As October comes to an end, more people start to focus on the holidays to come.  For many, that means starting the Christmas shopping!  The catalog companies definitely know that and our mailbox has been full lately.  Be sure you visit www.catalogchoice.org where you can help the environment by eliminated unwanted catalogs and mailings.

In our house, we’ve been checking the catalogs for the season’s new cool toys!  Here are a few we’ve found:

Mom has a few issues with FAO Schwartz from the past, but their toys are really cute (all available on their website if there isn’t a store near you).  All images of their toys are from their website.

Mom wants one of the Raggedy Ann Christmas Cloth Doll by Madame Alexander because she says it brings back memories.

They also have Raggedy Andy of course, as well as Strawberry Shortcake and Madeline.

Another cute doll is the Rubens Barn Original Anna Doll.  How adorable is she with her freckles and glasses?!

We are of course more interested in their boy stuff.  The Food Chain Friends is an awesome idea for a stuffed animal!  You get 5 in one!

For people with a little more money to spend, the Make-My-Own Monster Custom Design Kit is the coolest toy in the catalog.  The kid designs the monster, from what it looks like to its personality.  It is then made into a plush monster with a hang-tag telling the monster’s story.  How cool would it be to show off a monster that you designed!

Little Wonderlands has a toy that is going on our Christmas list!  They have tons of wooden toys so it is fun to browse through their website.  There we found the Barbarossa Pirate Ship and Pirate Crew and we told mom we loved it!

While you are on the website, be sure to check out the wooden treehouses too!

Kids loving having their names to decorate their stuff so Personal Creations has some good gift ideas too.  We are into dinosaurs lately so we asked mom for the Dinosaur Big Belly Bank.  It is almost 2 feet tall and eats your coins and stores them in its belly.

In our latest issue of Faith & Family magazine, they had an article with gift ideas.  We were looking with mom and saw the Knights Castle and wanted it.  It is offered by International Playthings and is a fold-out castle with a king, knights, and even a dragon!  There is a hidden staircase and a drawbridge to play with too!

Those are some of the fun things we’ve seen as we flip through catalogs and visit toy store websites.  I’m sure we’ll have more as the holidays get closer!