What Nabela Noor’s Kids Can’t Live Without
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If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts — likehair sprayor anelectric toothbrush. For this kids-specific spinoff of our popularcelebrity-shopping column, we asked Nabela Noor, designer, author, and founder ofNabela Noor Home, to tell us about the vintage-look tricycles her 2- and 3-year old daughters cruise around on, the “girlie-girl” Magna-Tiles set they play with constantly, and the hair spray she uses to refresh and style their hair with ease.
The heirloom stuffies she keeps backups of …
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Cuddle + Kind Hannah the Bunny
I found these in a search for really beautiful, high-quality bears and stuffies when designing my first daughter’s nursery. I was looking for something relatively aesthetic but also cozy, comforting, and an heirloom they can have and pass down. I stumbled upon Cuddle + Kind, and what I really loved was their mission. With each purchase of a doll, the company provides ten meals to children in need around the world. I bought a few. At first, it was just for style around the nursery, but then once they were old enough that it was okay keep them in the crib, I did that. They each naturally gravitated toward a specific one, and now they can’t sleep without them. It’s their comfort doll. It has to go everywhere with them. This is a secret, so thank God my kids can’t read yet, but we actually have backups for their favorites because if something happens, like if they vomit on it, the backup suddenly magically appears and then we can get the dirty one in the wash. My husband thought of it because, of course, he’s a Virgo. Amalia has the ivory Hannah, which she renamed Sadie. And Aveena has Olivia, which is a honey bear. Because she’s only 2, she just calls it Big Friend. So she’ll be like, “Where’s Big Friend?” It’s the cutest thing in the world.
… and the nostalgic trikes with baskets for hauling those stuffies around
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My kids love them. And the thing about these toddler trikes that is so special is the basket in front, so they can bring Sadie and Big Friend along on their little adventures. They go around the house and the property, and they grab flowers and leaves and put them in the basket. This bike is designed to be so beautiful with its vintage touch and nostalgic shape, but then it’s also so fun and makes things more magical for the kiddos. Because I have two kids, it’s nice that these are so simple. They fight over everything, so I got them the same kind and it’s perfect. Neither of them knows which is “theirs.” They just grab one and keep it moving.
The form-meets-function high-chair mats that satisfy her type-A tendencies
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Being a designer and someone who loves making life beautiful, I have found as a mom that one hack is to find things that beautifully complement my home while being functional for the kids — and that keep the house clean. I use these scalloped floor mats under the girls’ high chairs and the scalloped table mats under their plates on the days we practice sitting at the dining table. They’re easy to wipe clean and large enough to cover the radius of where food will hit if they flick something. My husband and I are quite type A. We love our house to be tidy, so it is amazing to find things that just make life easier and then to find them in a colorway that’s really pretty with a border that’s really soft. They’re cute, not eyesores. The girls even help me clean them, which is really nice. They’re so a part of the process of loving our home. I think both the floor mat and the table mat are so helpful to teach children tidiness and how to keep up after themselves.
[Editor’s note: The Micro mat is currently sold out in the ivory scallop colorway, but other options are available. You can sign up for restock notifications on Gathre’s website.]
Boots the kids can get messy in and still look cute
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The cutest boots in the world. Once I got them for the girls, it was game over. They preferred them over anything else. They can slip them on and off themselves. They can play in the rain, the snow, the dirt, the mud, anything. They are so functional, but on top of that, they’re so cute, especially because they’re both wearing them. Then I got myself matching rain boots, so all three of us are country-boot girlies. It makes everything look a lot more styled than it actually is because it’s more functional than stylish, but it’s still stylish. You can put something as simple as leggings and a tee on your kid, but then they have the Hunter boots and suddenly they look like you did a lot more. I’m going to do this until they are over it. The way the kids can play freely and not have to worry about messing up their shoes is just amazing. We all have the black, but I want to get other colors, too.
Styling spray that makes her kids’ hair easy to work with …
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This is like a magical potion. When your kid wakes up from a nap and their hair is unruly or you put the hair in a ponytail and it’s all crunchy, you spray this throughout from root to tip and then brush. Suddenly, it’s like they bathed and have fresh hair. It helps smooth out the hair and helps with flyaways. It makes hairstyling a lot easier. And it does not make their hair crispy or tacky, which I really love because certain sprays for kids can make their hair tacky. It’s already tough enough to get your kid to sit down to do their hair, so it’s nice when something will simplify it and make their hair really easy to work with. And it’s nicely fragrant. It smells light and babylike. You know, that beautiful baby smell.
