Gift Ideas For Military Children: CloudPets™

Gift Ideas for Military Children has been compensated by #CollectiveBias Inc. and its advertiser #CloudPetsForever. All opinions are mine alone.

As we get closer to the holiday season, I decided that this year I am going to highlight gift ideas for military children. The life of a military child can be an emotional rollercoaster of ups and downs. Our children face issues that are unique to them and because of that I would like to share gifts that are perfect for the military children in your lives and mine.

Last week I took my girls to Walmart to pick up a CloudPets™ toy. I don't normally cave to the "hype" of "As Seen On TV" products, but there was something different about this one. As a military family, we have been moving for almost 13 years now. We have lived in five different states, eight different cities, and ten different houses. Separation is a major part of our lifestyle. Not only do my children have to deal with extended family members living far away, but they also have to go through times of separation from their dad. Thankfully John has never been deployed overseas, but he has gone underway and has attended schools in different states. We are currently waiting to hear if he will be leaving us again next summer.

As I'm sure you can imagine, situations like these are hard for children. They don't understand why they can't see their grandparents whenever they want, they miss playing with their cousins, and they want their daddy to give them goodnight kisses. While CloudPets™ can't take away the ache in their hearts it can make these separations a little easier to bear (no pun intended).

After standing in Walmart for 30 minutes fighting over which CloudPets™ we should choose (Lexi wanted the Kitty and Anna wanted the Unicorn) I finally settled the disagreement by making the choice myself. You know I had to buy the unicorn, I mean come on who doesn't love unicorns?! After we got it home I spent about 20 minutes downloading the free CloudPets™ app, getting everything set up, and playing around with it. I love that it has parental control safety features and I was surprised by everything it can do. I knew you could use the CloudPets™ app to send messages back and forth, but I didn't know it had the capability to read stories and play lullabies (which my kids have loved since they were babies).

After sending a few of my own messages and having the girls send some, back to me, I felt like we knew enough to start inviting some family members to join us. My mom and dad quickly downloaded the CloudPets™ app and had a few messages ready for the girls when they got home from school. I also downloaded it to John's phone so he could send messages while he's away.

Watching the girls receive their messages almost had me in tears. I will admit that I'm kind of emotional right now, but the looks on their faces were priceless. It was like my parents and John were in the room with them.

After seeing how they, responded I decided to let my sister-in-law Angel know that I was planning to get all of my nieces and nephews CloudPets™ for Christmas. My brother Hallie is in the US Army and he currently lives in Hawaii. I haven't seen my nieces and nephew in almost three years. We are trying to plan a trip for Christmas because they are getting stationed in Germany next year. I can't wait to send them their CloudPets™, so we can all talk back and forth. Sure, we can talk over Skype or FaceTime, but this is different. For a child, this is exciting and less intimidating than talking to someone you haven't seen in years on the phone. Every message is a fun surprise that makes them feel loved and remembered. I think that's what I love about this toy. It's a way for me to remind them that I'm thinking about them long after the gift wrap has been ripped away.

CloudPets™ provide a fresh and exciting experience with each new message. They are truly gifts that keep on giving! I'm not going to lie; I'm having a hard time waiting until Christmas to send these.

My plan this year is to get all of my nieces and nephews CloudPets™ and then everyone in the family will be able to send and receive messages. It's kind of like a family set of walkie-talkies that you can cuddle with at night!

Speaking of cuddles, aside from the communication aspect of CloudPets™ my girls love spending time with Sprinkles (yes Sprinkles the Unicorn) and they take her everywhere.

Just yesterday Anna was teaching her to play, the piano and Lexi took her outside to "work out". I think military children tend to have stronger attachments to objects like blankets and toys because these things are the only constants in their lives. Everything around them is always changing, but these are the things they know will always be there for them.

My daughters have been attached to both blankets and stuffed animals. As they grow their interests change, and their stuffed animal of choice usually follow suit. I'm pretty sure this will be their go-to plush for the next few years, which is why I'll be returning to Walmart to get Lexi that CloudPets™ kitty she wanted. After all, they can't both take it everywhere all the time, and I do not have the time or the patience to deal with that battle. 😉

If you're looking for the perfect gift for the military children in your life (or any children for that matter), you can head to Walmart to purchase your CloudPets™. For now they are only in select stores, but will soon be available nationwide. You can usually find them at the front of the store in the "As Seen On TV" section, and our local store had a pallet display in the toy section as well. You will also need three AA batteries, and you know how important it is to plan ahead when it comes to batteries!

If you feel the need to overload your social media accounts with ridiculous cuteness (like I do) follow CloudPets™ on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Ahhh cuteness overload level 900,000,000!

Want to know how it works? Click the link to learn more or watch this video:

So tell me, what do you think about CloudPets™ ? Is there a child in your life who would love this gift?