LITTLE COWBOY CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS ON AMAZON

Posted on by Sariah

FOR RANCH BOYS 3-9 YEARS OLD

Gathering yearlings and shipping yearlings tends to overlap. We’re in the middle of both right now. It’s like how Thanksgiving time and Christmas prep overlaps too. Despite people not liking Christmas to step on Thanksgiving’s toes, nevertheless, it happens. Generally, there’s some prep work to do for Christmas, just like we have to gather before we can ship.

Meanwhile; in between the gathering and shipping; ranch moms are asking, “What do I give my ranch boy for Christmas?” He’s got wide open spaces. What else does he need? The latest technology? Nope. The newest toy craze? Negative. Something that’s all the rage? Nada. As a ranching family, we’ve never followed the toy trends or raced to get the newest technology at Christmas time or any time!

Is there even anything good for ranch boys on Amazon? I think there’s a lot of farm and rodeo toys, but there doesn’t seem to be as many ranchy toys. I’m always searching for more ranch related and/or old west toys. The items I’m sharing are things I’ve bought for my boys/grandsons or they’ve received good reviews. I’ll share more ranchy boys Christmas gift ideas from other sites over the next few weeks.

Kids Teepee Tent with Lights It’s a cowboy teepee for a little cowboy’s room! I bought this for my three year old cowboy grandson. He loves it. It’s one of those gifts he can enjoy again and again.

Giving the Playmobil Western Stagecoach equals fun for days! My favorite part of this set is the little gold pieces in the chest. (Good luck keeping track of them.)

My boys grew up playing and building with Lincoln Logs. They used their imagination and created a ranch and town. There are a lot of different sets to choose from, but I like this one because it comes with a cowboy and a horse. The Wild West Toob figurines or the tube of cowboy action figures are a good addition to the Lincoln Log ranch and town they build.

The Schleich line of animal figurines are good quality. We’ve had a few of these over the years and they last a long time, even with rough boys playing with them. (I almost scratched this from the list because it looks like the cowboy is riding with a halter! The only reason it survived the cut is because I know these are sturdy toys.)

Big Country Toys is a good place to find some ranch toy sets. I think the 12 piece set or 16 piece set would be fun with the chute and panels.

Of course, ranch boys need a cattle truck and trailer to haul all their Schleich cows and calves around.

Every cowboy, big and little, always needs a pocketknife. We like a good Old Timer pocketknife.

Did you know there’s a John Wayne Monopoly? Certainly, this would be more fun for a ranch boy to play than regular Monopoly.

A Daisy Red Ryder is on every ranch boy’s Christmas list I think. You can also get the bundle option with the gun, a carrying case, BBs, targets, and a few other goodies. Perhaps, he isn’t ready for a BB gun, then try the old west shooting gallery instead.

Doesn’t every cowboy need a set of pistols? These are the ones my grandson packs around. Little cowboys need a good leather holster too. My dad still has a leather gun holster from when he was a boy and it was a favorite toy of all the grandkids. If you want a real leather holster, I would look on Etsy. Your cowboy will be happy if he gets a nice holster with a set of cowboy pistols.

This is the only cheesy item I picked, Western Bingo. It’s an easy game for little cowboys who can’t read yet.

Lastly, here is a simple gift experience idea: Jimmy loves the shooting gallery at Scheels. What eight year old boy wouldn’t love it? Put some Scheels shooting gallery gold coins in an old west money bag or you can put a few coins in several bags for all year long. Whenever you stop in at Scheels your little cowboy can have a shoot out at the shooting gallery.

Certainly, there’s other gift ideas out there, but I hope this gave you a few ideas for ranch toys for your ranch boy on Amazon.

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Sariah

Merry Christmas From the Ranch

Posted on by Sariah

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure for more information.

We got our Christmas tree last weekend and we have been enjoying it every night. We cut our tree down this year instead of going to a tree lot in town. It is a pinon pine and it is perfectly imperfect.

