The Fandads Holiday Gift Guide

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It's that time of year again my friends. That time when you start looking to see what gifts you can get your favorite people in your life. We here at Fandads have compiled a list of a few of our favorite things and things that we hope we will get ourselves from our respective families. Keep reading to see how you can win a few items on our list. 

So without further ado, here is our gift guide for 2017. 

For the Budding Scientist in your Household

STEM is a great way for children to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. The following two toys are a great way to get your children into learning about coding.

DANCE CODE BELLE

Dance Code Belle empowers and encourages kids to imagine they are bringing Belle to life in a realistic and magical way, including an interactive and story-driven app that introduces kids to early coding techniques. Using the app, kids can learn simple coding techniques such as block coding and ‘connect-the-dots’ to create and choreograph unique dance sequences for their Belle doll to move before their very eyes. $99.99 on Amazon.

DROID INVENTOR KIT
As a Star Wars fan, this is something that I wish was around when I was younger. I mean, can you imagine making your own droid when you were younger. Kids can create their own droid and bring it to life using littleBits electronic Bits and a smart device. With the droid Inventor app, they’ll give their droid new abilities and take it on 16+ missions. Then they’ll level-up their inventor skills, reconfiguring parts to design any droid they can dream up. The kit comes with everything kids need to create and customize a droid straight out of the box. $99.95 on Amazon. 

For the videophile in your family

There have been a lot of great releases on Blu-ray this year, from the further adventures of our favorite long-haired princess, new adventures between two brothers that have not seen each other in years, new adventures of old feathered friends and two men who changed the music industry with their ideas and visions of what music should be. 

If you have not seen the HBO documentary The Defiant Ones, you have to watch it. This documentary shows you how much Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine changed the music industry. The vision that these two men had is amazing and it definitely will teach you a thing about achieving success and always working hard for your goals. Keep a pen and paper next to you to take down some notes.    

Usually, when we get to the third movie in a series it loses its charm. Sometimes we think to ourselves, "What can they do this time to keep me entertained?" That is the opposite n the case of Despicable Me 3. The movie brings some freshness to it in the way of Gru's brother Dru and the main villain of the movie: Balthazar Bratt. Just seeing the animation during the "live" commercials is pretty fantastic. 

Have you been watching Tangled: The Series? It's such a fun show and it features the original cast from the movie. It's great seeing Rapunzel's adventures with Eugene and how she is getting used to living inside the castle walls again. Tangled: Queen for a Day shows us what happens when Rapunzel takes over the kingdom while her parents are away for a wedding.

I remember watching Duck Tales when I was younger and I was ecstatic when it returned to television earlier this year. I love watching this show with my children and what better way to continue my love for this show than to sit down and enjoy their new adventures. Duck Tales Woo-oo! is fun for the entire family. 

Make sure you continue reading to see how you can win a copy of one of these movies. 

For the Action Figure Collector 

At the Fandads Homebase, we are always looking for cool new action figures to collect and our friends at Disney have come out with w new line of figures that have a pretty unique design to them. The figures out in the new Toybox series come from Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. You can pick these up at your local Disney Store. 

For the Those that like Cool Dolls

Along with cool action figures, there are some pretty cool dolls out on the toy shelves right now. Two series that we absolutely love are the dolls from the Descendents movie and the new Star Wars line: Forces of Destiny.




Imagine living out Mal of the Isle of the Lost’s journey from royal to rebel in the “Descendants 2” movie with the Descendants 2 Movie Isle Style Switch Mal doll. Kids have the awesome ability to turn Mal into a proper Lady of the Court in her Auradon look, or revert her back to her wicked ways with a twist of her hair back to Isle style! The Mal doll rocks two outfits and features movie-inspired fashion accessories! Descendants 2 Movie Isle Style Switch Mal doll includes Mal of the Isle of the Lost doll, and two complete fashions and accessories. She can be purchased at shopDisney.com.

What’s an adventure without a reliable sidekick? Buddy up with a droid companion and prepare for STAR WARS galactic missions just like PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA and REY OF JAKKU. With these true to form, 11-inch scale figures, bringing the STAR WARS universe adventures to life has never been more fun! This 2-pack includes heroic action moves for PRINCESS LEIA and R2-D2, as well as REY OF JAKKU and BB-8, and more. Each pack sold separately. $24.99 at shopDisney.com. 

For the Fans of Coco in Your Life

Coco is a fantastic movie and if you have not seen it by now, you should definitely check it out before it leaves the theaters. The story is so great and moving, but the music in the movie is also so great and moving. That is why this guitar will be one of the must-have items for this holiday season. 

Fans of Disney•Pixar’s Coco can recreate music from the movie with this interactive guitar that allows budding musicians to learn and practice, “Remember Me,” a popular song from the film through fully functioning strings, working lights, and true-to-movie details. This guitar is topped by a skull that chomps when the first chord button is pressed and also comes with sheet music for kids to practice the day away and become a musician just like Miguel dreams of becoming. $29.99 at Toys r Us. 

For the Sporty Person in the Family 

If you follow along with Fandads you know about our Sporty Dad section. In this section, we write about the athletic things that we do to try to stay in shape for our children. Recently we did the Spartan Race and it was such a great event that my daughter can not wait to run it again. 

Before we do that my daughter has been asking for an activity tracker type device and Garmin has come out with the Vivofit Jr 2 for children. They come in cool designs for your children and each band theme offers a corresponding mobile app adventure where children can complete missions to advance in the journey and unlock new character step icons, with the help of their parents, by achieving 60 minutes of activity every day. Prices vary by style and you can pick one up at Amazon.

Since we will be running the Spartan Race again next year, why not sign up the sporty person in your life to run either the Sprint, Super or Beast in your area. These races are great because they push you to get outside of your comfort zone and really test yourself. I recommend that everyone try to do a Spartan Sprint at least once in your life.  Remember parents, there is a child race too that is great for your children.

There is it friends, our gift guide for this year. We hope you find some things that you like and things that you would like to give as gifts. If you are still reading this far enter one of giveaways to win one of the many movies that we covered in our guide. 

For the Video Game Fans

There are a lot of great games out there for gamers and their families. Here are a few games that are currently in rotation at both of the Fandads' Homebase.

NASCAR HEAT 2 

Now I've never been a NASCAR fan and the only driving games I would buy were the kart racing games, but this game made me appreciate NASCAR a little. I will admit that driving in a circle was not that appealing to me, but after trying the game out for a few days I started looking for technics to get ahead of the other cars. The look of this game is incredible and the fact that you get to drive at the Chicagoland Speedway is pretty cool too. With the multiplayer mode, you can have countless hours racing your friends and seeing who will get the most points to move on. NASCAR Heat 2 is available on the PS4, Xbox One, and Steam.

JackBox Party Pack 4

I remember playing the You Don't Know Jack games on my PC years ago. We would play for hours on end laughing as the game show host made fun of us throughout the game. Nowadays there really are not that many couch co-op games that you can play with friends and family, but the JackBox Party Packs are here to change that. Fandad Gil has been playing Pack 3 and with 4 just released, this is a game that will keep the whole family entertained during the holiday season. 

With over 5 modes to play and this game is definitely going to keep the entire family entertained. Try your luck at such modes as Fibbage, Survive the Internet and Civic Doodle. Try your luck at these games and let  the laughs commence. JackBox Party Pack 4 is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Steam and more. 

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