This past Christmas was the first Christmas I ordered everything off of Amazon and didn't step foot into a brick and mortar store.
I loved it.
We gift our children three gifts each and we only buy them things that we would want to keep in our home for a long time. With just $300 and one hour, we got Christmas shopping done for our five little ones.
Here are two of my favorite purchases from our Amazon Christmas:
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Toys-Bouquet-Arrangement-Playset/dp/B007BSXZZG
We bought this make your own garden set for our three year old daughter who absolutely adores picking flowers.
It's a "green" product which is awesome and all of the pieces can be configured to make almost endless arrangements of flowers. We just love this toy.
Our favorite purchase has got to be this wooden marble run we got for our six year old son. We have had so many fun hours of play and it's a "go-to" toy on an almost daily basis. How many toys can you say your children still actively play with 7 weeks after Christmas? Not many, right?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00000IZC9/ref=pd_aw_sbs_t_1?refRID=0Y7N1J1KQQ99JFZTMNQB
I would highly encourage parents to check these toys out and just revel in what your child comes up with. I love open-ended toys because they're classic, they typically last through multiple children, and, most importantly, they encourage critical thinking and engineering skills.
And honestly, who needs another loud, light-up or techie toy in their home?! Not me. No, thank you.