We’ve talked about building a boy’s bedroom with loft bunk beds from South Shore and twin over full bunk beds from Alligator Enterprise.

And if you read our post on seaside-inspired teen furniture, you saw a great Young America bunk set, perfect for artful shabby chic rooms.

Look for contemporary bunk bed features like:

• Desks and bookshelves
• Platform storage drawers
• Vertical cupboards
• Rolling or spring trundles

Yes, there are a lot of great bunk beds out there, but naturally, size, structure, and design all vary. So today, we also want to talk about bunkie boards.

And what are they? For bunk bed frames that don’t include built-in mattress support, these boards fill the role of a box spring or wood slats.

It makes sense when you think about it; a bulky box spring isn’t going to work well with bunk beds – especially on that top bunk!

When you’ve decided on your dream bunk bed, find out if the frame includes slats that support each mattress. If not, you’ll want to add bunkie boards. Some bunk beds will only need one board for the top bunk alone, while some models need support for both mattresses.

The most common and easiest method of finding out what they want for Christmas is to ask. Particularly for kids three and up, often they will ask for whatever is advertised the most often on television. However, there are ways to test the waters to see if a certain item they say they want is what they really want. If they keep asking for the same thing, then it’s a safe bet that is really the one. Get them to make a list and rank the items in order of wish list importance. If they are not yet at the printing or writing stage, write the list for your child. While it’s nice to get items that are on the list, (which is the whole point of writing one in the first place), you might also want to slip in a couple of unscripted surprises. This is easy to do if you gear the gift around the child’s current interest, hobby or favorite movie. 

Give the budding musician on your Christmas list a gift they can really boogie to with a toy piano. Or if you’re an aunt, how about toy-size drum kit they can actually play? Schoenhut® offers a range of musical instruments including toy pianos and toy guitars that resemble full-size instruments but designed for kids with a fun and funky twist, like the Schoenhut Toy Piano 25 Key Teddy Bear with Bench in Lavender. Not sure what kind of instrument they would prefer? Let them experiment with a little bit of everything with the Little Colorado Music Table in Natural. 

Young children have inquisitive minds and like to make things with their hands. For the girl or boy on your list, pick a craft they can make all by themselves. Craft kits are very popular with children ages 3 and up. While making a craft does all sorts of things for developing their motor skills, hand-eye coordination and encouraging creativity, to the child you’re giving the arts crafts kit to, it’s just plain fun. 

Even in this technological savvy day and age, you can’t go wrong with classic toys like a rocking horse or a dollhouse. Making sure that they have a good selection of “unplugged” toys is another great ways to stimulate their imaginations. Kitchen sets and play kitchens are also an ideal way to encourage imaginative role playing. 

Still not sure what to buy for the kids on your Christmas list? Just pretend you’re five again and trying to tell your Aunt Sally why you don’t want clothes for a Christmas present.