This week I have been thinking of all the Christmas trees we’ve had over the years. We’ve had a real Christmas tree each year since we’ve been married. This is our 29th Christmas together. A Christmas tree evolves each year like your family. Somethings change, like lights and kids getting older. Some things never change, like the tree topper and the magic a lit-up Christmas tree creates.

Trees of Christmas Past

One year we had a tree so prickly I could hardly put anything on it! It was given to us while we were in college and the price (free) was right, so we didn’t complain. Also, it was so poky that Jasper, who was almost 2 at the time, didn’t want anything to do with it. Bonus.

Another year I did all red lights and rocking horses. It was the year I lost my brother in a drowning accident. There wasn’t any particular connection to rocking horses and my brother. Someone gave me an ornament with a rocking horse on it after he passed away, so I decided it would be the theme for our tree that year. I’ve never done another themed tree since then, so it really was a special tree.

A rocking horse Christmas

We had a ponderosa pine one year and that tree lasted FOREVER. I wanted to see how long I could keep it in the house. I remember putting Valentine’s hearts on it!

One year we took our Christmas tree down and hauled it out Christmas afternoon. It was so dry it was a fire hazard and needles were everywhere.

We’ve tried the big lights, colored lights, red lights, and white lights. The big lights almost caught a few things on fire and an old tree skirt shows proof of that. I’ve learned how to wrap lights so the tree will glow. It takes more time, but it looks amazing when it’s done.

One time we bought a tree, put it in the house, and let it warm up for a day before we decorated it. It was dry and dead the next day! We threw it out and got another one. It was an expensive tree that year.

Our Russian Christmas Tree

We worked in Russia for a year and a half and we were able to be there during Christmas. That was a memorable experience since Russians don’t celebrate Christmas. They focus more on the new year and celebrating Grandfather Frost.

A week before Christmas we still didn’t have a tree and the kids were dying. Joseph, Sage, and Sophie took matters into their own hands and walked probably a mile behind the ranch, in the snow and cold to look for a tree to cut down and drag home. They came home frozen and the tree they cut down was TOO big. It was like a very large, wide, tall Charlie Brown tree. That was disappointing for them after all the work they did. A few days later we went for a drive to find a tree. We found one, cut it down, and shoved it in our van. (Picture a military green Scooby Doo van.) It was still a Charlie Brown tree but we could fit it in the house.

We had all homemade ornaments on our Russian tree. We could only drape two strings of lights on the tree because the light strands didn’t plug into each other like we were used to. Santa still found us in Russia with our homely tree and normal Russian life carried on outside our door.

Christmas Tree Problems

I save ornaments for my kids so they each have their bag of special ornaments to hang on the tree. They would hang them at their eye level in one clump. I rearranged them after they went to bed and they never seemed to notice. No, I’m not a Monica Gellar.

We had one ornament of Jasper’s that would “hide” (it seemed) in the tree each year. We always found it at the last minute when the tree was about to be thrown out. I gave Jasper his ornaments when he got married. He can deal with the yearly elusive ornament now.

Tinsel was the thing to scatter on your tree when I was a kid. (I don’t know how my mom dealt with that mess.) We always found some piece of tinsel in July.

I’ve never had a flocked tree. Jeffrey remembers one of his grandmothers having a flocked tree each year. He said that if she didn’t like how the flocked tree looked, she would send it back and get another tree.

The tree topper is the one thing that hasn’t changed on our tree. We have a star and it lights up. I remember buying it at a Woolworth’s after Christmas sale. It has lasted ALL these years and through a lot of moves. It’s still exciting for me to see how it looks lit-up on top of the tree with the rest of the lights.

Make Memories

Our trees have changed over the years and we enjoy them every year and the memories we make with them. Our Christmas trees never look perfect, but they have always been perfect for us. Remember, under the Christmas tree is where childhood magic and memories happen.

Make it memorable, not perfect.  

Here are some links to games that we play during the holidays. They are memorable and fun to play while you enjoy your Christmas tree. The adults, teens, and kids in our family recommend them.