#49 Holiday Gift Ideas for your Kid with T1D

The holidays are literally right around the corner! This episode highlights some good gift and stocking stuffer ideas for you child living with type 1 diabetes.

I certainly don't advocate getting them ONLY gifts surrounding type 1. Heavens no! They get enough of that in their every day life. But maybe pick one or two to breath a little life into their type 1 diabetes management.  These are just a few ideas to make life with T1D prettier, more awesome, more manageable and possibly a little easier. 

Don't celebrate the holidays? No worries! These gifts can be given all year round for birthdays, diaversaries or "just because you're an awesome warrior" presents. Enjoy! I am working on getting a blog post up with links to all these goodies!

BLOG POST WITH LINKS TO ALL THE THINGS
https://www.sugarmamaspodcast.com/blog/christmas-ideas-for-your-child-with-type-1-diabetes/

Transcript

Katie: 0:01

Hey everybody. It's episode 49 of the sugar mamas podcast, and we are getting so close to Christmas today. I want to talk about some good gift ideas to give your type one diabetic child this holiday season. And if you don't celebrate Christmas, that's okay. These are ideas that could be good for gift giving all year round birthdays diversities, just because you're awesome. Presents other holidays, you name it. Let's do our little intro and we will dive into the list. You're listening to the sugar mamas podcast, a show designed for moms and caregivers of type one diabetics here. You'll find a community of like-minded people who are striving daily to keep their kids safe, happy, and healthy in the ever-changing world of type one. I'm your host and fellow T one D mom, Katie Roseboro. Before we get started. I need you to know that nothing you hear on the sugar mamas podcast should be considered medical advice. Please be safe, be smart, and always consult your physician before making changes to the way you manage type one diabetes. Thanks. All right. All right. Let's get started first. I just like to say that I definitely don't think it's a good idea for you to revolve every gift you give your child this Christmas around type one diabetes. They get enough of type one in their life each and every day. 24 7. These are just a few ideas. Maybe pick one or two or zero, it's up to you. But I just think some of them are really fun, stocking, stuffers or gifts to wrap up and put under the tree that would just enhance their life a little bit with type one. And some of them will even help them manage their blood sugars. So the first thing on the list is super simple. It is just some sort of vessel to hold water in. And I know that sounds silly because. Most of us have a million wild water bottles in our cabinet, but there's just something about getting a new fun water bottle that just makes it more exciting to drink water. And we all know that staying hydrated is very important to make sure our insulin is working properly. And really it's just good for your overall health. We all need to be drinking. And it doesn't have to be a water bottle. It could be a water cup. A couple of years ago. I was so annoyed with my kids getting a new cup out of the cabinet. Every time they wanted to drink a water, they would like forget that they hired, he had a cup out and they would get another cup out. And before, you know, it there's like 15 cups in our kitchen countertop. So I went to academy sports and I'm pretty sure I was there like black Friday or maybe the day after black Friday, because they were having a really good deal. But I got these 32 ounce tumbler cups. They were insulated exactly like a Yeti, except for, they were only$5, um, on a black Friday sale, but regularly they're only$10. They come in a million different colors. I got each one of my kids, a different color. I got a different color. My husband already had a tumbler that size. So, and it was a different color than everybody else's. So everybody in the family had their own tumbler. I forbid people to take it out of the home unless we were going on like a long road trip on a vacation because. I did not want them to leave the house. I was like, these stay on the kitchen counter. You can fill them up at the beginning of the day. And then that can be your water cup throughout the week. There is no need to get out another cup people. So that worked really well. That was their Christmas gift or one of their Christmas gifts a couple of years ago. And I mean, it's a pretty big tumbler, so you can even like roll up a fun shirt and put it inside of it or something else. Fun kind of make it like a double gift. Shockingly, we still have all of these tumblers today and it's been, I want to say at least two. Maybe even three, it's probably the thing we've owned the longest in our home without breaking it. Seriously. Good job us. All right. Moving on another Christmas gift for your T one D this was the product feature of the week, a couple of weeks ago on the. But it is the iHeart guts plush pancreas. Yes, that is right. It is a stuffed animal, but instead of an animal, it is an organ. It is a pancreas. So since there's kind of packed its bags and left, for all intents and purposes, you can get them an adorable