… and an aromatherapy shampoo that calms them at bedtime
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I found this at a local baby boutique calledBella Boothat curates all these cute baby things. Once you go in there, you’re aware of everything supercute, chic, safe, and organic — all the things. So I’m in there and I see this Mushie stuff and it’s so cleanly packaged. I was attracted by the packaging, but then I read the ingredients and loved that it’s organic, allergy certified, ecofriendly. There’s a lavender fragrance, which when I smelled it I was like,This is so soothing. It is a beautiful wind-down fragrance. I’m a big aromatherapy lover and essential-oil lover. Now we associate that lavender smell with bedtime. I love it in the bodywash, which is also a shampoo, and I love it in the lotion. It’s soft and gentle on the skin.
The best Magna-Tiles set for a “girlie-girl” engineer
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I heard about these from the girls’ first nanny. She said her former kiddos loved them, and she knew the girls were going to love them. At first, they were quite young, so they were interested but their imagination had not hit that place of building just yet. Now, at 2 and 3, they can sit with the Magna-Tiles undisrupted for a long time. Their imagination is brewing. They’re building; they’re getting so creative. And it’s so funny because Magna-Tiles are addictive even for adults. They don’t need our assistance, but we’re all so fascinated. My husband will get whisked away and suddenly be making castles, fences, and blockades.
They’re really fun, andthey come in cool colors. It’s not gender specific; obviously, anybody can enjoy them. But I really love that the castle sets cater to super girlie-girls. My eldest daughter is a really big girlie-girl, so I love that there is a pink pack. It’s perfect for her because she’s such a builder, but then on top of that, she loves everything to beprettyandpink.
They’re big, so you’re not going to lose them compared with LEGOs. LEGOs get lost under the couch. These are large enough to spot. The kids can clean them up quite quickly, they’re super-portable, you can’t go wrong. I think everyone needs Magna-Tiles in their nursery.
The dolls her daughters take care of like their own babies
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American Girl Kavi Sharma Doll
We couldn’t afford American Girl dolls when I was growing up, so I would read the books about them and dream that one day I would have them. So I was so excited when we got an American Girl catalogue sent to us because I had not given my daughter one yet, but she was flipping through and was like, “I want this.” And I was like, “Yes, yes!” I myself have always wanted one, and now I am able to afford it for my kids. Willa was the first doll, and she still actually loves Willa. In 2023, there was the new American GirlKavi Sharma, who loves Bollywood like my daughters do and who is a brown girl like my daughters are. So it’s cool for them to be growing up in a world where that type of doll already exists. When I grew up, the girls wereSamanthaandKit, and all their stories were totally different from my story. So for my daughters to grow up in a world where there’s an American Girl doll that is an American girl but also a brown girl is so cool and makes me so excited. Willa was the first, then Kavi, and now she wants another one.
My daughters love to take them on their bikes and put them in the basket. They love to put them on a high chair and feed them. We actually got adiaper-changing stationon Amazon so they could change their diapers and give them baths. It is so amazing how they get lost in the world of taking care. My favorite thing as their parent is seeing how they interact with the dolls because that’s a reflection of how I interact with them. So when I see how she’s talking lovingly to her doll, when I see how she’s trying to console her doll, and when I see how she’s reacting to her doll doing something bad, she’s mimicking and mirroring what I’m doing. Our kids are sponges. It’s such a lesson as a parent to see what they’re doing in these scenarios they come up with because that’s typically a reflection of what we’re doing.
[Editor’s note: The Kavi Sharma doll is no longer available, but you can still find it on resale sites, which we’ve linked here. The Kavi SharmaBollywood Dance costumeandYoga Accessoriesare still available on Amazon, separate from the doll.]
The spill-reducing water bottle her kids love to use
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My sisters are really cool girls, and they are always into the new and the cool, like Stanley,Owala, HydroJug. They would always give my daughters a new mini-jug of some sort, whether a tumbler from Stanley or an Owala. With the Owala, being able to have two different ways to drink, whether a sip or a swig, I felt the kids really loved that because you could literally be sitting without even tipping it over and sip. Kids love those sorts of things. And it’s less spilling that way as well. I have some cute little colors. I’m going to be honest: I love all types of tumblers. I still love Stanley, but my kids love Owala.
And the organic-yogurt pouches she feels good about feeding them
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They’re like a quick little snack, or sometimes we’ll do a pouch at the end of the night. I feel like you can’t go wrong with the Stonyfield Organic pouches. They are certified USDA organic, there’s no artificial ingredients, there’s no added sweeteners. I actually went to Vermont to visit the Stonyfield Organic Farms and got to see firsthand the care of the farmers, how the process is so intentional, and the treatment of the cows. Stonyfield has genuine USDA organic certification, which is so helpful. It reassured me that what I was giving my kids was made with nutritious ingredients. I became like a lifelong fan.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Noor’s children’s names.
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