Birthday present for 4 year old girl

Ms. Pingui

My daughter is turning four in a week and a half and I'm at a loss a to what to get her.
The thing is, she's an only child and grandchild and has a heap of aunts an uncles too, so she has got a lot of stuff already.
I'm looking for something small for indoor use or else an outdoor toy. We are running out of space in the house but have a very large garden.
I really don't want to end up with more big plastic playsets that she will get bored of quickly and that take up a lot of space!
I was thinking about one of the kids tablets but then I assume you are limited to only downloading apps from that manufacturer?

Any ideas, doesn't have to be fancy or expensive! Thanks.

hoodwinked

has she a bike or a swing set?

what about a dolls house? or the disney princess castle?

theLuggage

What about a day doing something very special or something that she would be really excited about. As you say if she has lots of things then maybe go for an experience instead. We do a reward chart for our girl and I usually buy little things as the rewards but have found she loves doing things just as much.

For instance circus (if there's one around?), cinema, zoo, camping out the back, camping downstairs in the house, picnic but theme it so fairy picnic etc...and that's off the top of my head. I'm sure Google would have some good ideas ;-)

And then you could get some small token as a reminder of the day??

Moonbeam

Lego?
A play tent and tunnels for the garden?
Art and craft stuff?
scooter or bike or skates?
Anything play doh related.
Dress up clothes.

My 3 and 5 year old love all of the above.

Blingy

http://www.toys.ie/My-First-Junior-Swingball-!100993-prd.aspx

How about one of the above - a swingball? My nephew got it when he was 4 and loves it. His 3 yr old sister also enjoys it.

Ms. Pingui

Ms. Pingui wrote: »

I was thinking about one of the kids tablets but then I assume you are limited to only downloading apps from that manufacturer?

This line worries me. It sounds like you are thinking of presents that you give the child and they will immediately run off to their room and invest hours in it and just leave you alone. Especially if you are talking about having so many toys that you are "running out of space".

No child needs enough toys that they overwhelm the living space.

Perhaps finding some way to give the most precious gift of all might be on the cards - which is the gift of your time. Some of the best gifts in the world take up NO space and almost NO money - but they can be the gifts your child comes back to time and time and time again.

I still think - for example - the best gift I ever got for my daughter - who was at the time I purchased it 30 months old - was a "paintable tea set" which came with enough paints to repaint the tiny tea set around 20 times. And over time we sat down and decided a pattern and painted it together before doing a tea party fantasy scenario together.

Perhaps even forget about getting this child anything at all - but find out what she already likes - and find out some "cake" way of expressing that love - and just invest the day before her birthday building and making that cake. Because I guarantee you that whether she gets 10 presents or 100 presents - she will remember the hours spent planning - preparing - mixing - building - baking - candleing - singing over - blowing out - cutting into - and then eating - that cake more than any piece of plastic tat anyone threw 100 euro at in Toys R us.

Its not just children that crumble at that level of investment into a gift. I found an old photograph of one of my current girlfriends when she was 6 or 7 - blowing out candles on a cake representing something she loved at the time. And before one of her birthdays I invested a lot of time and effort and food coloring and candy into reproducing that exact cake again - using the photos her mother had taken at the time. And to this day I have never given a gift to anyone that quite literally reduced them to knee collapsing tears of joy and gratitude at the level of personal time and investment that went into it.

It is the little things in life - not the big gestures - and as I said the gift of your time will be remembered above anything else you can order off ebay.

JP Liz V1

Does she like Disney's Frozen? If so anything from that, the dolls perhaps

hoodwinked

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Does she like Disney's Frozen? If so anything from that, the dolls perhaps

i think those are still like gold dust at the moment, between those and the costumes,

Akrasia

Why don't you ask her what she would like? She might not want a big expensive gift. My 3 year old girl wanted 'green sweeties' for christmas.I went into a pick and mix and chose a selection of green sweets for her. On christmas morning we also got her one of those little tykes cars but she only wanted her 'green sweeties'

My little boy wanted a batman with wings for his 5th birthday.
As a parent I would never have picked it out for him but it was what he wanted and it made him happy.

Calmsurrender

what about something like these
http://www.toys.ie/Digital-Cameras--!WCAT149-cat.aspx

I have the playskool one for my kid, she got a kick out of it at her own birthday party as did some of the other guests . It has been used a good but since. She likes to look back through the photos as well.
Quality of the photos is only alright but that's to be expected for the price.
Like you my house is full of toys and although this is plastic and electronic I thought it was something a bit different.

If you wanna go with outdoors maybe a sandpit and some new buckets and spades?

ariana`

What about card games such as Sets or Uno.

My 4.5 yr old boy loves these and we enjoy playing with him.

pwurple

The 4 year olds we know seem to like teeny tiny things! Like a small musical jewellery box with a spinning ballet dancer. Or a magnetic playhouse with tiny pieces that folds away.

A camping torch was a big hit at the last birthday party we went to. She used it in her playtent, and it came with perforated shapes to hold in front of the torch to light up different shapes on the ceiling.

lynski

maybe talk to some of the grandparents and aunties and ask they club together to get her a zoo pass or a swing set? rather then 30 small presents, i know the toy overload feeling too.
Our daughter just really wanted a barbie, we hated them but got her one for her birthday, she could not even find it for you now.

branners69

Calmsurrender wrote: »

If you wanna go with outdoors maybe a sandpit and some new buckets and spades?

+1

If you dont have a sandpit get her one, she will love it!