2.5 year christmas ideas

[mrsp1030]

Looking for some ideas for my youngest DS for Christmas. Biggest issue is we have so many hand me downs from older two: trains, little people, lego duplo and other blocks. Anyone have any great and unique ideas.

 

[brymolmom]

Anything cheap to be unwrapped...Then something 'needed' (but more by you than by him)- like a new toybox or bookshelf for the bedroom for the 'big' gift. Or if nothing 'big' is needed - that $$ put into a college fund instead. At 2.5 - he won't notice that all the stuff wrapped up is cheap...Some of his favorite treats (I think at that age my son's favorite thing was the little containers of oreos from his stocking and he was AMAZED I let him open them up and eat a few right then at 7am!)....A few dollar store things...Maybe some bright PJ's with a favorite character on them. Maybe one or two small stuffed animal or figures - even though you likely have plenty already.

 

[AZMermaid]

My son was 3 years 3 months last Christmas. His favorite toy by far was the imaginext castle and the dragon that goes with it. It gets ayed with every day and my now 2.5 year old DD loves it too.

 

[mommytotwo]

An easel that has two sides-one side where you can write with chalk, and the other side where you can stick a paper on to draw pictures, and paint.

 

[stargazer2892]

We are getting our almost 3 year old DS a balance bike. Now DD we have no friggin clue about what to get her.

 

[AZMermaid]

We are getting our almost 3 year old DS a balance bike. Now DD we have no friggin clue about what to get her.

My kids both LOVED the Laugh and Learn house and Laugh and Learn chair at her age.

 

[NYEmomma]

Man, I was so excited to see this thread because I am stumped for my two 2.5 year olds for the SAME reason. DD1 has EVERYTHING!!!

But I've got girls so I don't think most of this will apply to them.

We are getting them both Kindle Fires for Christmas though. They're going to love them! They watch older sister play games with hers all the time & they love trying to mess with my phone.

 

[rachael95]

My DS 2.5 keeps asking for the real Buzz and Woody dolls. The tall ones that Woody has the pull string and buzz talks. We'll probably do that.

We went way overboard last year and don't want to do that this year. We ended up deciding to split the gifts we'd gotten him for Christmas last year and save a couple of them for his birthday a few months later. Also, asked grandpa and aunt to give him one of the extra gifts we'd bought instead of buying something themselves. DH and I hadn't communicated very well last year with what we bought him.

We also have a train set DH bought for him last year that is staying in the closet for another couple years since it's a Lego and not Duplo set. Not sure what he was thinking on that one...

 

[mrsp1030]

We are getting him a balance bike for sure. I was debating on the leap pad as we have many games for the leapster explorer already and they can be used. He loves my iPad and our older two iPad minis but not ready to hand that over to him yet. I may have my Inlaws get him the new Disney playset as I can't think of anything else for them to get him but the vtech train set but I think it would be too many trains at this point.

 

[jms]

Man, I was so excited to see this thread because I am stumped for my two 2.5 year olds for the SAME reason. DD1 has EVERYTHING!!! But I've got girls so I don't think most of this will apply to them. We are getting them both Kindle Fires for Christmas though. They're going to love them! They watch older sister play games with hers all the time & they love trying to mess with my phone.

My 3 yr old dd loves her Kindle Fire. We got it last year. Lots of learning games and great to watch movies on while traveling.

 

[MandiC]

Well some things on my 3 year olds Christmas 'wish' list on amazon...
Magformers
Melissa and Doug reusable sticker books
Melissa and Doug fire chief costume and also police officer costume (we have lots of girl dress up, not so much boy!)
Imaginets

I've also told the grandparents what we'd really like is if they just got the kids a small present to open for fun and then if they wanted to spend more to do activities. Money towards swim lessons, zoo pass, museum tickets, movie tickets, ect. With 4 kids we have more toys than we know what to do with at this point!

 

[ebradley23]

My son is just about to turn 3. Here are some of his favs:

Aquadoodle
Basketball hoop
Balance bike
Vtech Go!Go! sets
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Pete the Cat books

 

[puffkin]

My DS will be 2.5 at Christmas. We have the same issues. He plays with all the toys from DS8 so we really don't need anything new. Add to that I work FT and we are hardly ever home to even play with the toys.

THis sounds TERRIBLE, but I actually dug a few toys out of the basement that we had packed away and I am going to wrap those up. He's never seen them before so they will be new to him! One of them is a TAG reader. Most of the books we have are a bit old for him so I will probably get him a few books for that, but we have the reader itself. I am getting him a magna doodle type thing (other one broke), a Bright Time Buddy (as seen on tv), and the Planes 2 movie. For his big gift, I got him a motorized ride on toy from Sams Club ($60). Thats about it. I figure he should have a few things to open but it won't be going overboard. Since DS8 is getting some more expensive items, I'll just put the difference in cost into DS2's college fund.

I am at a complete loss for what to tell family though. I would love if they just gave money for their funds, but everyone wants to do gifts. I have a hard enough time getting 5-6 things for them to make Christmas morning respectable, let alone thinking of things for relatives to buy them. Ugh!

 

[Nztara]

A trip to Disney. We are going in January, so we won't be spending huge money at Christmas. He is getting a Sesame Street train set I found on clearance for $25 at Target. I also found a Melissa and Doug clock puzzle on clearance for $7. DSS loves puzzles and this one has the added benefit of number recognition and starting a discussion on how to tell time. I'll put a few trip related items in his stocking, and add a few more train cars for the Sesame Street set, but that's about it.

I agree with experiences over toys or maybe a subscription to Highlights or Zoobooks.

 

[Jenni2]

The leappad is a good idea. My kids love theirs and call it their iPads.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We are getting him a balance bike for sure. I was debating on the leap pad as we have many games for the leapster explorer already and they can be used. He loves my iPad and our older two iPad minis but not ready to hand that over to him yet. I may have my Inlaws get him the new Disney playset as I can't think of anything else for them to get him but the vtech train set but I think it would be too many trains at this point.

My son had a balance bike and it was the best "toy" he had. He's now 4 and riding a two wheeler at the local bmx track, so look out. If your child has already been exposed to your iPads, I think he won't like the leap pad. My son has one, he's maybe used it a total of 30 minutes this whole year. To me it's frustrating to use and not nearly as responsive as the iPad and HEAVY. Blah. I hate the leap pad. Too bad you can't wrap iPad apps.

 

[supertinyluckycat]

My daughter will be 3 a few weeks after Xmas and I went way over board last year. Her kidkraft play kitchen and metal shopping cart were favorites last year. This year is going to be a breeze haha she's really into calico critters and shopkins. She also has a kick board brand micro mini scooter she got this summer that might make a good gift!