The ultimate gift for a 2 yr old girl??

[minniebride]

Seeking some advice.....

We have a niece and a nephew, both almost 2 yrs old (not brother/sister, they are cousins). Both have their birthdays coming up within the next month.

Our nephew lives in a decent sized house and we got him one of those mini roller coasters:
http://www.amazon.com/Step-Up-Down-...e=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1281973129&sr=1-1

Our niece lives in a smaller apartment, so we cannot get her something so big. We do want to get her something really great though! Any thoughts on the ultimate gift for a 2 year old girl? She is very active, loves to dance, loves music, not yet into dolls or princess-y type things.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[golfgal]

Honestly, my kids would have played with that rollercoaster for about 5 minutes. It looks cool but really isn't all that fun. You may want to reconsider that gift.

At age 2 beanie babies were the ultimate for our kids but that was a while ago. They like "real life" things then too-play kitchens with food, etc.

 

[scottishduffy]

Most 2 yr olds have fairly simple tastes.

We got my 2 yr old niece a large collection of wooden play food. She already had a little play kitchen, so we just got some play food to go with it. Her dad said it was a big hit and he was 'eating' wooden sandwiches for weeks.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Pretend items... kitchen, doctor kits (Fisher-Price makes an AWESOME one), dress-up kits, baby dolls, etc.

 

[mjkacmom]

My kids still play with that coaster, but in creative ways (it's outside, and I did stop them from riding the car down our slide). How about a big set of wooden blocks? My kids STILL play with those, also.

 

[JVL1018]

Seeking some advice.....

We have a niece and a nephew, both almost 2 yrs old (not brother/sister, they are cousins). Both have their birthdays coming up within the next month.

Our nephew lives in a decent sized house and we got him one of those mini roller coasters:
http://www.amazon.com/Step-Up-Down-...e=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1281973129&sr=1-1

Our niece lives in a smaller apartment, so we cannot get her something so big. We do want to get her something really great though! Any thoughts on the ultimate gift for a 2 year old girl? She is very active, loves to dance, loves music, not yet into dolls or princess-y type things.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

My daughter got a Fisher Price Tea Set when she was 2 that she played with for YEARS!
This is the one:
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-...e=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1281975551&sr=8-2

ETA that it may not be the ultimate, nor very expensive, but it was the gift that my DD played with the longest and the one that she still has from her 2nd birthday.
Also seeing that she loves music you can get her one of those cd players with microphones. My kids loved theirs:
http://www.amazon.com/Early-Learnin...e=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1281975761&sr=1-2 This one is a little pricey-there are cheaper ones out there that'd I'd get..

Get her that and maybe one of those fun froofy tutus and she can dance and sing to her heart's content.

Vicki

 

[Liberty Belle]

Another perspective: My sons both would have loved the rollercoaster. I can see them pretending it was all kinds of things.

For the girl, what about this:

http://www.amazon.com/Pink-Music-St...e=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1281975712&sr=8-2

 

[minniebride]

Thank you everyone for your ideas so far!! I think we are definitely going to head in the direction of pretend play I love the kitchen set idea and the tea set....& the microphone is a great idea too!

BTW, it doesn't matter if the gift is expensive or less expensive-we just want to make sure we give her something very special

We got the roller coaster after I watched 3 of our friends' kids have a blast with the thing for years, so we feel pretty confident with our choice for our nephew. He is also very big into vehicles right now (little ones, ones he can ride, real ones so we thought that would be a perfect gift for him!

 

[itsheresomewhere]

My kids have that roller coaster and have spent hours on it. It is several years old and they still love it.


What about a tea cart from disney? My DD go it when she was 18mths and it is still going strong. She loved cart her tea to her tea party.

 

[Liberty Belle]

The Playhut things are good, too, as a large gift with limited space. My son loved them from age one and he still (at 7) loves them.

 

[RadioNate]

I have a 2 1/2 year old. She got a kitchen for her 2nd birthday. HUGE hit.

 

[MrsPete]

At that age, my girls' hands-down favorite toy was a box of dress-up clothes. Some were costumes (ballerina, bride), some were adult clothes from the Salvation Army, and they had lots of hats and big clunky jewelry. They had that box for YEARS, and we added to it now and then.

Mr. Potato Head was a big favorite too.

Don't forget Sit-and-Spin.

I'm with those who'd say NO to that roller coaster. It'd take up all sorts of space, and would receive little playtime.

 

[Handbag Lady]

A pony.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I vote for the kitchen also--get some of the high quality wooden food toys to go in it-they get the most play and last the longest. My kids had a wooden set of fruits that hooked together with velcro and came with a wooden knife so they could "slice" them in their toy kitchen and LOVED those as toddlers.

 

[minniebride]

A pony.

LOL! I'm not quite sure that would fit in their 3 bedroom apartment!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Go for the kitchen.

We were in Target the other day and my 13yodd said, I miss my "kitchen". She really loved playing with that thing as well as the tea set and the play food of course.

Oh and "Pottery Barn Kids" does not help. All that stuff is soooo cute.

 

[PatsGirl]

Fisher Price used to make a fold-up dollhouse for Little People that both my kids adored and used for hours and hours on end. Loved that it would fit under the bed when not in use. I remember it being fairly pricey 10 years ago, especially if you bought extra people and the car....

 

[minkydog]

How about a big set of wooden blocks? My kids STILL play with those, also.

That's what I was going to suggest. When DS24 was 2 the Fun Auntie bought him a huge box of blocks, all different shapes. He would play for hours making stacks, little houses with beds for the "people", pretend jet skis(we livd in Florida), "pets" and "boats." When DD17 came along, she played with them just as much. I didn't hang on to most of their old toys, but the blocks I kept.

 

[Robinrs]

The ultimate gift? An aunt like you!!

BIG gifts are lost on kids that age, they're mostly for the parent to marvel over. They love it for about a minute...

You sound like a wonderful auntie! I was one for MANY MANY years, my childtook precedence when I finally had him but being THE aunt is priceless!

 

[Caropooh]

DD11 LOVED the Fisher Price Loving Family Dollhouses and accessories!
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=10&e=dollhouselanding