Trick out your littlest treater in one of the most upscale Halloween costumes around. Photographer Tom Arma has been called the “Armani of the Kiddy costume world” by the Wall Street Journal, and once you take a look at these oh-so adorable costumes, you’ll see why. Each costume in the Tom Arma Signature Collection is available in infant and toddler sizes and sold exclusively through Halloween Express. Be warned: Tom Arma produces a limited number of costumes each year, and like Beanie Babies, once they’re gone, they’re gone, so order now.
One of the most important purchases new parents make is their baby’s car seat. For newborns, the best bet is an infant car seat, not a convertible (infant-to-toddler) car seat. Infant carseats are specially designed for babies weighing 22 pounds or less; they are rear-facing and come with handles. The seat attaches to a base that is anchored to your car, usually via the LATCH system (LATCH stands for “Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children”), required of all cars made in the United States after 2002. Best of all, the seats also double as baby carriers, feeding seats and a place for Baby to nap. Baby Trend Silverado Flex-Loc infant car seat has a five-point adjustable harness and an adjustable head support and comes in various color combinations ($89 at Walmart). The seat fits into the Flex-Loc base, which is purchased separately ($37). The Britax companion infant car seat goes the extra mile in protection, with deep side walls and head support designed to protect your infant in side-impact collisions ($210).The Graco SafeSeat is a rear-facing car seat designed to hold a child up to 30 pounds and comes with a stay-in-the-car base (on sale for $99). In the baby products world, Peg Perego is the equivalent of the Mercedes-Benz. Thus, if you can afford it, the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio infant car seat with side-impact protection and a “comfort-dry” pad for those times when the diaper happens to leak is an excellent choice ($250). It works in cars, airplanes and fastens into Peg Perego strollers. For more advice on how to select an infant car seat, read this informative article from BabyCenter. Also, Car-Safety.org contains comprehensive tips on how to keep your children secure in the car.
Universal acclaim is greeting WALL-E, the daring new film from the Pixar animators who brought us Finding Nemo. And as with previous computer-hatched adventures The Incredibles and Cars(see the full collection here), programmers find this fable particularly well suited to video games. In the WALL-E game, which is available on all platforms, kids can go scavenger hunting for health-restoring sunbeams and forgotten cultural artifacts or just fly through space zapping debris. Games are just the tip of the product tie-in iceberg, of course, despite the fact that the movie’s theme is human overconsumption and the ecological damage done by limitless consumer goods: Kids seduced by the E.T.-like robot can buy either elaborate remote-controlled robo-toys or low-tech ones like this robotic arm; they can get themed bedspreads or read bedtime tales from a Little Golden Book. While this glut of goods may serve to cancel out the story’s eco-friendly message, marketers are expert at making adults feel joyless when the kids complain: After all, who could refuse a roomful of tykes wearing these (pictured) low-tech but heartstring-tugging WALL-E masks?
You don’t have to be young and afraid of the dark to appreciate the glow of a nightlight. They help us quietly navigate rooms and hallways when others are sleeping and let us see what’s ahead in empty rooms. Animal-themed lights are great for little ones and we love these Kozy lights small fry teddy bears ($9) because they are multifunctional, serving as stuffed animal and nightlight. Featured in Parents Magazine, these soft friends have tummies that gradually change colors. Twilight turtle’s glow also changes color as he sits on the floor, projecting a complete starry night sky onto the walls and ceiling of a dark room ($34). This multi-award winning nightlight also educates by including eight actual constellations, including The Big Dipper, in its star pattern. Buy it along with a twilight ladybug and get both for $65. We have to recommend Lumilove’s adorable animal nightlights (pictured) for the little ones. These are from the United Kingdom (about $50 each), and they’re soft, with flexible arms and legs, tummies that glow without becoming hot to the touch and are powered by low-energy LEDs. Choose from kitten, puppy, panda, elephant and rabbit designs. For the grown-ups, the selection of nightlights at Rosenberry Rooms will turn you on if you appreciate a “shabby chic” or retro look. These beauties are made to order in fabrics and colors you’ll adore, which means they take a few weeks to arrive. Check out the black western nightlight ($30) and the pink & green stripes with pink pom pom trim nightlight ($36) to get an idea of this company’s range. At Funky Lights, the variety is good and the look folksy. Example: the yellow moon night light ($40), a charming drawing housed in a hand-textured and colored copper frame. Finally, if great paintings are your thing, grab Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” nightlight ($25 from The Porcelain Garden Enlightened Art) or one of the other masterpieces turned into a teeny light.
