What are you getting your daughter for Christmas?

onlyroz

I'm a bit stumped this year over what to get my daughter for Christmas, and then also for her 5th birthday which is on Dec 29th. I was always a tom-boy so I preferred things like Lego, but she's not really interested - she has a mountain of duplo which she never played with, and I tried her with the "Lego Friends" stuff - which she promptly took apart and lost all the pieces.

Last year I got her a huge Playmobil castle, which she does like - but I'd be reluctant to get her something similar this year because it takes up too much space. She also has a nice wooden toy kitchen already. She has a bike and a scooter, and quite a lot of dolls, so I'd be reluctant to buy her more of the same. She's not quite coordinated enough yet for things like roller-skates and in any case our garden is not suitable for this sort of thing so she could only use them at the park.

I'd prefer to get her a "main" present in the £50-£100 range, and then some smaller things in the £10-£20 range, but I'm completely stumped this year. I just don't know what to buy for girls - it would be so much easier if I had two boys...

heartbreak_star

Dressing-up sets?

Books?

Something like a LeapPad?

I a) don't have kids and b) was a tomboy myself, so I can sympathise!

HBS x

Toto

Has she asked for anything, my soon to be 5 year old wants everything she sees on telly

We are getting lego, our little tomboy is really into building things with us, she loves it, so she is getting a lego city train and the police station. Do you think maybe the train might work for your daughter? It becomes an actual toy that does something rather than an object that they need to use their imagination to play with. My daughter has been asking for a Nintendo ds for about 18 months, I'm going to hold off on that for another year or so, we have an ipad that she plays with so I don't feel the need to add another electronic gaming machine into the mix.

The other thing she keeps asking for is a robot type dog, she has asked and asked for a texta dog but I've said no because the reviews are terrible, she then switched to a lucy the dog, but they are out of stock everywhere. Now she's on about a skateboarding dog thing. I'm not sure it'd hold her attention for long enough to bother with though.

delain

I feel your pain. I'm almost done for Christmas now but it's never easy!

The book people are pretty good, I always do a fairly big order from there for Christmas and they have a great assortment of 'activity' books this year.

Squeak (3) keeps on about something called pumpaloons which looks like the worlds biggest piece of rubbish so she's not getting it from me... unfortunately I think she or her big sister will tell the grandparents and my front room will look like a branch of cash converters *sigh*

Person_one

What about creative stuff? Art materials, craft sets, dressing up costumes, a puppet theatre perhaps?

Why are you focusing on gender so much? At 5 it doesn't really matter, don't let the toy manufacturers convince you it does!

moneysniffer

What about things like Sylvanian Families? I was a bit of a tomboy as a kid but LOVED my sylvanians, as did all my 'girly' friends who came round to play. Mind you, most of my adventures involved dinosaur rampages after they had all set up for a lovely picnic, but it was still lots of fun
Perhaps the 'big' present could be one of the larger houses, and get her a family or two and some furniture to start her off?

mumlady1

Hi onlyroz
I may not be able to help you on the actual presents side of things but timing wise our 2 kids are both November birthdays. Waaay too close to Christmas for another toy fest!
When they were younger we used to celebrate their birthday with a special meal at home (or a small party) & a little present (I'm talking a book or a small toy no more than £10 or so) to open on the day. They had other presents to open on the day from the grannies & aunties so they're not deprived, lol.
We then used to buy their main present in the summer. Often this would be a garden toy - trampoline, swing, see saw etc and this present would be between them. Kids have no idea how much things cost so the money spent is immaterial :T
This really worked well for us for many many years & the kids liked getting their summer birthday present too.

onlyroz

Believe me, I have tried the gender-neutral toys. I've bought her train-sets, lego, building kits - and she's just not interested. What she likes are dolls and dresses, much to my horror. I've looked at the Sylvanian families and it seems OK, but it's just more "stuff" to clutter up the house - why can't she play with the s0dding playmobile fairy castle thing that I got her last year instead?

By the same age my son was into video games and so we got him a DS - but again she doesn't really seem interested and doesn't appear to have the coordination to be able to play the games anyway.

I can see myself getting her a whole load of commercial tat that will get played with for 10 minutes and then forgotton. All she really seems to want to do is watch Power Rangers on Netflix - but I'm not sure she would actually want a Power Ranger toy. She'd probably like some more dolls, and all the accompanying cots, buggies etc, but she's already got a few of those and I see little point in buying her more...

bylromarha

How about some science kits, natural world kits or spy sets? DD always looks enviously at DSs kits.

tea_lover

Maybe some outfits for the dolls she already has? I was quite a girly girl and my favourite thing of all was dressing my two tiny tears dolls and playing with them. I know it's more stuff but it's smaller things that might be easier to find a home for.

Person_one

It sounds like she's into 'pretend play' more than anything else than, so I'd go for stuff where she can really use her imagination.

If she likes dolls, then I suppose she likes dolls, and that's just as legitimate as liking lego or computers! What about getting some stuff she can incorporate into her playing with dolls, like shop sets, doctor's kits, art materials or kits to make new clothes/blankets/toys for the dolls etc?