Birthday Gift Ideas Needed!
Janey’s second birthday is coming up and I’m in desperate need of a few great toddler girl gift ideas…I’m used to buying Lego and cars and Nerf guns and guys. She has enough of those to play with. Right now Janey has a little kitchen and a stroller she loves, and Abbey’s old Bitty Baby and crib. If you have had a little daughter this age, what is her favorite most played with toy?
My daughter loves the Disney princess little people! She got them for her second birthday and still loves them two years later- they are super cute! Happy Birthday Janey!
My 2 year old had a blast playing with our friends giant dollhouse (as tall, or maybe even a bit taller than my 2 year old)–it's from Kid Kraft and I've seen it through zulily but also walmart. (They have a few but the one she loved was double sided!) It is what Santa plans to bring my girl for Christmas this year! 🙂
I'll second the Disney princess little people. My two (almost three) year old plays with them constantly. She carries them around everywhere. And she's never even seen a single Disney princess movie. We actually have the prince and princess that came with the Little People castle and she adds them into the mix.
Outside toys she loves the wagon and her little plastic ride-on toy. And her very favourite that we try to keep away from her most of the time is markers and crayons. Artwork all over the house. =)
I would recommend the Fisher Price Loving Family dollhouse. My first daughter got one at 3, and my second daughter because so obsessed with her sisters at 2 we bought her one of her own. It really is a long lasting toy. My girls are 9 and 5 and still play with it! It's been around for a long time and they are always updating the furniture sets, so buying a new room always makes it like new again after all these years. You could always start with just a couple of rooms and add on over time.
I agree! Both of my girls have spent countless hours playing with our Loving Family house!!! I'll never get rid of it! It's a true treasure at our house!
Bothy daughters loved this dollhouse
Yep, I agree. My 2-year-old loves this, and her big sisters do too!
Art and craft – a little special spot to do it with paints crayons etc. dress ups ( go to an op shop and go nuts) and again another area for dressing up with a rail and mirror etc, scooter, gyro ride on, books, Schliech animals, swing, hammock, play kitchen, outdoor mud kitchen, a digging pit, her very own garden bed for veggies herbs or flowers, a gorgeous baby doll and wooden cradle and sling to play mumma
Lets see:
little tikes cozy coupe car, grocery cart, doll buggy, or vacuum
a baby bassinet, high chair or stroller {kidcraft makes nice wooden ones}
fisher price my first dollhouse, or the tea set
Pottery barn kids chair. Have two of them kids love them! !
That's a great one! We get them for our kids when they turn 1–they LOVE those Anywhere Chairs!
Have you seen Calico Critters? My little girl just turned one (I have older boys) but I cannot wait to start getting this stuff for her. I don't know if two is too young (it looks like there are small pieces, I think the box says 3+), but I have my eye on the car, camper, and tree house. I was never into princess stuff and Barbies when I was little so maybe that's why I like the cute little animals. I also think some of the WOW Toys stuff is good for little ones- my boys have liked them and my daughter likes the little people that come with them.
Melissa and Doug food play sets- cookies, cakes, cutting food, she likes all of them. Also, she loves her cash register and shopping cart!
Another great idea.
My girls love the Disney little people and the Melissa and Doug wood food for the kitchen. The cupcakes and pizza are their favorites. They also love their magna doodles.
Little Tikes Shopping Cart
Melissa and Doug wooden play food
Mega Blocks
Doll High Chair
Melissa and Doug products are well made. They've stood the test of time with my 4 kids. We love their puzzles.
And I agree with the lady who mentioned the Loving Family dollhouse collection. It's so challenging to find appropriate (not trashy) dolls for girls to play with. The Loving Family collection is the sweetest. They even have pregnant moms and grandparents. 🙂
A Strider (balance) bike! My youngest loved hers and was up on two wheels at age four with NO tears or stress! (Look around on-line for a good deal…love the Strider brand though.)
