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What to do about toys? Your kids want them. You love seeing their little faces light up when they open that perfect gift. Yet finding that perfect gift nowadays seems to mean so much more than a hunk of plastic eye candy. It has to be a balance of fun, safe, eco-friendly, not plastic and not made in China yet still doesn't break the bank. What's a time-challenged parent to do? Luckily, Healthy Child, Healthy World has put together a comprehensive crash-course guide to purchasing toys.

Right now Threadless is holding their pretty awesome Annual Holiday Sale. For a few bucks you can cloth the uber-cools in your life with oodles of artsy irony. The sale includes quite a few $5 tees as well as some for $10 and $15. And let's not forget their super sweet hoodsies, part hoodie part onesie all fun, starting at $10.

Earlier this year the OLPC Organization and Amazon announced their future collaboration regarding the organization's "Give one, Get one" program.

Here come the holiday gift guides, just in time for Xmas/Hanukkah! This one is a kids tech guide. Check out the actual article for product links...

Grownups aren't the only ones who'll have plenty of toys to play with this holiday season. Kids can get in on the action with a surprising array of high-tech stuff to experience, too. I wish they had these toys, games, and gizmos on the market when I was a lad! Check out these options for the tech-obsessed youth on your shopping list.

Coming to a mall near you -- well, ROBOTGALAXY is just in NY and NJ malls right now -- but my nine-year-old assures me that it's a winning idea. A friend of mine recently scooped up a bunch of robo-parts and agrees.

From the website:

From John Baichtal @ geekdad:

"ZOOBMover, with its elegantly simple ball & joint connections and stripped down controller, fits the bill. My two youngest kids, ages 4.5 and 3, were able to create their own robot without any help from me. The motive force behind ZOOBMover is a vaguely torsolike plastic chassis covered in connectors so you can add functional and ornamental ZOOB elements. Most importantly it has six sockets for legs, allowing the creation of arthropodal creatures like bugs and dragons."

We've all been there -- virtually un-openable toy packages locked down with sharp wire twist ties or heat-sealed plastic that, even with the sharpest scissors, refuse to yield its bounty. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has said -- enough.

Amazon's multiyear initiative is called "frustration-free packaging." It kicks clamshell cases and plastic-coated wire ties to the curb and replaces them with smaller, recyclable cardboard boxes.

"It will take many years, but our vision is to offer our entire catalog of products in Frustration-Free Packaging," Bezos said.

Sweet.

If you are a family on the go and are looking for toys that transport easily or living in a space-challenged home. Then you might appreciate some of the portable and, for a change, semi-affordable playthings being sold on Land of Nod. I think these items are begging to be the perfect holiday gifts for some of the more challenging tikes on your holiday shopping list.

In my house tea parties, real and pretend, are just part of a normal day. We love a good spot of tea and even better we love a fun tea set to serve it all up. Constructive Play has this new Green Tea Pretend Play Set that's absolutely adorable and smart. The 25 piece tea set costs $39.99 and includes two mugs, saucers, sugar cubes, tea bags, cherries, cookies, teapot, cream and sugar bowls all made from renewable hardwood.

Trying to find a way to knock a few kid's gifts off the holiday shopping list without having to break the bank to please your picky playmates? LA Kids Consignment might be able to help. An organization started by a team of mommies looking for a way to cut down on wasteful consumerism the group holds events throughout the year for people to sell their new and gently used kids' items turning unused eyesores junking up homes into extra cash and new treasures for bargain hunters in need of a deal on expensive children's ware.