OAAM Guide to Holiday Shopping with your Kids

So this is an exciting week.

Not only do we have a big holiday on Thursday, Thanksgiving.  But to some, we may even have a bigger holiday on Friday, BLACK FRIDAY! Let the holiday shopping season officially begin!

You may be reading through the advertising section of your newspaper, watching the crazy Target lady commercials on tv, and making your list for all of the deals you are going to nab. Shopping, shopping, shopping, yay shopping. Then you pause, and you hear the cry of a baby or giggling of a child. Your “mommy brain” clears and you remember you have a child now and you think, how in the world can I go shopping?

Well, maybe we can help. Here are a few simple things I have learned about shopping with kids. I’ll even throw in some ideas for the somewhat challenging task of shopping with two non-walkers!

Mall Shopping

For our area, if you want to stay out of the weather and head to a mall, the two big options are Westfarms Mall in West Hartford and The Shoppes at Buckland Hills in Manchester.

My go-to mall is Westfarms, so I’ll start with some details on that trip.

First of all, if the weather is bad or unstable, Westfarms offers a parking deck.  Park there and load your little one(s) up in your favorite stroller.  When mine were super little, I would use the double snap-n-go (so easy!).  Now that they are getting bigger, I use my double stroller.

Don’t have a stroller with you?  Head straight to customer service in the mall and you can borrow a stroller from them.  They have many to choose from (single, double, infant seat, and infant seat/toddler combination strollers available).  You will just need to put down a refundable deposit of $5 (cash only).

Enter the mall from the parking deck either into Nordstroms or Lord and Taylor.  Both stores offer a handicap accessible doorway which makes getting through with a stroller a whole lot easier.  Just push the button and go.

First stop, get some caffeine.  Make a beeline to the Nordstrom Cafe, Starbucks, or Dunkin Donuts and load up.

Already purchase something on your way to get caffeine?  Store purchases in the basket underneath your stroller or hang them from your Carabiner or Mommy Hook.

Need to nurse, feed the baby, or use the restroom, you have a few good options.  Nordstroms has some of the best bathrooms.  Ask any mom, and they will tell you how great these bathrooms are.  There is one on the upper and lower levels and they are huge.  There is a sitting area and baby changing area.

Not near Nordstroms?  On the lower level in the mall, there is a family restroom.  I was a little skeptical of this at first.  There was no way this restroom could be as nice as Nordstrom’s {Sidenote – Please disregard the fact that I am critiquing restrooms.  Not my finest moment :}  Well, it isn’t as nice, but it is pretty close.  The family restroom is a huge area with a separate door.  Inside there are sinks, a changing area, a seating area and two bathrooms.  Great restroom option if you are near it.

There are a few other places in the mall where you can take a seat and feed your kids or just relax. They are located near Nordstroms.  There also used to be a big rest area near Starbucks in the center of the mall, but that area has temporarily been taken over by Santa.

Need to entertain the kids?  Well, one of the few things Westfarms does not have is a kids play area.  I did find, however, a fun store that really caters to the kids, 77 Kids (by American Eagle).

Bring the kids in and they can, get some candy, get their picture taken, and create a little art work.

Need some food?  Westfarms does not have a typical food court, but they have plenty of food located throughout the mall.  Here is a list.

Would you prefer a mall with a playground?  If so, head over to Buckland Hills in Manchester.  There you can let your kids visit Huckleberry Finn’s Hideaway and get out some of that energy.

Outdoor Shopping

If you would rather not be trapped indoors, but would like to be able to park and hit up a bunch of stores in one area, the best options are:

Blue Back Square, West Hartford

Evergreen Walk, Manchester

The Shoppes at Farmington Valley, Canton

At these locations, the best form of transportation for those little ones is your handy dandy stroller.  The smaller, the better here.  That way you can easily get in and out of the store doorways.

Big Box Stores

For this baby shopping demonstration, Bruiser, Sparkles and I headed to Target.  One of our favorite shopping destinations.

Now, if I was just running into the store for a few things, I would put the kids in their stroller and then use the basket under it as my shopping cart.  Don’t worry, no one will think you are stealing.  Everyone does it (and that makes it ok, right?).  Just remember to get everything out of the stroller’s nooks and crannies when you check out.  If you don’t, well, that is stealing 🙂

If you are going to be doing a more significant shopping trip (like we were), you will need a different approach with your baby logistics.

The first key for an easy trip is to park near a shopping cart.  This will make it easiest to get your baby and all their accessories loaded up quickly and easily.

Some gadgets I might suggest for this type of trip would be as follows:

Baby Bjorn (you know I love this thing)

 

 

Grocery cart cover (not a must, but nice to have especially for the little ones)

Now, I have two 10-month old non-walkers who can sit up on their own.  With this set up, my preferred arrangement is to have one in the bjorn and one in the cart.

Two non-walker, sitter set up:

If you have one non-walker, you can choose either option.

If you have 1 non-sitter (aka itty bitty baby), you can either keep them in their carrier and place them in the body of the cart (though this doesn’t leave much room for your purchases) or put them in a sling or other baby carrier.  Some stores also have a cart with built-in infant seats.

If you have toddlers, Target has a great double cart option for moms with two or more kids who are not quite ready to walk the Target shopping marathon.

These used to be a rare (but highly sought after) mode of transportation at Target.  But these days, I’ve been seeing a lot more of them available at the store.  Maybe they read our friend at Green Mama’s Pad’s post on the elusive double cart.  (read it here)

Well, those are all the tips I can think of at the moment.  The only other major thing is to make sure your diaper bag is FULLY stocked.  That is a definite.  Keep the kids full, dry and entertained.  Maybe that should be our new slogan.

Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful time getting out and getting shopping (or even just window shopping) over this holiday season.  It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Happy shopping!