Yes we do strider bikes for second bdays too! They have bright pink ones 🙂 All of ours have gone to two wheelers by fourth bday! Totally worth the expense.
we have two striders. they are awesome.
The Melissa and Doug food is still loved and played with at almost five. And it's lasted. My kids love the Lauri toys. Like the foam puzzles and peg stackers. They will play with those peg stackers for hours and create amusement parks and castles and all sorts of things with them.
A metal shopping cart! It's sturdy and has stood a lot of abuse. My daughter is 7 and still plays with it.
My little girl turned 2 last month and I would say a doll high chair and a doll "diaper bag" to go with her stroller and bitty baby. My little one got a whole set of doll stuff and she loves feeding her baby food from the diaper bag set in the high chair. We also got her a Melissa and Doug easel. I don't know if it's considered a toy since she needs supervision with it but she loves drawing and painting with it- she prefers that over sitting at a table!
Shopping cart!!!!!
Flynn is almost 5…boooo!… And she loves that thing!!!!
Also, I agree with the Fisher Price Little People Princess castle.
You can add on princess sets all the time.
And for outside? A parachute! Like those ones we used in gym class…
All my kids still love ours!!!!!!
Enjoy!
Nell turned 2 in June, and we gave her a Corolle (my very favorite dolls – so sweet) baby that can go in the water – it has a soft body, so it's actually become her favorite baby all the time, but she loves that she can give it a bath and take it in the pool with her. Also, we use our water table every single day Spring – Fall, so if you don't have one of those, I'd highly recommend it.
I have a little girl the same age as Janey. Birthday on August 9th and I am in the same position as you, looking for ideas, but for different reasons. My toddler is my 3rd girl, my oldest being 7 so I am overflowing with girl stuff so she needs nothing. I do not need any toys sitting around that aren't going to be played with. I imagine you felt the same way after 3 boys in a row. I will agree with the previous commenters that the Melissa and Doug food is nice, but the single toy that gets used the most by all three of my children (daily basis) are their plasma cars. And I actually got that idea from you (love your Christmas ideas)! Though we live in Florida we keep our cars inside and my children ride them through the house constantly. My littlest one has been riding on one since about 14 months! We only have two and then another little ride on thing, but I will definitely be getting a plasma car for that 2 year old come Christmas. Need some really great smaller ideas for her birthday. OH another one I just thought of that my girls have loved is the Rody (bouncy horse) oh and they love their "Rockin Ride" spring rocking horse (though it takes up way too much room). Happy almost birthday, Janey!
I only have 2 boys, but I used to be a little girl… 😉
Puzzles
Wooden bikes (where I'm from there are many options available, we have a cow (http://www.liesjeshoutenspeelgoed.nl/p.984/houten-loopfiets-koe.html), construction car and a type of bicycle (http://www.liesjeshoutenspeelgoed.nl/p.11537/bak-loopfiets-blauw-b-keus.html)
(Fabric) playhouse
(Wooden) store frame (search google images for "houten winkel" if you don't know what I mean…)
Corolle Dolls. My daughter got one at age 18 months and still loves it at age 10. They are adorable and you can get soft body ones or more like American Girl doll ones. They have super cute accessories and clothes but I've also bought some of those from Target's "our generation" line.
http://www.amazon.com/Corolle-Babicorolle-Lili-Pink-Happiness/dp/B00AGI9MNC/ref=sr_1_47?ie=UTF8&qid=1407157896&sr=8-47&keywords=corolle+dolls
http://www.amazon.com/Corolle-Ch%C3%A9ries-Clara-Fashion-Doll/dp/B005VKGWU6/ref=sr_1_110?ie=UTF8&qid=1407157959&sr=8-110&keywords=corolle+dolls
My girls favorites other than their play kitchen and American Girl dolls (Bitty Baby included) were their doll house, puppet theater, dress up clothes, books and any kind of art supplies.
