First doll house or other 1st birthday present?

[Piglet]

DD is turning 1 in a month (where did the time go?). I have a house full of toys and she doesn't need anything, to the point that I have never bought her a toy up until now. I have waited a very long time to get to buy girl toys, so I would really like to buy her some sort of doll house. The doll house seems like a good new toy, but I am not sure if I should go for one of the "My First Doll House" type doll houses or wait another year and get her something for older kids. For the moms that have the "My First Doll House", what age do your kids start playing with it? Would it be a good 1st birthday present? If not, what else was a big hit at that age, bearing in mind I have way too many toys already ;)?

[brittone2]

I know some people here have liked the Fisher Price Loving Family one I think? (if you do plastic).

DS has a dollhouse or two (treehouse style and an old Calico Critters dollhouse that was DH's when he was little :) ). He didn't get more into that until closer to 3, but YMMV. I've read/heard that from other people too... I think the furniture in the rooms, etc. is just too much fine motor-wise for a little one. With pretend play, IMO it tends to be more like 18 months to two years for them to get more into that kind of stuff, if not later. I know some people have had kids that played with the Little People sets starting around 18ish months, but I don't know if the kids play with them *in* a house at that point, kwim?
I know DS was not into that kind of figurine/doll play that early, but I've been around kids that did use the Little People sets and similar around 18 months to two years.

If you don't mind buying now and having her grow into a dollhouse, then go for it now :)

I don't know about first dollhouses, but some of my favs overall are Selecta, Ostheimer, and a few other euro ones.

Other 1st bday ideas: (you probably have quite a few of these by the sound of your post, but maybe one of them will be something that fits your family)

Learning tower or Tripp Trapp if you don't already have something like that (DS is still using both at age 4. DD (15 months) and he use the LT together. Great if you feel you have too many toys already, but you may already have those.

Anything they can push (RF walker wagon, Haba walker wagon (DS and DD like to do this together w/ DS pushing DD in the little seat carefully), "popper" push toy, Selecta makes some cute push toys on a stick. Shopping cart?

First doll of some type (DD hugs them and that's about it right now, but something to grow into?)

I think someone here has mentioned those "my first purse" toys before? I just saw one in the OSA catalog that had a fabric cell phone and a few other things in it? I think you could also get their name on it maybe? Very girly, and I could see my DD liking this right now at 15 months (she likes purses and fills them up with randomness, and she likes pretending to talk on the phone).
eta link to the personalized one. Non personalized is 19.99 I believe.
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=534208&cm_ven=Froogle&cm_cat=NA&cm_pla=NA&cm_ite=13711

Playsilks and/or musical instruments (good in that it grows w/ them).

Haba ball track (the Rock N Roll one w/ a bigger ball, not the marble sized one of course!). DS and DD like to do this together. Selecta makes something similar.

small ride on toy (DD can't completely touch on some of the ones we have, but she has a RF tiny trike and can touch the ground and use that one on her own). We keep the RF tiny trike in the house.

Any kind of manipulative...peg board, ring stacker (Holgate, Spiel und Holz are both really nice), nesting cups/bowls/boxes, etc.

Stuff that rolls. DD likes DS's trucks and cars a lot.

eta: anything customized? Stepstool with name, something engraved, special first chair w/ name embroidered to make it hers, etc?
It is hard to come up with ideas for non first-borns...I totally understand!

[nicknack]

My DD has the My First Dollhouse and loves it! BUT, she really didn't get that into it until very recently and she just turned 2 on Friday.

She got if for Christmas and she'd pay attention to it here and there but it's not until literally the past week that she's played with it every day.

Maybe try the LP house? I know they redesigned it, but those figures will be easier for your daughter to hold/manipulate than the ones in the FP one.

Hope that helps!

[KHF]

We have the FP My First Dollhouse. She got it for her first Christmas when she was about 5 months old (Her Mimi was a little excited). She started playing with the figures in it as soon as she could hold anything. She started setting up the doll-house and the furniture in it around 14 months. I would say she played with it daily from 14 months to about 24 months. We put it away for a while (we do toy rotation), but it was still a huge hit. If you can find it at a good price, I'd say go for it. I think my mom paid about $30 for it. I also got her some of the additional furniture sets and people sets to go with it.