replacement pancreas that they can snuggle with and hug, or maybe even punch if they are really angry and frustrated with diabetes. I know we've all been there. In fact that I'm thinking I might need one for myself, like a little punching bag for when I'm frustrated with type one, just punch the pancreas. I'm liking it. This same company. I, heart guts also makes a plush insulin drop, which really just looks like a teardrop or a drop of water, but it is called the insulin droplet. And it's just really cute. So if you have a stuffed animal lover, The iHeart guts, plush insulin, droplets, and plush pancreas would probably be a big hit in your home. I'll leave an Amazon affiliate link in the show notes because they're both on Amazon. All right. Another gift idea. And this would make a fabulous stocking stuffer because it is small, but getting your type one, some things to make diabetes. Pretty or if you don't want to use the word pretty cause maybe you have a son. Super awesome. And cool. So I'm talking about decals and patches for your CGMs, for your Omnipod pumps, for your tandem pumps, for really whatever pump you have, Medtronic, even people that are on MDI and do pens. There are decals for your pins, so you can dress up your pins and make them really pretty. There are all sorts of fun patches to keep on OmniPod's Dexcom's Libra. And there's really patches and decals for people of all ages, all genders, all interests and hobbies. I will leave a link in the show notes to a few of our favorite places to buy patches and decals. So you can check those out. Also doing a good search on Etsy usually comes up with some good results, but I think that's a perfect thing to stuff in a stocking. Speaking of decals, not necessarily a decal for a diabetes. But decal, like sticker decals that you could put on those water tumblers that I was talking about before. I know that I have four different decals on my water tumbler that I bought from academy a couple years ago, which mine is white. So I felt like I needed to dress it up a little bit and give it a little color. One of them is a type one, mama bear decal. And then the other are from places where we like to vacation throughout the year. But yeah, I mean, there's usually some cute shops around town, maybe a local shop, or I know that ours. The gift shop has a lot of awesome decals. They have like this whole giant, I don't know what you would call it like turnstile or kiosk in the middle of the gift shop, where you just kind of spin it around and you can look at hundreds of different decals to, uh, to stick on whatever you want, your computer, your notebook. Your water tumbler. So maybe finding them a cool decal for that too. Doesn't have to be T one D related, but there's some awesome T and D decals stickers out there too. All right. The next gift idea on the list is not directly related to type one diabetes, but they are miracle workers. Well, they aren't the miracle workers necessarily, but the thing you put them in. Is. So what I am recommending you get your T one D for Christmas is some bath bombs. Okay. And here is why I'm recommending bath bombs before you guys turn this off and say, oh my gosh, she's crazy. Baths are magical when we have a really stubborn high blood sugar for whatever. Reason, whether we had a pump failure and we're having trouble getting it back down or whatever it is, we ate an entire pizza the night before. Just kidding that hasn't happened, but you know, you get the point like a really fatty high protein meal and just the stubborn high it's like we did not pull us properly. And now we are stuck in this high number, give a correction for the blood sugar and then have your child get in the bath. I think because of the warm water in the bath, it. Blood vessels and improve circulation. So I think your insulin can get moving a little better. Plus baths are just so great are relieving stress. They're very calming, which can decrease the stress hormones that are circulating throughout the body and stress hormones cause insulin resistance. So when they are less or when they're not there, your body is able to you utilize insulin better. So I swear a bath. Every single time. Now, with that being said, you have to monitor your child closely because having insulin on board in your system and then getting in a warm, hot bath or a hot tub for that matter can really drop your blood sugar numbers quickly. So I always, if like, if we are getting, if I'm putting Sarah in the bath specifically for that reason to lower blood sugar, I don't, I maybe won't give her. As much of a correction as I normally would, if I calculated it properly with our little equation that we have, maybe give her a little bit less than that, and then just monitor her very closely. So just want to put my disclaimer on that, that if you are going to try that to lower blood sugars, watch your kid closely. Cause it really, they really can take pretty quickly, but I have found. If it's a day where we've had stubborn highs, like I've already said, there's usually not a crash. It usually will come down very nicely. So what better thing to have in your nice relaxing bath than a bath bomb? Bath bombs are awesome. And if you don't know what a bath bomb is, it is a ball