Parents taking their young children swimming this summer would be well advised to put the kiddos in swimsuits with built-in flotation devices. These are hybrids between a life jacket and a bathing suit, with foam panels sewn inside the chest and sometimes the back. My Pool Pal carries the ultimate in children’s flotation wear: the Aqua Force children’s swimsuit. These suits are heavily padded on the front and back with foam inserts; they look like life vests with shoulder straps and a swim bottom attached. The Coast Guard has approved them as personal flotation devices (PFDs); the suits are available in lime green for boys and hot pink for girls in sizes for children from 30 through 90 pounds ($55). The Waterpals boys flotation suit from Pooltoy is a combined vest and swim short, with foam inserts on the chest to keep your toddler afloat; it comes in small, medium and large for ages 2 to 5 ($30). For girls, the similarly designed My Pool Pal flotation suit ($40) comes in a variety of colors. UV Sungear sells children’s floatsuits with a built-in sun protection factor of UPF 50+. Parents still have to sunscreen their children’s faces, necks, arms and legs, but it’s quicker than having to apply lotion on the kid’s chest and back too ($60). Swim Outlet carries a boy’s two-piece floatsuit ($29). The advantage of choosing this suit is that it’s simpler to use the bathroom; your toddler only has to pull the shorts down, instead of having one of his parents unzip the whole outfit from the back. The Learn to Swim Tube Trainer (pictured) works for both boys and girls. With a small inner tube sewn into a one-piece aqua-colored swimsuit, kids will be bumping into things more often than if they were wearing the more streamlined floaty suits, but it’s adorable ($34) . Although flotation suits are not a substitute for parental supervision, they make your family’s outings to the pool, beach, lake or water park much safer.
Many parents have noticed that when you hand a baby a soft blanket or stuffed toy, the baby is often more fascinated with the satin tag than with the object itself. Babies suck on tags, chew on them, clasp them and use them to drag the toy around. Taggies are soft blankets, pillows, activity quilts, toys and clothes covered with many satin tags. The best-known product is a security blanket called Little Taggies, a 12- by 12-inch soft square with 20 different tags of various colors and textures sewn to the outside of the blanket ($25; pictured is the Confetti Little Taggie from the Colours Collection). It’s a great “transitional object” for infants or toddlers; it helps them transition from being awake to being asleep and is comforting when baby is faced with a potentially unsettling situation, like a new babysitter. Taggies Big Soft Blocks are exactly what they sound like – large soft cloth blocks with tags, fuzzy animal designs and lots of different textures for baby to examine ($30 for a four-block set). The Taggies Activity Quilt has a ladybug-shaped mirror, a squeaky pig and a crinkly cow, as well as the trademark tags ($50). Another site featuring high-quality infant and toddler toys is Genius Babies, a name clearly aimed at the proud mother and father. Genius Babies’ award-winning offerings include the Nooboo Pound-a-Sound ($25). Your baby can take the soft hammer and hit the toy; with every hit baby will hear a sound or see a pop-up surprise. A completely irresistible item is the jumbo Baby Face Photo Quilt, printed with photographs of babies’ faces ($30). Since infants love staring at pictures of other babies, this is a can’t-miss gift.
Children enjoy personalizing everything, even their shoes. Your child’s Crocs can be suitably original after he or she finishes decorating them, thanks to Croc-a-Doodles, a kit with three washable markers and four fabric paint pens, as well as sticker stencils and a sponge ($15). If they get bored with the design, they can wash with the decorations off and start over. Jibbitz (pictured) are cute charms that attach to Crocs; the dozens of designs include Spiderman, Green Goblin, Lighting McQueen and Tinkerbell ($3 each or $6 per pair). Clip-itz Shoelace Clips are both practical — they keep shoelaces tied — and decorative, available in a basketball that lights up, jewel-toned cubes and sparkly butterflies ($6 to $10). Another solution for kids who like a snazzy shoe look and have trouble with laces, is curly laces. The laces feed through the eyelets, and their springy texture keeps everything together without having to tie a knot ($2.50 per pair).
Trick out your littlest treater in one of the most upscale Halloween costumes around. Photographer 
car seat. Infant carseats are specially designed for babies weighing 22 pounds or less; they are rear-facing and come with handles. The seat attaches to a base that is anchored to your car, usually via the
