Christmas Gift ideas for 2.5yr old girl

notanewuser

emweaver wrote: »

My 2 year old loves dolls and the dols cots, prams etc. She also loves playing with her toy vacum cleaner, picnic basket and drawing.

On the other hand I refuse to buy into this stereotypical nonsense with my just 2 year old daughter.

She doesn't have any dolls ( and has never shown any interest in them), nor prams nor cots. She's brilliant with jigsaws, loves books, plays with real food with me in the kitchen and has lots of cars, planes, trains and musical instruments.

She has some Happyland stuff and will be getting some duplo for Xmas. But certainly no toy hoovers or ironing boards!!!

savingmonkey

notanewuser wrote: »

On the other hand I refuse to buy into this stereotypical nonsense with my just 2 year old daughter.

She doesn't have any dolls ( and has never shown any interest in them), nor prams nor cots. She's brilliant with jigsaws, loves books, plays with real food with me in the kitchen and has lots of cars, planes, trains and musical instruments.

She has some Happyland stuff and will be getting some duplo for Xmas. But certainly no toy hoovers or ironing boards!!!

I know little boys who have baby dolls, kitchen toys, irons etc - I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss them for either sex. I think a mix of toys is good. My girls love this stuff but also have a garage and love playing with cars etc too! Role play toys can be fun!

Emmarillo

notanewuser wrote: »

On the other hand I refuse to buy into this stereotypical nonsense with my just 2 year old daughter.

She doesn't have any dolls ( and has never shown any interest in them), nor prams nor cots. She's brilliant with jigsaws, loves books, plays with real food with me in the kitchen and has lots of cars, planes, trains and musical instruments.

She has some Happyland stuff and will be getting some duplo for Xmas. But certainly no toy hoovers or ironing boards!!!

I've got two daughters and the eldest adored her toy iron/ironing board and little washing line and pegs. It was all she wanted to play with at pre school so we bought her a set and it was a firm favourite toy. She's almost 14 now and shows no interest in laundry of any kind, so I don't think buying her any 'stereotypical nonsense' has done her any lasting damage! Neither of my daughters liked baby dolls although both liked Barbie. The younger one had a dolls pram which she pushed teddies (and sometimes our long suffering cat around in), but mostly she played with playmobil, cars and a farm.

What I'm trying to say in my clumsy way is that children will decide what they want to play with, especially once they go to preschool and they're not influenced by what their parents buy them. Its perfectly natural for boys and girls to want to copy what they see their parents doing around the house.

Nuninge

Emmarillo wrote: »

I've got two daughters and the eldest adored her toy iron/ironing board and little washing line and pegs. It was all she wanted to play with at pre school so we bought her a set and it was a firm favourite toy. She's almost 14 now and shows no interest in laundry of any kind, so I don't think buying her any 'stereotypical nonsense' has done her any lasting damage! Neither of my daughters liked baby dolls although both liked Barbie. The younger one had a dolls pram which she pushed teddies (and sometimes our long suffering cat around in), but mostly she played with playmobil, cars and a farm.

What I'm trying to say in my clumsy way is that children will decide what they want to play with, especially once they go to preschool and they're not influenced by what their parents buy them. Its perfectly natural for boys and girls to want to copy what they see their parents doing around the house.

This made me laugh out loud...maybe she played with it so much that she realised that washing and ironing isn't very exciting.

tealeaves

Glad you managed to sort the present! Sounds great!
For those. Looking for presents for little ones. Muddy. Puddles have stuff back in stock at good prices!

http://www.muddypuddles.com/mid_season_sale#items-/mid_season_sale?sort=price_asc,searchterm=,layout=grid,page=1

bossymoo

I agree about toys, my DS also loved his toy pushchair and kitchen / teaset. I have a girl and boy, we have a range of toys and games. But oddly, whatever DS picks up, he makes a sound like a vehicle of some sort with it, and whatever DD plays with, she always makes it a cup of tea. Sometimes nature takes over...

But we all love jigsaws!

Nuninge

bossymoo wrote: »

I agree about toys, my DS also loved his toy pushchair and kitchen / teaset. I have a girl and boy, we have a range of toys and games. But oddly, whatever DS picks up, he makes a sound like a vehicle of some sort with it, and whatever DD plays with, she always makes it a cup of tea. Sometimes nature takes over...

But we all love jigsaws!

I loved this post...it summed up children to a t!

mummypops

I purchased some food toys. Specifically a sandwich making set and a pizza set from the ELC and they have been v popular. Hope that helps & happy pressie shopping.

kerri_gt

Nuninge wrote: »

My son is nearly 4 and still loves the shopping list game so I think that is a great purchase. It really helped him to learn the simple rule of taking turns and rather sweetly he never minds who wins...if he picks up something that is on someone else's shopping list he just gives it to them!!!

For the future, I agree with people talking about Happyland as this is something that she could immerse herself in alone and does not require anyone else. I have some sets in the attic ready for Christmas that I got for a tenner rather than 40 pounds so look out for them after Christmas to store for her birthday maybe as otherwise they are expensive when fully priced.

Ahh bless, your DS sounds a lovely boy. My nephew is hilarious, has alwayed hated losing at anything so we had to resort to games he couldn't cheat at (such as Pass the Bomb) :rotfl:

Great idea about the Happyland stuff reduced - her b'day is in July so I'm going to have a look about now while the toy sales are on. Funnily enough my mum just bought the garage for my niece (1 1/2)

Thanks everyone for your ideas, you've all been really helpful. Interesting discussion about boys / girls toys. I always try and be mindful not to be stereotypical when buying toys but am also aware if i turn up with a toy car for a girl or a cooking set for a boy the parents might not be too sure how to take it. As a kid i had no interest in dolls, loved soft toys and was always playing with cars and lego (obviously when I was more or less past the danger stage of sticking up a nostril followed by a trip to A&E ).

Funny how children make their own choices - I think a lot of mine came from being a daddy's girl and wanting to be like my dad (which meant cars, motorbikes and DIY - helped lay flooring in the loft a 8yrs old being told 'step on the joists and don't put your foot through the celing' :eek: :rotfl:

emweaver

notanewuser wrote: »

On the other hand I refuse to buy into this stereotypical nonsense with my just 2 year old daughter.

She doesn't have any dolls ( and has never shown any interest in them), nor prams nor cots. She's brilliant with jigsaws, loves books, plays with real food with me in the kitchen and has lots of cars, planes, trains and musical instruments.

She has some Happyland stuff and will be getting some duplo for Xmas. But certainly no toy hoovers or ironing boards!!!

She also plays with cars and has a toy garage. I let her choose what to play with by buying her toys for both "sexes" and not cutting out what I think is stereotypical nonsense.