Gift ideas for 3.5 yr old girl

[sadie2]

Ok, I want to make suggestions for a present for my daughter to my mom, but I dont know what to tell her. My daughter likes all that commercial stuff you see in toysrus (disney princess, dora, my little pony), but I think in the end, its all about opening something new and sparkly, and I really wonder whether she gets a lot of use out of it. Many toys end up becoming displaced (even with my hardest efforts), and is of marginal quality. However, her face lights up when she sees it.

So, what do you think? Go with some plastic toy that she will get litttle use out of, but she will be thrilled with for the short term, or something that she will get long term use out of, but isnt very sexy? For example, I know she would love that my little pony castle, but i would rather her get some kind of wooden castle, with real figurenes, or even better, a nice doll house with real looking people, and rooms that she can add to.

anyway, your thoughts???

[redhookmom]

O, what a great question! I have tried to find sparkly, WOW, gifts that will stand the test of time. Soooo hard. For example, my dd wanted the my size Barbie. Assuming it would be poorly made and kind of creepy, I found a beutiful Waldorf my size doll.

I also tried to pick some of the items she sees in the comercials. Little Ponies, EZ Bake, Dancing Princess Sticker Book.

[DAKnits]

I struggled with this for a while ... my two year old has very specific tastes and there are things that I wanted her to love that she could care less about. In the end, I've decided to buy things that she likes because in the end, if she doesn't like it, she won't play with it anyway, and it's just a waste of money. To me, the toys that I like may last longer, but what's the point of being durable and high quality if it's sitting in the closet?

Many times it's been trial and error (this happened much more often when she was younger and she couldn't really tell me what she liked). Now she's able to fully communicate and lets me know exactly what she likes. I admit that there are some things I'm still surprised about -- I thought she would LOVE colorforms, and she's not excited about them, I thought she'd LOVE the beautiful wood baby cradle I got for her room, and she won't let me take away the cheap plastic cradle that I was planning on getting rid of when I bought the wood one. If you know what your daughter will love, I think there's harm in getting her that toy versus one that you love or is of higher quality, but that she probably won't love as much as something else?

Anyway, that's my take on it... I know how you feel, sometimes I can't imagine how my daughter loves the cheap, horribly made stuff better than the stuff I spend hours researching and scowering the internet and stores for!

[tiapam]

What about a Christmas keepsake thing like a music box or snow globe? They are usually sparkly and shiny.

-Pam

DD - Two years old!