of like fizzy soapy powdery stuff that has been jammed and packed together to make a ball and. In the bath, water, it like fizzes and makes the bath water change colors. They usually smell really good. And it's like, it's almost like that science experiment where you meant you mix the baking soda and the vinegar to make the fizz or make a volcano. You know, it's kind of like that type of reaction or it's very satisfying. You have this like sound and you get to watch the thing dissolve and then even better. Most bath palms now. Come with like a surprise inside. Like if, if they are marketing these bath bombs towards the younger kids, they come with a surprise. So after the bath bomb fizzes and makes your bath smell amazing and bubbly, there's like a little toy in there for your kid to play. I love bath bombs, personally. I'm always excited to see what the toy is myself. I'm like, what'd you get? I just saw on Amazon, I'll put a link in the show notes, but they have Christmas bath bombs this year with those little squishy creatures that are really popular right now. I think they are pronounced moisturize there they're in the fidget category of fidget toys, which I don't know about. Sarah is in a fidget craze right now. Each bath bomb has a Christmas squishy in the middle of it. And let me just say one more thing about baths. I follow Jen Hatmaker on social media, who she's an author and a blogger, and she's a podcast or two, but I've been following her for years and she every now and then we'll talk about the. Have a bath because she has a couple of teenage daughters and she has said that whenever they come home and they're just in a funk, in a mood and you can just tell it's been a really rough day for them, or, you know, they've had a really hard week. Like if you just go home and draw your teen or tween, or even young child a bath, and if they're old enough, maybe even light a candle and put it in the bathroom or get some nice aroma therapy going, put some bubbles in there. Tell him to go in there and soak in the tub. And it's just amazing what that will do to kind of reset somebody's attitude or mood and just get them out of a funk. Like what a treat for somebody to draw a bath for you. So parents of teens, or really any age kid, just keep that in your back pocket for a rough day. Maybe your kid just needs a little break from reality. And I think a bath is just good for the soul in that way. All right. Next on the list of Christmas. Is a fun or funny, or just festive type one diabetes, Christmas shirt. I personally have designed two that are for sale on Amazon. I don't know if listeners know that, that I designed shirts and sell them on Amazon. And I have a lot of shirts in the field of type one diabetes, but the two Christmas ones I have right now are my pancreas is on the. And it has a picture of Santa with like his monocle that he's kind of like scrutinizing the situation with a little frown. And then the other Christmas shirt for type one is, will bolus for Christmas cookies with a picture of Christmas cookies on it. And those are certainly not the only two type one Christmas shirts on the planet. There are lots you can search Etsy for other really cute ones, but I think that's a great idea to, you know, again, would make a perfect stocking stuffer or again, you could roll that. And shove it in the tumbler. So you're not just giving your kid a water tumbler. You're giving them a water tumbler with a fun type one Christmas shirt in it bonus. I'll put the link for those in the show notes as well. Oh, I just have to tell you guys real quick. I forgot to mention it. When I was talking about bath bombs also. If you do not want bath bombs because honestly the hair kind of expensive and ridiculous. Sometimes the how they're priced, but bath foam is also a really fun thing. Like Mike, my kids still love Mike. My 11 year old still loves to play with bath foam when he's in the shower, Mr. Bubbles, bath foam, again, I'll put a link in the show notes, but you got to check. It's so fun. They can like sculpt things out of it and pretend like they're shaving. And it's lots of fun. Very relaxing. Okay. Moving on. The next suggestion is a mini trampoline. So I'm suggesting a mini trampoline for a few. Number one. I think they're just fun and kids love them. Number two, it's another really good way to bring down a stubborn high blood sugar. And it's not even something where you have to be like, your blood is high. You need to go jump on the trampoline. He just put that sucker in the middle of your playroom or your living room. And your kid can bounce away while they're watching TV or while you're scrambling around in the morning, trying to get everything ready to leave, to go to school or work, they can bounce, bounce, bounce it out. It's great for rainy days when you can't go outside and play. I mean, obviously we don't want our kids to think. The only reason they need to exercise in life is to lower their blood sugars. Like it's also just good for you, right? Like we were not born to sit around and be sedentary. We were made to. And exercise is very important, not just for good blood glucose control, but just to have a healthy lifestyle. Of course, we all know it's good for your mood. It's