This Melissa and Doug folding castle has been a hit with my daughter and my niece. She may be a bit too young now, but it may make the cut for her Christmas list! We have the matching furniture and wooden doll set. Melissa & Doug Folding Princess Castle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NKH0E6/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_re53tb0TJJ5MJDP1
My daughter plays with hers daily…and she's 5 now. I think she got hers when she was 2 1/2.
Purse made for toddler girls with fake makeup, jewelry, sunglasses, keys, wallet… My little girls favorite thing to carry everywhere, even now that she's 6. She also love, love, loved playdoh! I got her a set of bright colors & some little 'baking' tools for playdoh & she was entertained for a long time.
Do you have a small trampoline? That was a favorite of our two year olds… I know it's not exactly girly but the loved it.
My girls are also doll girls… and I can never go wrong with a new doll. PS- We have two of the polkadot dress Janey has on… size 18 months and 3T so I have lots of pics with my girls in it. It's one of my faves!
Little people and little ponies:)
All the littles in my life, went crazy over a cash register. They loved the noises and opening the drawer. When we get it out, 2 or 3 years later, still a huge hit.
Have you seen this list? http://nourishingminimalism.com/2014/07/18-non-toy-gifts-for-children.html
I loved the ideas.
play dough and art supplies. tea set. puppets either finger puppets or regular size. my two year old's favorite toy is a fisher price school bus and she loads people in and out of it. She also LOVES her toy barn and farm animals. a train set and also little cars are a favorite right now as well. My kids also love the magna doodle thing at this age.
Tea set is another great idea
My girls always love the little people – especially the farm and the zoo. My kids also loved bath toys – little cups to collect water and dump it out into the tub? I can't believe little Janey is going to be TWO already!!!
My daughter LOVED plastic food if you don't have that in your kitchen…. doll strollers and doll size grocery carts are big hits at my mom's house with all the little ones….
She wants a trip to the beach to play with her buddy James! Or a radio flyer wagon- that's a classic for a boy OR a girl!
My little girl is coming up on her third birthday. She has played with her Little People princess castle and Little People princesses every day for a year. I never would have guessed, but it is a huge hit. She also likes her Cozy Coupe, shopping cart, doll stroller, and especially her pretend kitchen which I keep in the kitchen. Oh and we have matching aprons which she loves to cook in.
If you search Amazon for Melissa and Doug Doorbell House, that is my favorite 2 year old gift! It has 4 doorbells, 4 keys (and I love that they grow "into" this toy, more and more with the keys), and 4 cute people. Even my 6 year old loves to play with this, with my now 3 year old. It's a good one. 🙂
My daughter will be three in September. She LOVES Corolle dolls, Calico Critters, and her tea set. She also likes to play dress up, so princess type gowns are always a big hit.
Such a great age for girls! We love the Melissa and Doug Ice Cream Scoop Set- it is a hit with all my kids. An easel is also a great gift for that age (to get the most out of it). Also, Princess Toddler Dolls (learned about them from Erin at Sunny Side Up) and a kids trampoline- great for getting energy out when you are stuck inside!
We were passed down a little plastic washing machine, dryer, which you could put little towels into and the kids could easily spin. My kids would use that and a little ironing board my daughter had. Kids love to mimic what they see their mom's doing I guess!! I second everyone's recommendations of the Melissa and Doug wooden food sets. We still have a little crate that has a bunch of sauce pans, wooden spoons, sliced veggies, bread, etc that they would use to cook and make sandwiches with. Friends had the pizza set. I liked the felt board sets – nice for quiet play. We had a Madeline set that was cute. My kids also loved a little vet set we had with little dogs to take care of…a stethoscope, etc. Fun age!
my kids love cash registers too. we have one from lakeshore and the vintage fisher price one.
