In 2022 alone, FIVE of our team members welcomed new babies into their families. FIVE! That’s roughly 20% of our staff! It’s no secret that the holiday season is especially magical when you share your life with littles. To honor the baby-tastic year we’ve had here at Highline, this month’s post features a collection of holiday gift options that remind us how excited we are to watch all of these tiny new people grow up over the coming years. Here are some of the fun things you’ll be able to catch us playing with. Maybe there’s a little one on your holiday gifting list who would like to play with these too?

Blocks & Marble Runs

What better celebrates the design-build spirit than a good set of building blocks? You might not be surprised to learn that one (or maybe several) of our employees have crafted blocks for their kiddos themselves. Of course, we wouldn’t fault you for taking the easy route and purchasing a set of unit blocks like these ones from Melissa & Doug. We’ve got our eyes on these cool magnetic blocks by Tegu as well as Keva Planks. There’s something special about good quality wooden toys, which is why, as we graduate from blocks to marble runs, we’ll be playing with the Quadrilla series by Hape. And, though we really do like wooden toys best, we must admit all these kiddos are quite likely to end up with some hand-me down vintage Legos as well as some new ones to boot.

Books

For the wee littles, this Diggersaurs book is really adorable. We first caught wind of it when we launched our civil division back in October. Though, it sort of makes the rest of us really jealous of our equipment operators who get paid to be diggersaurs all day, every day. Those guys are livin’ the dream! That is, until we get to our next great read, Iggy Peck, Architect, which then makes us all jealous of our in-house design team and the fun they get to have. Another goodie some of our team members with older kiddos might be gifting this year comes in the way of Architect Academy, a thoughtfully laid out activity book that introduces kids to the world of architecture and design.

Puzzles

We’ve built some houses with really nice fireplaces that would be just perfect for cozying up next to while piecing together a puzzle. There’d probably be some hot cocoa in that equation too. Melissa & Doug make this sweet little chunky construction puzzle, and we’re absolutely suckers for the construction worker animals in this floor puzzle by Petit Collage. The bear reading plans with the tiger… and the cute pig in the excavator. My gosh.

Pretend Play

Last, but not least, one of the most beautiful parts of childhood: pretend play. Though our founder and president, Trevor, was introduced to real tools at a very young age, there’s an argument to be made for starting with toy tools. That’s where these darling wooden sets from Tender Leaf Toys come in, or this Bosch set with a battery-operated drill. We also can’t help but smile when we see these construction trucks from Green Toys or construction cars from Le Toy Van. They could certainly be combined with a construction set from Playmobil to create some serious miniature world fun.

At Highline, we really like the work we do. We like that we get to build homes that become families’ happy places – places to create holiday traditions and memories that last a lifetime. We also like knowing we create jobs that support families by providing livable wages and good work-life balance – jobs where parents always get to be with their kids on Christmas morning. We understand how meaningful those things are.

Happy holidays to you and any small humans in your life who add magic to the world each and every day!