I'm hoping you ladies might have some tips for gifts, both for DS and our families.

DS is 9 months old, and I know the grandparents are going to shower him with gifts. I want to get him one or two nice, meaningful gifts from us. I'm already thinking of a really nice toybox for his first birthday. For Christmas, I'm thinking of a rocking horse or a toddler bike, but both might be premature since he's not quite crawling yet. Other ideas? Obviously he doesn't understand holidays yet and will like the wrapping paper best of all, but I want to start a nice tradition.

Our families had tentatively agreed that we were all going to give pictures as gifts this year, which is perfect for us with the newest baby. But it just occurred to me it would be cute to do photo Christmas ornaments. I'd much rather something with the photo printed directly on it than a frame that you put your own pic in. Snapfish seems to have some good ones. Has anyone had a good experience getting something like this?

We've ordered the mugs with pictures on it from snapfish and they've come out nice.

For the kids at that age we've kept it small. I give the kids an ornament to represent something about them over the past year. Something they can look at every year and eventually take when they start their own holiday traditions with their families.

As gifts we've given framed artwork of the kids to grandparents.

My older DD's birthday is in February so she was 10 months old for her first holiday season.  We got her one "big" gift, which was a pottery barn chair for her to use in our family room (which at almost 3 years old, she still loves to sit in!) and let the grandparents buy the rest of her gifts.  At this age, they don't especially care about getting presents and, yes, do love the wrapping paper.  The gift ideas you mention are great -  my advice is with a baby whose birthday is relatively close to the holidays, you may want to ask for a few bigger presents that he will be able to use and enjoy next summer or even next fall when he is 18-20 months of age.  I found that my DD received a ton of gifts for the holidays and then for her first birthday which were all appropriate for a 12-18 month old and by the second half of the year she had grown and changed so much and many of her toys seemed babyish/not challenging enough.  One thing we got that was awesome was a water table - she played with that in our yard every day over the summer.  Another good gift would be a wagon for when your DS is able to walk/toddle and decides he doesn't want to ride in a stroller but you want to bring something with you that he can climb in an out of when he gets tired. 

No idea re: the ornaments but I like Snapfish in general

I'm big on buying books as gifts.  That's a tradition that can grow as the child grows.  My friends/coworkers and I started exchanging books for our girls and it's been so much fun, picking the books out, sharing them with the kids.  We'll probably keep going until the kids are in college!

Absolutely, yearly Christmas ornaments are great. 

We have relatives who just love, love, love the idea of "collectables" but no kid really wants a shelf of fragile, expensive porcelain dolls or fancy car models they can't actually play with, and Mom doesn't want to dust them and keep the kids' hands off them (or have to put them in a box in the attic for safekeeping until they're 12). 

So we suggested yearly Christmas ornaments. One grandma goes with a company that has a yearly design series, the other picked a theme and pokes around in the artsy craftsy shops to find ones every year.

We alternate one year hanging the collectables, the other year using our color scheme and just putting up that year's. 

I haven't ordered the snapfish ornaments, but I have been very happy with a collage print and a photobook I created on there. I'd definitely order anything with condifidence from them!  And, tho sound like a special gift idea.

I've ordered all sorts of stuff from Snapfish and Shutterfly over the years and have been pretty happy with the results. Last year I took a pic of DD in her Xmas dress in early Dec and was able to put it on a white snowflake ornament for my aunt and uncle who are my godparents. I noticed when I went to my aunts last month that she still had it up hanging off a knob on a cabinet. Once you sign up for these websites, they'll send you sales and discounts via email.

In the tradition department, I definitely would be more on the side of an ornament or a book rather than something they'll use a LOT later, like a bike.  You could do a holiday themed book??  I love loved it every year when my mom would get out the holiday picture books (still love it, actually!)  (Although a gift they'll be able to use in a few months is also a great idea.)

My reason is that aside from having to store an unused rocking horse or bike (I speak from experience on the unused rocking horse...) when they are old enough for stuff like that, they also actually get excited about gifts.  And that is SO fun.  DD is 2.3 and it's way more fun to give her gifts now because she gets excited and wants to use them right away.  So you can have a lot of joy later if you wait on the bike or whatever.

I hear you on trying to figure out gifts...it's tough because at that age, they don't need any toys, and they won't know if you give them anything or not! 

I started buying an ornament a year for DD, and will continue that tradition with DS, and my mom has added the kids to our family tradition of new PJs for Christmas Eve, but other than that, so far, I've kept Christmas gifts from us to a minimum.  They've been mostly books, along with a few toys.  Last year's "big" gift was a Megablocks table and a big bag of the megablocks to go with it....she was 14 months then.  This year, the big present, which is for both kids (2 m. old and 2 y. old) is a nice kid-sized table and chairs...it's something both kids will use, but only DD will appreciate now.  Aside from that, the 2 year old is getting a lot of crayons, stickers, colored paper, that kind of thing, as well toy plates, cups, pots/pans, etc.  The 2 month old will be getting some books and a couple of new toys, and otherwise, I'll be rewrapping some of DD's infant toys that had been put away...that's mostly for the benefit of the 2 year old, so her brother's pile of presents looks about the same as hers...it's a trick my aunt suggested and worked for the first 2-3 Christmases for my cousins. 

Also, I think it's easier for people with boys to buy more gender neutral toys, but if you're planning to have any more kids, I'd suggest trying to keep as many of the basic toys (blocks, for example, but bigger things like tables, bikes, etc, too) gender neutral so that no matter what other kids may be, everyone can play with them and you're not buying duplicates of everyhting in different colors in two years. 

Gender neutral toys--order from Lakeshore teacher supply.  Dishes, etc. come in primary colors the toy food sets are fun...they have a pizza party, ice cream, etc.  They are a bit more expensive than Target etc but they really last since they are meant for large numbers of kids. 

They also have a great line of art products, the "People Color" crayons and colored pencils with, as the name says, realistic skin and hair colors.

Yes, Lakeshore is a great place to buy items, and Discount School Supply is, too!  And I'd agree with the gender neutral items - it's truly amazing that the doll, doll bed and doll stroller aisle at Toys R Us literally GLOWS pink - and so sad because some boys like dolls, doll beds and strollers just as only some girls like dolls - my niece just couldn't get into any of the million dolls she had, but did love her stuffed animals.  And then her younger brother took over her doll (that had been given to her when her brother was born) and used the yellow grocery cart from Little Tykes as a doll stroller for about 1 year for his doll.  He'd load his trucks into the food section, put the doll in the seat section with a blanket to keep baby warm, and be off! 

Gotta go with the ornament and books. The photo ornament will be even more meaningful as he grows older...at 9 months there isn't anything he needs at this age that you and your family hasn't already got for him.  Enjoy!

For our son's first christmas, we wrapped up a box of tissues.  He had a ball unwrapping it and pulling out each one.  Less is more for the little ones.  I'd wait on bigger things like rocking horse and toddler bikes until he can really appreciate it, then you'll get to enjoy his excitement too.

The idea of an annual gift, like ornaments is a good one, and a nice way to create a fun tradition.

It's a good idea to think ahead, and find gifts that he'll grow into.  I'd recommend blocks, balls and books as items that can evolve as he grows.

One thing worth considering, we realized that we had an opportunity to set our family traditions while the kids were small.  We went with small but festive holiday ideas (tree, menorah a few gifts) something we could sustain over time, and keeping the focus on the fun and family aspects of the holidays.  Think ahead when making decisions that might stay with you for years to come. Set reasonable expectations so evereyone is happy with the holidays.