My two year olds all loved their own little car (we had the Little Tykes classic red and yellow car) and their own V-tech cell phones. Pretending to be mamas 🙂
a little water table or sand table (if you're brave! lol)
My girls love their Baby Stella by Manhattan Toy. They are lovely and washable and you can buy clothes and cribs for them as Janey grows older and wants to dress her.
http://www.amazon.ca/Manhattan-Toy-Baby-Stella-Blonde/dp/B001DZMITW/ref=sr_1_4/188-5846019-7883038?ie=UTF8&qid=1407203775&sr=8-4&keywords=baby+stella
We have the green toys tea set and my little twins love it. I think it is everything you want from the kitchen set without the huge set! Do you have dress up hats, scarves, purses? Also homemade play dough! Have your big boys make Janey some. Ours lasts a year or so before getting a little weird. I make just one color at a time.
I have lots of little girls (a couple boys too) & as soon as I saw your question I knew I had to leave a comment! Our young daughters LOVE the Fisher Price Loving Family doll houses we have! If I could only keep a few toys, these would be in the "keep" pile. They are used EVERY day, ALL day long. I have to admit, I sometimes join them in their play too 😉 Our youngest daughter is a few weeks younger than Janey & the doll houses are among her favorite toys. Highly recommend them!
I picked up 5 different cat Beanie Babies for $1 at a garage sale and my daughter is thrilled! Best purchase ever!
My 3 year old daughter loves playing with her big brother's toys, too. However she also enjoys her Green Toys tea set, Duplos (they have some sets geared more towards girls. We have the cupcake set which we use with the basic Duplos), cash register, and Corolle baby dolls and accessories. Have fun shopping!
Bubble guns. There are bubble guns/fans with easy to use pull triggers. My 2 year old got two as a gift–she loves them!! She can easily do it herself. I second the idea of the fisher price loving family dollhouse. My just turned 2 year old plays with her older sisters dollhouse all of the time.
My two year old daughter plays with these two toys daily. Like many toddlers, she loves to put them together, hand them out, and put them back together again :). They have also been a hit with our boy toddler cousins! They are now my go-to birthday gift for toddlers.
http://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-63172-New-Cupcake-Set/dp/B006NF8J68/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1407257653&sr=8-4&keywords=cupcake+toy
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Servin-Surprises-Birthday-Set/dp/B007HVGW4I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407258009&sr=8-1&keywords=fisher+price+cake
Calico Critters are super cute animal families that you can buy houses and other accessories for or just have the little family. They are good quality and my nine year old still plays with them. If you keep an eye out, Toys R Us on line often times offers them buy one get one half off. 🙂
Hi Sarah! My son is about to turn 2 as well:) He loves his shopping cart, beeswax crayons, and this Melissa and Doug vacuum cleaner we got him recently. It really picks up things and doesn't make noise:) Also, if you like the Calico Critters there is a much more finance friendly set called "Woodzeez" available at Target. They are just as cute and a little bigger. And as always in my house books,books,books! For his big day we are getting him the pie sorting toy (amazon) where you sort by color. And some of the blocks YOU recommend. Happy early Birthday Janey!
I am going to second Baby Stella if your daughter likes dolls. They are soft and the cutest thing ever (just like Janey)!
What a smile! My daughter loved the snap and style friends at that age. http://www.fisher-price.com
How are our girls ALREADY two??!! Lu just turned two last Saturday. She loves playing with a little picnic basket, complete with a checked cloth to picnic on, the Green Toys tea set and little pretend foods. Another hit was one of those large balls at Walmart. You know the ones…their eyes light up like crazy when they see them in the store, but rarely do you ever BUY one. We bought her a pink one with stars on it and she played with it ALL day singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
How about a simple little backpack to carry all of her "stuff"? My girls loved putting in fake food, doll bottles, fisher price people, blocks, magnatiles…anything and everything!
I second many of these ideas! Dollhouse,(can be used for many little toys like barbies, ponies, even cars), mini backpack, wooden 'cutting' food from Melissa & Doug, wooden doll dress up sets, we also have one with bears with different emotions on their faces.
A blanket for the bitty baby? Maybe a bitty pillow, too?
