[MQHP40]

My kids (9, a boy) & (7, a girl) are visiting Las Vegas this summer & I'd like to put together a little gift basket for them with some quintissential food/drink/toy/book items from about about Nevada or Las Vegas Nevada. Obviously I want to avoid the gambling/seedy aspect but thought there might be something fun and age-appropriate about another aspect of the area.

Thanks.

[MadManofBethesda]

How about some Mojave Max items from Red Rock Canyon:

The Mojave Max Store

The store in the visitors center also has other gifts, such as a book for girls called "Do Princesses wear Hiking Boots?" Or a book for boys (and girls) called Spooky Campfire Stories.

Red Rock Canyon - Elements Gift & Book Store

There are other age-appropriate items/gifts there as well as I recall.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by MQHP40

My kids (9, a boy) & (7, a girl) are visiting Las Vegas this summer & I'd like to put together a little gift basket for them with some quintissential food/drink/toy/book items from about about Nevada or Las Vegas Nevada. Obviously I want to avoid the gambling/seedy aspect but thought there might be something fun and age-appropriate about another aspect of the area.

Thanks.

OK, explain a little more. Are they visiting you, or are you coming with them to visit someone else? Or will they be coming by themselves and you want something to teach them about the desert (as opposed to the "seedy" aspect of our fair city)?

[Buzz123]

If you will be here too, then any book store has a wealth of things for kids about Nevada. Also, the Springs Preserve, as well as the visitor centers at Red Rock Canyon, and Valley of Fire. Kids like rocks and minerals, so a rock shop maybe? Sometimes the gift shop at the Gilcrease Bird Sanctuary has things, and actually all the large gift shops at the hotels. Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay has a lot of fun things for kids. For some reason we've never been to the Secret Garden, but I imagine they and the Dolphin Habitat have tons of stuff.

[MQHP40]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

OK, explain a little more. Are they visiting you, or are you coming with them to visit someone else? Or will they be coming by themselves and you want something to teach them about the desert (as opposed to the "seedy" aspect of our fair city)?

Sorry. We are doing a trek cross-country and I've asked this so many times for other states I'm not clear myself anymore.

I'd like to put together a little goodie bags to give my kids upon entering the state. Something that is quintessentially Nevada that they'll have fun eating/drinking/playing with/while we drive in the car through the sate.

Thanks.

[MediocreButArrogant]

IMHO, nothing says Las Vegas like a fistful of those cards and flyers they hand out on the strip. Maybe throw in a three foot tall frozen margarita glass too, and some losing betting tickets from the sports book.

[MQHP40]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

IMHO, nothing says Las Vegas like a fistful of those cards and flyers they hand out on the strip. Maybe throw in a three foot tall frozen margarita glass too, and some losing betting tickets from the sports book.

Your screen name pretty much says it all about you.

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

IMHO, nothing says Las Vegas like a fistful of those cards and flyers they hand out on the strip. Maybe throw in a three foot tall frozen margarita glass too, and some losing betting tickets from the sports book.

In a way...he's right. To the rest of the country NV represents a gambling mecca and a place where prostitution is legal. There's not much to the state outside of areas that offer that. Why mislead the kids?

The Hoover Dam might be the most obvious exception.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

In a way...he's right. To the rest of the country NV represents a gambling mecca and a place where prostitution is legal. There's not much to the state outside of areas that offer that. Why mislead the kids?

The Hoover Dam might be the most obvious exception.

WHAT??? Don't listen to him. He doesn't live in Nevada.

But, you did ask about Las Vegas, not Nevada. Las Vegas is one city in the 7th largest state in the country. Nevada is vast, and as JFK alludes to, it is largely uninhabited, but that doesn't mean there's nothing out there. There is a lot to know about Nevada.

For one thing, mining is the second largest major industry. We aren't called the Silver State for nothing. We could also be called the Gold State. 80% of all the the gold in this country is mined in Nevada, which is also one of the world's largest gold producers. Gift shops have little bags of real gold, fools-gold, silver, and precious gems, that the kids can play with. My daughter took my 7 year old granddaughter to a Northern Nevada mine to dig for trilobites. She loves stuff like that.

There are tons of gift shops around Las Vegas that feature Nevada souvenirs. The one at Sahara and the Strip claims to be the world's largest gift shop. You'll find all kinds of fun things. Probably everything you need for your bags.

The Springs Preserve is uniquely Nevada and is for everyone, but promotes fun, educational, events for children practically every week. Visit their gift shop. Las Vegas Springs Preserve - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are dozens of ghost towns in Nevada. Maps are available all over the place. Of course, in Las Vegas, tourism/entertainment is our major industry. The lights of Las Vegas are a big deal, even for kids. The dancing fountains at the Bellagio are big with kids.

It will be a while, but there is a National Monument in the works on the northern edge of town that will be centered around the huge mammoth tusks found there. Mammoth tusk discovered near North Las Vegas - Las Vegas Sun

Mojave Max is our mascot: Mojave Max - Desert Tortoise

The Nevada Atomic Test Site Museum has a lot of things of interest for kids in the gift shop pertaining to the Test Site, the desert, the Air Force, and other local interests. http://www.atomictestingmuseum.org/museum%20store.asp

There are at least four military bases in Nevada, mostly Air Force and Navy ...yes, Navy. The Navy's Top Gun base is in Fallon, NV.

Nellis AFB, in Las Vegas, is the premier base for teaching pilots from all over the world air to air, and air to ground, combat. Creech AFB at Indian Springs, 35 miles up the road from here, is home of the drones that are being used to bomb the Taliban in the Middle East. In other words, people half way around the world are being bombed and shot at from a control room located 35 miles from my house in Las Vegas.

Everyone knows about Area 51. There are lots of Area 51/little alien type gifts around here.

Nevada is home to the world's oldest living thing ...the Bristlecone Pine tree. You'll find them on Mt. Charleston, a 30 minute drive from Las Vegas, as well as other locations, like the Great Basin National Park, near Ely. Great Basin National Park - Bristlecone Pines (U.S. National Park Service)

It goes on and on, but a search of the internet will get you all kinds of goodies relating to Nevada.

[jfkIII]

Buzz is right...there are numerous places for kids things to do. But the tourist focus of LV will always be Sin City first...and everything else second. To brings kids to LV on vacation is stupid, IMO. If you move there...fine...you find things out in the suburbs (sprawl) for things to do, far away from The Strip. But to completey avoid the touristy things, defeats the purpose of being a tourist in LV, IMO. And if it's a truly educational experience for the kids, I don't see how one can visit The Strip and not address the gambling, or sex, or alcohol, or homeless. As you walk up and down The Strip, could one even possibly ignore it? Tourist Vegas is the adult Disneyworld. Orlando or Anaheim is the kids Disney.

Do yourself a favor, plan to cut through NV at the lower part of the state, so you'll be in and out. Plan to go to The Hoover Dam...a real treat for adults and kids....take the hard hat tour. Let the little ones remember the enormosity of the dam and Suguaro Cactus plants along the drive, as being NV...rather than the adult playground. They will discover that on their own when they get older...and can enjoy it.

And if you do bring those kids, please make sure that they are in bed at a reasonable time. It's sad seeing kids in strollers or in tow at 2 in the morning. Seriously.