What's a good birthday present for a one year old? Something
developmentally appropriate, fun, parents will think I am smart, and
can be mailed easily? 

The one year old in question is male (does that matter at this age)
and lives in Portland Oregon.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 29 Oct 2002 09:57 PST

What's your approximate price range?

Greetings!  My top recommendation for a birthday gift in the $20
dollar range would be the Whoozit.  This developmental toy is one of
the best on the market and sticks around for years as a child's
favorite.  It is a stuffed toy and machine washable (place in
pillowcase in the washer and dryer) and it is a light toy so it is
easily sent by post.

You may read many reviews of the Whoozit at Epinions.com from parents
and regular consumers:
http://www.epinions.com/kifm-Toys-Age-0_to_12_months-Whoozit/display_~reviews.
 Epinions terms the toy for 0-12 months but it is very popular for
0-48 months.  I managed a toy store for three years and the Whoozit
always received rave reviews from customers.

One review at Epinions states "It is absolutely the best toy I've ever
bought. It is perfect for travel, it has an attachment at the top with
velcro (no buttons!) so you can attach it to practically anything. The
colors and designs are spectacular. The Whoozit itself is soft and
cuddly and has an adorable, big, soft red nose that squeaks when you
squeeze it and when you lift it up there is a mirror underneath, which
my daughter absolutely loves (yes, she's my child, she loves staring
at herself!). There are many different "legs" hanging from the
Whoozit, the legs are a variety of a different colors and patterns
that keep the thoroughly entertained. At the end each leg there are
different toys. There are yellow, velvety stars that rattle, pink,
terrycloth type rings which are perfect for grasping, red, velvety
hearts that are rattles as well and a bright green triangle that
sounds like crumpled newspaper when playing with it (my daughter is
quite partial to that one).

"This toy is flawless. The designers thought of everything. It's
stimulating for sound, sight and touch. My daughter would sit and play
with it all day if I'd let her. The smaller one is perfect for my
younger daughter and my older daughter who is 2 1/2 loves it so much
that I think I'm going to buy her the larger one which is more
appropriate for children her age and size..."

From http://www.epinions.com/content_49397403268 The Whoozit's long
legs also have corresponding pockets at their bases so the toy can be
used for hide-and-seek games.  Epinions.com is also a great place to
check reviews of other toys and items you might be considering.

The regular-sized Whoozit is the one I recommand and it normally
retails for $19.99.  There is a Baby Whoozit that retails for $9.99 so
be aware of sizes if you do price comparison searches on the Internet.

I also located a site for you to peruse, Genius Babies, that lists top
toys for 1 year-old children.  Located at
http://www.geniusbabies.com/chrisgifidfo1.html they offer many
suggestions.

Another site, http://www.organicbebe.com/toys_1_2.asp, features a
jumbo puzzle item at the top of the page.  Jumbo puzzles are one piece
puzzles for toddlers with a large easy-to-grasp wooden knob, and the
puzzles help them with manual dexterity.  They are heavier to mail but
make very good gifts.  The site
http://www.giftkorners.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi?idCategory=5 has links
to various designs of the jumbo peg puzzles.

If you would like other recommendations before rating my answer,
please request a clarification and I will be happy to provide them.


SEARCH TERMS:

whoozit
developmental toy for 1 year old award
jumbo peg puzzles

This is EXACTLY what I needed to know - no fuss, no muss - lots of
detail. I appreciate the very helpful comments from the question
answerer (who used to run a toy store - wow!). Especially helpful was
the clarification that there are two toys named almost the same so I
have to be careful which one I get, and a second option in case I
can't find the recommended toy. The answer fully met my needs as
stated in the question (I'd given a lot of parameters - including
"developmental focus", "fun", "must be mailed", and "want the parents
to think I'm smart").

Total satisfaction. Am not able to tip at this time, due to budget for
this gift already maxed out by what I offered for the question, but am
giving 5 stars.
(My first try with Google Answers. Happy with service so far. Didn't
need clarification on this particular answer but would be interested
to try that too sometime to see how it works.)

Thank you for your rating and comments.  Tipping is not a requirement
at Google Answers, but customer satisfaction is!  :)  I'm delighted
you are pleased with your first experience here and hope to see you
again when you have other research needs.