backsides, while a squeaker allows riders to warn slower pedestrians to beware of zippy toddlers. Trunki Saddlebags are priced from $19.99.
Let’s go globetrotting, baby!
Richard and Karin Belanger are the owners of Scalliwag Toys, a family-operated independent toy and games store in Belleville ON and a member of Neighbourhood Toy Stores of Canada (NETS). Scalliwag Toys offers the best in educational toys and games for children of all ages. Each item is carefully chosen for safety, durability, value and price.
There are only a few more shopping days left and I know that finding the right holiday toy isn't all fun and games. List in hand, you may find yourself staring in wonder, or horror, at what your kids are pining for. They may have given you a 'wish list' but where’s the roadmap for how and where to find the items on the list? And, do you even want to buy what is on that list?
Still, long faces on Christmas morning are no fun. So it’s time to get clever! Maybe you don’t have to camp out for that oversold toy that every other kid on the block has asked for. Or traipse all over town to find every last thing on their list. And you certainly don’t have to get them something that is impractical, inappropriate or worse – just plain junk!
The first st
ep to ‘wish list sanity’ is to remember that it is just that – a wish! And even kids know that not all wishes come true. Thinking of yourself as an editor-in-chief, it is time to start cutting and revising.
Depending on the age of your children, you may want to include them. If you do, be sure your kids understand the guidelines. For example:
There’s fun here too! You get to introduce new ideas that your kids haven’t thought of because they don’t even know they exist. A visit to your local neighbourhood toy store will remind you and your child that there are a whole host of fascinating, fun and educational toys that they will love, even though they will never see them on TV.
But Santa makes them...
Of course, if your child believes that their gifts are coming from the North Pole, you will have to come up with some clever explanations for why he may be unable to deliver. Here are a few that have worked for us in the past:
Can you add to this list? Got any good Santa explanations to share? We’d love to hear them!
Judi Meade is the owner of Art-enfant in Westmount and the co-owner of LearningToys.ca. In between, helping customers fulfill their kid’s wish lists, wrapping gifts and shipping orders, she occasionally finds time to post on her blog Toying Around.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Gary here! First let me begin by saying that I’m not exactly sure what a ‘stocking’ is. I believe they were used by women in the Queen Victoria era as a way to shave their legs. Either that, or they were invented specifically for my father as a way to collect lint from the dryer vent on the side of the house. Either way, I refer to them as socks (or nylons - in my wife’s case) but we will call them stockings for this blog.
Now let’s get to filling our Christmas stocking. This is your the chance to capture your personality, or express your warped sense of humour! The contents can range from such classic toys as Slinky's or Tiddlywinks to exciting new brain-teasers or Angry Bird plush. Here are a few of the Toy Jungle’s favourites, of which there are many.
Craze Erasers by Fashion Angels are fun, unique and even functional! They’re a collectable eraser that comes in all sorts of funny designs. From baby bottles to bicycles and French fries to Ferrari’s, they’re made like your typical rubber eraser but painted and shaped to make them fun. Does someone in your family want a new car? No problemo. Give them a Craze eraser Ferrari!
Another favourite of mine, and every house can never have enough of these, is the whoopee cushion. What’s that? You say you already have a whoopee cushion? Well how about the Mondo Whoopee cushion from World Wonders!? It’s about twice the size of regular whoopee cushions with twice the laugh factor!
Another beauty is the Wind-Up Fighting Grand Dads from Outset Media. These are two plastic wind-ups of an old man pulling a suitcase and swinging a cane. The idea is to choose a grand dad, wind him up and point him in the direction of the other grand dad. May the best old codger win!
Finally, everyone has a person in their circle of friends who could use a good virus. The Giant Microbes from Stortz & Associates is a real hit! Whether you’re shopping for a teacher at school or want to bring a smile to someone’s face that just got over an illness, these are plush designs of the actual microbe just a million times bigger. Who wouldn’t want to get Mad Cow on Christmas morning?
Have fun! Be creative! And don't forget to leave room for a lump of coal!
Misti and Gary Mussatto are the owners and buyers for three community toy stores in the lower mainland: the Toy Jungle in Park Royal, the Toybox in Kitsilano, and the Toy Jungle in Coquitlam Centre. The Mussattos are parents who buy from the standpoint of parents. Misti is always looking at the features and benefits of toys while Gary is constantly playing and asking “is it fun?”
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