good for your mental health. So anything you can do to promote health and wellness and exercise and healthy habits like that in your home by all means, go for it. Another fun toy, similar to a trampoline is a yoga ball, which really isn't something that's marketed to kids usually. But I have a yoga ball in my. Just for my own personal use for when I do little exercise videos and things at home, and my kids love that thing. My husband hates it because it's a giant ball that they like to bounce around the house, but they like to take it outside and kick it. They like to sit on it and bounce while they're watching TV back in the day when we were doing virtual school during. The pandemic pandemic. I would use it as a chair for Sarah when she was home with me for that first nine weeks after her diagnosis, like immediately following her diagnosis, I was like, here's sweetheart, sit on this chair. And then she could read and bounce. And if we were still dealing with like a breakfast spike, it would help to bring her number down. So again, you don't have to announce these things to your children. Like I bought you this yoga ball in this mini trampoline to bring your blood sugars down and to help with good control. No, you just wrap it up. Isn't this awesome. I'm the best mom ever. I got you this cool mini trampoline. Again, just feel like I need to insert a little disclaimer here that if your child has insulin on board or insulin in their system, and they proceed to exercise, jump on a trampoline, bounce on a yoga ball. Things can. Make a turn really quickly. So make sure you are monitoring them closely, whether that's with frequent finger sticks or just keeping an eye, maybe a little bit closer eye on their CGM data than you normally would. Okay. Next on the list. If you have a child who likes to play with baby dolls, there is a company called deck my diabetes and there may be others, but deck my diabetes is the only one that I've seen that sell. Type one gadget accessories that will fit on either a stuffed animal or like an, an 18 install, maybe an American girl doll or the generic American girl doll brands that you can find at target and Walmart. So they have Dexcom G six sensor slash transmitter that you can stick on the doll and it comes with a little receiver. So it's like they have their own receiver. To monitor their numbers. There is a tandem T slim pump that comes with like tubing and everything that you can put on the doll. And then there is an Omnipod and an Omnipod PDM. So your dog can have a pot on and they can also have a PDM which would help them control the pod. I just think that is the cutest thing ever. Deck my diabetes. Check them out. I'll put a link in the show notes. Also, this really isn't like a Christmas gift suggestion because you would need this before Christmas, but there are some people I believe on Etsy that make and sell gadgets for the elf on the shelf. So your elf could be wearing a Dexcom or a Libra or an Omnipod or a tandem pump. So I think that's really cute too. Next up on the list is a medical ID bracelet. And I think that. Depends on the age of your child and just what they're into for like what kind of bracelet to get them. Maybe if they're like a little bit older, if they're an older teen, you might want to consider getting them like a nice medical ID bracelet that actually looks like a nice piece of jewelry. Or if there are anything like my daughter and maybe they're not quite at that age where they can really take care of a nice piece of jewelry, they make all sorts of really cool looking like plastic bands, like the. Like the live strong band material, they sell those on Amazon and like packs of 10. So you don't have to worry if they get lost. They have another one. So a medical ID bracelet of some sort would be a good thought of course, pretty much all of our type one diabetics are carrying around a cell phone at this point in time. So maybe getting them a fun, new case or cover for their cell phone, a pop socket. Personally, I consider Sarah's cell phone, like a medical device. I mean sure. Play some games on it. And she uses Facebook messenger kids and she'll call people and like text family members. But in my opinion, it is a medical device. So some sort of fun phone accessory to kind of jazz up their life with diabetes in that way would be a fun gift idea. Again, those are small. It makes a great stocking stuffer. Speaking of stocking stuffers, putting their. Low snacks or maybe their favorite free snacks in their stockings, or wrapping them up in a gift. If you think they would like that. I know some of our favorite low snacks are Skittles, like low treats to treat a low blood sugar are Skittles. Sarah really loves bubble gum. Those are like double bubble is I think, five carbs for a piece of double bubble, which usually sometimes five carbs is all. We need to treat a low blood sugar. If it's just like a slow falling low, like diagonal arrow down, or maybe the arrows even steady, but she's kind of. 65 or 70. And I just want to bump her up a little bit. Sarah loves candy corn. I know I've seen Christmas candy corn on the market, so whatever they love and then for there's really not a whole lot. Sarah can eat that. I would call a