I thought of one more thing – i don't know if anyone else suggested these, but Magna Tiles are great! The suggested age is 3, but I know a 2 1/2 year old who LOVES these!!
My daughter LOVED her plastic tea set at 2. From 2-3 it was our most used toy (ours was by green toys and really pours). I read some comments above… my daughter got a doll house at 3.5 and i think is still young for it at 4, but getting there.
Melissa and Doug cutting food. A huge hit with my toddler girls.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GKD09C/ref=s9_simh_gw_p21_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1SWDXTTVJHY8ERXXW1RN&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846
I vote for the Green Toys tea set too. Ours has gotten almost daily use the past couple years, especially during good weather. I give my daughter her own pitcher full of water to refill her teapot with and put her out on the back porch. Then she pours away to her heart's content!
I love you for many reasons Sarah, but most recently I love you for neglecting to take photos of your family vacation! (that may or may not have just happened on our vacation . . .) Abbey is looking so beautiful! Thank goodness for children who take pictures – it is one good thing about cell phones.
Our most favorite toy EVER for the 2-4 year old crowd is the the mini kick scooter. It is very expensive but very worth it! My daughter just turned two in June and she adores hers! It is very intuitive and turns when the she leans rather than by turning the handle bars. It is also just the right size for that age and very sturdy and safe. It helps her keep up with us on walks and she seems so agile on it. All the neighbors think she is so talented but it is actually the excellent product. I've never encountered a child that didn't pick up on it. They are simple and a blast for the kids. The only downside is that the kids look so grown up on them 🙁 But if you can get over that you will adore the free spirit that emerges from your child. My husband and I just love the brilliant design. We LOVE LOVE LOVE these scooters. Good luck and Happy Birthday to the lively Janey! I feel like we live double lives sometimes because my youngest daughter just turned two and she and Janey look very alike to me and do the same silly things :-). I'll send you a picture some time! Anyway, the scooters come in several different colors and two different sizes:
Here is a link to the smaller size (Micro): http://www.amazon.com/Micro-Kickboard-7640108560995-Mini-Scooter/dp/B000ES178C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407981114&sr=8-1&keywords=mini+kick+scooter
Here is a link to the larger size (Maxi): http://www.amazon.com/Maxi-Micro-Scooter-Pink-T-bar/dp/B004RP1COW/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1407981114&sr=8-10&keywords=mini+kick+scooter
We have both sizes. Some buy the larger because it is the same size as the smaller when the handlebars are on the lowest setting, but it is a bit "beefier than the smaller. The smaller, on the other hand, does not have adjustable handlebars. We still like it though because it is lighter weight and the perfect size for 2-4 year olds.
http://www.amazon.com/Green-Toys-5512754-Tea-Set/dp/B001543YEY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408119546&sr=8-1&keywords=tea+set+by+green+toys
What did you decide to get?? My Molly turns two on Aug 20. 🙂
My daughter will be 3 in December. Here is what she plays with the most: Melissa and Doug ice cream set, leap Frog picinic basket, dress up shoes and jewlrey, shopping cart, baby stroller, kitchen set, MagnaTiles, KidKraft baby cradle and baby with bottle from Target, scooter, big wheels, kitchen accessories from ToysRus like microwave, blender, mixer, etc. A fun age!
Silk scarves (for dress up, tent making & running while they float behind). My girls played with these endlessly from 2-age 10 at least.
I have really loved your blog because I completely relate with loving the "old school" toys, books, house, etc. My mom used to read these stories to me when I was little. My favorite was the story of the lamb. They were written and photographed in the mid seventies (around when we were born :-). Each and every story is beautifully photographed (before all the editing frenzy of our day). They are very simple and innocent. All my kids have LOVED the stories in this book! It is in a sweetness and nostalgic category of its own. Please trust me on this one! It would be a perfect 2 year old gift. Here is a link to it:
http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Little-Animals-Random-Picturebacks/dp/0375841776/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408648553&sr=8-1&keywords=a+big+treasury+of+little+animals