Every year, I start my Christmas shopping a bit earlier than the previous year and now more than ever, I'm convinced there's no such thing as too early! I wouldn't quite consider November "early," but it's a vast improvement upon December. So if you're ready to get started, let me share our 2026 Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids! But first, a few notes about my guides:

-I label my gift guides "boys" and "girls," because, well, search engines and SEO, but there are things on both lists that both girls and boys would like so that's more of a guideline than a rule.

-My goal is to create realistic gift guides for kids, with plenty of budget-friendly items but I also include splurge-y and aspirational items because budgets vary. 

-Another note on prices- they will vary over the course of the season but I'll include a note about promos and prices and will note gifts $25 or less with an *. Just know it may not be accurate by the time you come across this gift guide for kids.

-Lastly, whether you buy a specific item from this gift guide, or not, my hope is that it stokes your imagination and leads you to the perfect gift! Whenever I can, I share things we have and love but aside from my own experience, I lean on reviews and input from friends to bring you the best ideas! 

Without further ado, here's this year's Christmas gift ideas for boys and girls; I'll add commentary when I have notes to share:

Gift Guide for Boys Ages 8 to 12 (scroll to the end for the Girls' Guide)

Gift Guide for Girls ages 8 to 12

Are your kids back in school yet? I have a junior, freshman, and a middle schooler (Like HOW did that happen?! I still feel 30!) who started this week. In preparation, I curated some fun back to school finds for teens and pre-teens including school supplies, school clothes, and accessories. I thought it would be helpful to have them all in one place for you so here you go!

We completely transformed our first floor with Select Surfaces Laminate Flooring and spoiler alert- we couldn't be more pleased. But here's the thing; We had perviously sworn off laminate flooring so how did we go from 'No way. Never again.' to 'We love this flooring and you should absolutely consider it?' Let me tell you...

After a year of working on the guest bath off and on, it's complete and we couldn't be more thrilled! The main culprit of the delay was...you guessed it- paint! Initially I chose a pretty muddied pink color and while I loved it, I knew almost immediately that it wasn't right for the guest bath. To add insult to injury, it sort of made me hate the DIY harlequin floors. Once I admitted that I couldn't live with it and started over, everything changed. Here's the lesson- small windowless bathrooms don't need light paint. They need depth. Here's the guest bath, start to finish!