free snack because I feel like she's so sensitive to carbohydrates that even something with four or five carbs in it will cause her to start going up. So there's not a whole lot, but Sarah loves before. Which that's not the healthiest option, so it's not like we eat it in large quantities, but every now and then I like to buy her a bag of either the lowest sugar beef jerky I can find. Or there's a brand called Tillamook that has a zero sugar beef jerky, and they actually sell it at five below. And then I've seen it a few other places. I think I'd seen it at Publix and Walmart. And you can definitely buy it on Amazon, of course, but it's zero sugar and zero CaRMS. She gets so excited about beef jerky. Pretty funny. So I will definitely shove a bag of that in her stocking. So I think another really good idea for a T one D would be maybe a journal if they, if they're into that sort of thing. Of course, some kids just do not journal and hate to write and doodle, and I totally get it. No shame in that game. But if your kid is a doodler or a daydreamer, or they do like to write down stories or maybe journal about their day or their feelings, or maybe it would be a good suggestion for them to try. Maybe to decompress, get out any negative emotions. Worries. Anxieties would be to write it down in a journal. They sell so many pretty journals on Amazon and other places. Um, if your kid is younger or earn any age, really, but journals with a walk are always a, or a diary, I guess you could call it with a lock are really big hits in our house. Like if it, if something has a lock on it, it's amazing because my kids are, you know, just being brothers and sisters. I'm always trying to hide things from each other and keep things secret, but that's really cool and fun and important, right. To keep things a secret. So if, if it has a lock on it, or maybe even like a combination pad where you have to enter in a code to open it and write in it, that would be exciting for them. So a journal or a diary, that's something to keep in mind a type one book would also be a really good Christmas idea. There are so many cute children's books for type one, dive. That show kids wearing devices and just kind of normalizes the whole T one D thing. That would be a great gift idea. Um, there is a book that a chapter book called the ups and downs of Audrey may that Sarah read. And that was a big hit that's actually like more for, it's kind of like, I would say for somebody between the ages of maybe seven and 11 around there, but it tells the story of. Audrey may and kind of just how she got diagnosed and then how kind of life continued on after that? It's really cute. I'm hoping that author will do a followup book or SQL, or if you have an older kid, maybe you have an older teen, maybe even an older teen, who's getting ready to go off to college and kind of launch off into this world of independence. Maybe you would want to actually get them a book on type one management. My personal favorite is think like a pancreas by Gary Scheiner, but something that they could just take with them have with them as a resource in the future, if they need. You never know, one day they might actually sit down and pick it up and read it. All right. Last thing on the list is a new go bag. We call our bag that we take everywhere with us, our diabetes bag, or sometimes our go bag. And I know that those little drawstring bags are really properly. With teen boys, like kind of like those athletic bags that just have the two thin straps. Um, there's lots of awesome, like really masculine kind of sling bags that you can throw over your shoulder. Sugar medical sells some good options. Myabetic has some really good options. Good quality. Both of those companies for bags or totes. So a new go-bag. Or a new supply case. The two supply cases that we have owned have both come from sugar medical, and we really love them. We actually outgrew our first one when we got on the Omnipod, because turns out when you get on an insulin pump, you actually have more things to carry around with you. So we kind of outgrew our first one upgraded to a little bit. Traveling case that they sell. And that is what Sarah keeps all of her supplies in. She has everything zipped up in this little supply case by sugar medical. She throws it in this little mini backpack that she has, and she takes that to school with her every single day. I know Myabetic is also a good place to find a supply case. There's they are a little bit on the shaker side. Like maybe. A little bit more grown-up feel to the Myabetic bags, but yeah. So a go bag doesn't have to be necessarily from a diabetes company. I mean, even just a mini backpack, a Fanny pack, that's what your kid likes something. They can tote all their stuff around in. All right, guys, I am doing my best to. Compile a blog post with links to all of these things in it. So I will try to have that up as well by Thursday. So I can just link to that in the show notes that will redirect you to the blog post with all the other links to the different companies and things I've mentioned. But those are just a few things to get you started. If you need some last minute gift ideas or maybe gift ideas for the future, or even next year, you