Any suggestions on great toys for 9 - 12 month old babies? toy for baby?  

hey buy him an RC helicopter........that would be nice.and actually you did not tell how much is the gift cretificate.

Keep their attention yet not annoying to the parents - difficult!!!
I've found with my daugher (whos 13 months) that often the gimmicky, most expensive, 'bells and whistles' ones don't actually keep her attention the longest.
She didn't seem to be very interested in trying to walk, so for Christmas we got her a walking, talking Winnie the Pooh. Within 3 hours she had taken her first step... (Bit irritating Pooh voice though!)
I actually fnd though that the toys which end up keeping her attention for literally hours on end are the simplest, classical toys generally. She plays for AGES with a set of coloured wooden blocks. The thing she seems to play with most at the moment though is a small version of one of those bead-things you sometimes find in doctors waiting rooms. The thing with the wooden base, and wires going around in different directions, with wooden beads on them to push around. You can get very small ones, but we have a medium size one which she adores.

My son is 15 months old but his favorite toy is the fisher price Amazing animal collection. There's the Train that moves so it helped him with walking and his little cousin to crawl after it. It sings son that he loves and comes with 3 animals and then more go with it. The train comes with the giraffe, monkey and elephant. Then you can get the lion and zebra that each come with traler for the train. Then there's a hippo, panda, crocodile, and Tiger that come seperatly. Also theres ywp sets the tropical money set, and a Polar bear set. Now my son is learning the animal sounds. Oh by the way this is a 6+ month toy, but he can grow with it like my son.

vtech do some fantastic toys my kids love them xx

If he already has a couple of baby toys already, i would wait. Most of the age appropriate tous I bought for my daughter didn't interest here much. You will be amazed on how much he will change in the couple of months. I do love the train someone else suggested that sounds like a really neat idea.

My children loved the Leapfrog Discovery Ball, maracas (there are some by Leapfrog), Little Tikes Discover Sounds Workshop (loved this), Fisher Price Laugh and Play Piano (they still play with this), any ride on toy (they fight over these). They also have this castle bouncer for indoors. They love it. It's made for a 2 year old I believe but my 1 year old is right in there. I just have to watch him real carefully.

Ok no anoying toys lol all toys are anoying except for the toys that do not make sounds, but kids love toys that make sounds. The best toy that i have found is a ball the rolls itself and plays music it has an on off switch but even when its off my son still plays with it, My son is almost 14 months old. I think it cost $20 or something round there its called a musical ball if i can remember correctly. Or a learning car where there are blocks like a heart square triangle star and heart and when they put them it it says the name of the block and got coloured iano keys and says the colour of the key they pressed. It also asks to press the coloured piano key and it plays a song if they get it correct. My son loves that one to. We gave our son thoses toys for his first birthday. These days the best toys out ae educational ones as they learn while they play. Even though the ball isnt that educational it keeps him moving as i said before it rolls around itself so you have to go to it for it to start agiain. With the car my partners little sister which is 7 years old this year i think plays with it she loves it also. So its a toy for all ages. I have also found out that toys with strings are good as then they crawl or walk they can pull it along or they have to pull the string for it to go to them. Sorry if i am going on a bit here. Or one of those push and go trains with the blocks you push on where the steam is meant to come out (but there is none) and it goes forward so you have to move to get to it again. You can buy blocks for it 6 for $7 i think at woolworths. So those three toys are the only things my son plays with he has got a couple of soft toys but like those toys better as they move themselfs and plays music.

go to the toy sop and look for toys within the age group of one to five so that your child will not outgrow its importance ,children tend to lose interest after some time of play but get back to playing