I also got her a set of playsilks for her first birthday, but she wasn't really interested in them that much until about her second birthday. They are a GREAT gift though. Seriously. She loves them now. When her cousins come to visit, (4 and 3) they head straight for them as well.

Really, DD got WAY too much for her first birthday. I think I was still giving her presents from her first birthday party by the time her second one rolled around.

We also got her a Radio Flyer Walker Wagon around that time, and she loved that. It really helped her with her walking (she was a late walker).

Kirsten

[KrystalS]

I got my DD the First Dollhouse for her 1st bday too. She didn't really start playing with it until she was 2. However its a great house, DD still has hers and even though we upgraded and got a bigger house for Christmas, she still plays with the First Dollhouse more.
I agree with the PP about teh Radio Flyer Walker Wagon, I got my nephew one for his 1st bday and it was a huge hit. He loved putting toys or anything really in it and pushing it around. My DD was 3 at the time and she loved it as well.

[incognitomms]

I'm also looking for some ideas for 1st birthday gifts. We also already have a lot of the basic toys like the shape sorters, stacking rings and ball activity toys. She doesn't play much with her toys currently she just wants to go go go, now that she is crawling and cruising around holding on to furniture. She loves to open doors on cabinets and open the gates. So I was thinking about getting her the fisher price laugh and learn house or the kitchen since it has things to open. But they are a bit pricey and will take up a lot of floor space.

Any toy ideas out there for very active babies. I really want to get her something she will actually play with and not just clutter up the house. She also already has the fisher price lion riding toy which she isn't very impressed with yet:(


PS. Things she actually does play with her books, She loves slide and learn books or books with flaps. Bubbles and videos with music. So if there are some really excellent ones out there I'm open to suggestions:)

Thanks for your help.

[KrisM]

So I was thinking about getting her the fisher price laugh and learn house or the kitchen since it has things to open. But they are a bit pricey and will take up a lot of floor space.



We've had the FP laugh and learn house for almost 3.5 years now. It's been in use most of that time as well. Both kids loved it. DD still plays with it daily and she's 22 months.

Try Craigslist for a nice used one. You can buy replacement parts from FP for about $9 shipped. Ours still looks brand-new after all this time, so used should be really fine.

[brittone2]

Any toy ideas out there for very active babies. I really want to get her something she will actually play with and not just clutter up the house.
Thanks for your help.

Tent/tunnel set? Ikea sells them individually, or the Ryan's Room ones are nice (Costco carries a set for around 25-30 bucks each year leading up to the holidays. That is IMO a steal!). DS got his tent/tunnel set when he was 18-20 months or so I think. DD has been playing with his set since she was 10 months (tunnel and hiding in the tent) and it is something they can do together (DS is 4 years old now).

DD (15 months) really likes rocking toys that are her size. We just got back from lunch at Cracker Barrel with my parents and she was loving this little rocking horse style thing (a bug of some type) they had. It was the perfect size for her. I've seen similar toys at Tuesday Morning as well. DS would not have liked it much at this age, but DD is much more into gross motor activities and sensory things like swinging, sliding, jumping, bouncing and rocking ;)

[kerrief]

My DD is 2 1/2 and still loves to drag around her pull toy-even outside-she never liked the push one. I need to find one with a longer string tho....

I got her the M&D fold n go but not that big a hit, but when she visits her 6 yr old cousin she ALWAYS plays with the Dora dollhouse...and she plays with her LP all the time.

Kerrie

[fivi2]

We have both the My First Dollhouse and the Little People Dollhouse (overzealous grandparents!). Between the 2 I would definitely recommend the My First Dollhouse. They got it for their 2nd birthday and play with it fairly regularly. But I don't think they would have used it much before then.

For their first birthday my girls (twins) got the laugh and learn home. It was a pretty big hit for a while. (I may have complained about it in a past post, but for the most part, it was worth it)

Their favorite toy from 1-2 was a ball pit. I had to move it because of the train table, but they played with it constantly! They also love their tunnel/tent combo. So, from my experience, I would save the dollhouse until next year and get a gross motor toy this year!

Good luck!