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Holiday Shopping with Babies and Toddlers

How to Survive a Trip With the Kids in Tow

By Neilia Sherman

There are also malls with supervised daycare or play areas, which might offer a nice break for the kids and a chance for you to shop more quickly.

From your children's point of view, holiday shopping can be a depressingly unsatisfying experience if they have no input into where they go or what purchases are being made. When possible, give your child some choices. It could be where you eat lunch or what color socks to buy for grandpa.

Mary Anne Santiago of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who has two children, asks her kids for suggestions on what they think their cousins will like. "That way they are not focusing on toys for themselves or bothering me to buy them," she says. "This ... keeps them occupied, and they love telling the person we are shopping for that they picked out the gift."

Safety issues are a major concern when taking children into crowded malls. Always accompany small children to the bathroom and watch them closely at all times. Teach your children how to use a public phone, and they should know to call 911 in emergencies.

Pamela Addo, director of communications for the Retail Council of Canada, offers these holiday shopping safety tips for families:

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