I spent a day at the Christmas markets in Colmar, and as cute as they were, I didn't find much stuff that I actually wanted to buy. In fact, the most shopping I did in Colmar was at Le Petit Souk, a brick and mortar toy store. The shop was colorful and inviting, and I thought it might be a good place for my sons to pick out a couple of souvenirs. We walked in and I let them loose, and they immediately found things they wanted. My five-year-old picked out some space-themed marbles and a couple of nice wooden cars, and my three-year-old got a metal airplane toy and a container of some kind of weird putty. I hated the putty, but thought the other toys were solid buys, attractive and well made. My mother purchased them for my boys as an early Christmas gift. I also found a great ornament for our tree. If you're shopping for kids in Colmar, I'd recommend Le Petit Souk over the pure holiday kitsch in the temporary markets. It's a well curated store with quality merchandise, and certainly Christmasy enough. read more