birthday gift ideas

[danner]

It looks like you don't need anymore ideas, but this is about where we are. Too many toys, too much clothing. Grandma is taking my daughter to The Nutcracker and has been taking her to see other small performances. When she is a tad older (5 or 6) we will take her to plays geared to children.

Boardgames! HABA makes some nice ones. One that both your girls and adults can play is Tier Auf Tier, or Animal Upon Animal. For your 7 year old, there is a fun mystery one called Mr. Jack she might like. If you need boardgame recommendations, I'd be glad to help. 7 is a great age for games.

[mommygraham]

Originally Posted by Honeymommy3 Do you have a Michaels? I've seen the story publishing kit at ours. Our also has drawing classes, painting, watercolor, etc. Michaels is her favorite store (because it's filled with "projects"!). I should walk through there for some ideas, thanks. - play parachute (the huge one) it's liked from tiny toddlers to even 10 year olds. And it folds up so nicely so that it doesn't take much room -Books -a fun home for the stuffed animals (they have these cool bean bag type coverings that you stuff your animals in, so it's cute and functional), or the jails, the rope that hangs from the ceiling, etc. -Have you seen Kimochis? Check them out. They are more than a stuffed animal, can be utilized many different ways for a while (with the packs that you can buy additionally), and they are still super cute. -Cute chair for her room. Bean bag, butterfly, round ones, etc.... -One last thing for your little. Peg boards with pegs. The kind you iron after they are done making it. She will LOVE it. They make the big sized ones for toddlers to be able to manipulate it. It's one of my go to gifts to friends and I've always received such good comments about them afterwards. -nice sketch pad with good color pencils/watercolor pencils. I got my dd a set, about $25 dollars (middle of the road for pricing), that were great color pencils but if you use them with a touch of water it adds a whole new element. -canvases for her to do painting, artwork and then hang up or she could give as gifts herself - her own scrapbook to fill with pics of her family and friends and activities - Pedicure at the local salon. She'll enjoy it, but nothing to take home except pretty toes! All such WONDERFUL ideas, thank you!! I'll go look some of them up right now!! Both ages, we are big on games. Blokus is our current have. But there are so many good ones out there. And great quality time too. Also, headbands, hair clips/bows, earrings, jewelry in general, jewelry box I frequently have this problem. So, beyond classes (which hasn't been a successful request here), I like to think of things that are fun but useful and can last awhile. Telescopes, science experiments, extending the crafty side, cute robe/slippers, blah, blah!!! I hope you get lots of great ideas that will work for you.

Originally Posted by danner It looks like you don't need anymore ideas, but this is about where we are. Too many toys, too much clothing. Grandma is taking my daughter to The Nutcracker and has been taking her to see other small performances. When she is a tad older (5 or 6) we will take her to plays geared to children. Boardgames! HABA makes some nice ones. One that both your girls and adults can play is Tier Auf Tier, or Animal Upon Animal. For your 7 year old, there is a fun mystery one called Mr. Jack she might like. If you need boardgame recommendations, I'd be glad to help. 7 is a great age for games.

I'm definitely going to go search some of the board games you mentioned, and if you have any other ideas, I'd LOVE it! We do have a decent amount of games, but she may just be starting to outgrow them (not fully, but a little). We have games like candyland, chutes and ladders, hi ho cherry-o, operation, sequence jr...Maybe it's time I get a game that's geared toward her age and not her younger siblings?

[mommygraham]

Ok, I was able to send my MIL a good wish list for our 7yr old (thanks to your suggestions!), but I'm still a little stumped for our 3yr old. We just have so many toys that were handed down from older siblings, that it makes it even harder to come up with ideas for her. I h ave a few ideas, but any other suggestions for a 3yr old girl? She ADORES dressing up, so I did add that to my list for my MIL. She wears some sort of costume every single day (even to the grocery store...everywhere we go :-) ). I also put "Tier Auf Tier" on the list (looks so fun!!). Otherwise, she loves her Schleich animals, so I put that on the list, even though she already has some.

[DottieHarley]

Do you have 529 or savings accts for the girls? I know it's "boring" but a small gift and a larger check is very helpful down the road. DH and I paid closing costs on our first home with kiddy savings (our own, not our kids) from birthdays, christmas, etc. both sets of g'psrents have been good about contributing although we usually have to remind them when they say "what does she want,"

[mommygraham]

Originally Posted by DottieHarley Do you have 529 or savings accts for the girls? I know it's "boring" but a small gift and a larger check is very helpful down the road. DH and I paid closing costs on our first home with kiddy savings (our own, not our kids) from birthdays, christmas, etc. both sets of g'psrents have been good about contributing although we usually have to remind them when they say "what does she want,"

We do, and it's actually these same grandparents who have them there for all our kids. Also, these particular grandparents much prefer a wrappable gift (they enjoy seeing the kids actually open something...like a toy) than something like tickets to an event. Yes, sad I know. Maybe when the kids are a little older, they'd be more apt to give tickets to a ballet or something. But for now, they prefer toys. I even put fuzzibunz (and only fuzzibunz) on my sons 1st birthday wishlist last month. And they showed up with toys instead :-/. Oh so silly, but whatever. So, this is why I am putting a little extra effort into some sort of 'toy' list. I figure I might as well come up with something I don't mind cluttering our house with as long as she's going to get toys anyway.

[Honeymommy3]

Have you thought about nice high heels for her since she loves dressing up so much? When I say nice I mean not plastic like a dress up shoe is. Either the kind that ate at sears/penny's/even Payless or from an actual dance shop/online. They love the way it looks and you get to have her in shoes that fit and don't flap around when she walks.