Recommend a toy please

Christmas is still 2 months away but in order to be kind to my bank account I'm already looking for pressies for our girls.

I've got certain things in mind and a couple of items stashed already but I'd love to hear recommendations for items which have been particularly good for your child, kept the most interest and which you feel you got your monies worth from.

Our twins are 1 now (just) so if you have any ideas for what's good for their age, please let me know.

If you have ANY recommendations - stick it on here - we're all going to be in the same boat in a few weeks.

My recommendation is Winnie The Pooh Moonlight Dream Show and The Tomy Starlight Dreamshow, they've become part of our girls sleep routine and they are very content lying in their cots watching the light shows, even now at 1 year old.

One of the best gifts we received for them last Xmas when they were tiny.

my little girl is 2 but i just bought her one of those big wooden boxeswith all the wires and beads on top, and other stuff around the edge. similar to the things that they have in banks etc. but she hasn't put it down since i bought it. maybe not such a good idea having a xylophone on the sound(a very loud one by the way) but has definately kept her entertained for a loong time!!

I recommend anything from here: http://www.myriadonline.co.uk/

My cousin swear by the stackable little cups. I've read somewhere that young babies can't see very far, so musical toys are good for them to get used to. Bright colours are also good for first toys. The stackable cups comes in bright colours, and it teaches the kid co-ordination, I think.

It's usually one of the cheap and cheerful toys which are the most effective, I find. A lot of people buy toys which were older than the kid needs, and they don't get played on. My nephew was also hung up on those squeezable toy books when he was around one. He had this octopus which he can drool over, listens to (cos when you shake it, it rings), and throw with.

I've bought a couple of decent bath toys for pressies as well. To introduce the kid to water, and for those that don't like bathing. I recall Waitrose having some British made toys which were simple but quite cool last Xmas. Can't remember the make, but they were with the aisles of homeware. The bath one can last a bit longer, cos they don't use batteries but some kind of mechanical operation which is much safer. I didn't see this make anywhere else in Cole's toy dept or Early Learning. So I was quite chuffed to find the more simple toys on offer.

I recommend anything from here: http://www.myriadonline.co.uk/

just nearly passed out at the prices of music things cor blimey!!!