can keep those things in mind. All right. Before we wrap up and before I sign off, I just want to say. A few words of encouragement, especially to those families who maybe this is their first Christmas with T1 D. I know that this can be extremely sad and frustrating. Maybe even scary to be heading into the Christmas holidays now. With this new normal of having type one diabetes in your life. But I just want to encourage you that it will be okay. I said a few weeks ago on the episode that aired right before Thanksgiving, that usually on the days where I think management is going to be the hardest and the most stressful, those are the days that turn out to be. The best. And I can't explain it and I don't know why. I think it's because all the excitement, Sarah tends to be run a little lower when she's really excited, like happy, excited. Um, I think there's usually some more activities. Cause they're moving around playing new toys. They're outside with neighbors showing each other toys. They're just, there's just more activity. Maybe they're with cousins and they're running around. So. Tend to stay a little lower on the days when I think they're going to be running the highest. Now that is not always the case. Obviously there is no guarantee that you're going to have a day of pretty in range, blood sugars, but even if you don't, even if it is a total disaster, it's okay. It's okay. You're going to get it back. You're going to get the numbers down. Eventually. You're gonna get back into your groove back into your rhythm. Remember to let your kid be a kid. Remember to let them enjoy the holidays. Just like they always have in years past, we are not a low carb family. And I'm not saying there is anything wrong with low carb, because honestly I'm jealous of all you low carvers out there. I think your life has probably a lot easier than mine, but I. Made the decision that if Sarah would like to grow up to be an adult one day and decide for herself to be low carb, or maybe she'll decide that when she's a teen or maybe she'll never decide that I don't know, but I wanted that to be her decision. So I decided that we were just going to keep on living our lives and we would figure out how to manage the insulin accordingly. So I just want to say to you that if that is where you are, It is possible. You can figure it out. It's going to take a lot of trial and error. You are going to have to really be a student of your child and pay attention to trends. Maybe even keep a log book. You're going to have to play around with pre bolus times. And how soon before a meal, do you give the insulin and learn how to take into consideration the GI index of a food and look at the plate as a whole. Maybe you have some really starchy items that are high on the GI index combined with a few really high fat, high protein, high fiber foods that are going to slow digestion down. So maybe you won't see as quick or as high of a rise in blood sugars. At least not initially, you're just going to have to figure it out. And I wish I could tell each and every one of you exactly what to do, but I cannot because. My child is different than your child. Your child is different than every other child on this planet. And you're going to have to figure out what works for them, but I'm telling you that you can figure it out every day in our house is an experiment and a learning opportunity to figure out what works, what doesn't. And if it did work, why maybe why? Sometimes I can't even figure it out. And if it didn't. Why it's tiring. It's exhausting. It takes up so much of my mental energy, but it is doable and you can do it too. Do not let type one diabetes steal your joy this holiday season. I do not know. Like it, when my daughter's blood sugars are high, I know it's not good for her. And we really try our best to not see high numbers, but some days it's just going to happen. And you have got to tell yourself and remind yourself that one day of crummy blood sugar numbers is not going to ruin their lives. I'm not saying this is a good thing, nor am I celebrating this. But most diabetics before they are diagnosed. Probably spend weeks, if not months running at extremely high levels, obviously that's not good for them. And they pretty much always lend themselves in the hospital. But I just say that to remind you that your kid probably went weeks at really high, awful. But now that they've started insulin and you're working to manage things better, they are healthy and they are happy. And one day of bad blood sugars, while you're trying to figure out how to use the insulin and navigate holidays with this disease is not going to be the end of the world. It's okay. Like I said, You're going to get it back. I hope that was encouraging. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. I'd be happy to answer them. You can message me on Instagram at sugar mamas podcast. You can email me sugar mamas podcast@gmail.com or you could join our Facebook. For a sugar bombs podcast for moms and caregivers of type one diabetics, there are many ways to contact me. So please feel free to reach out if you're feeling a little anxious this holiday season. All right. You guys, as always, I love chatting with you. I'll talk with you soon. Bye.