Big present for 6yo DD

[Mavissdaviss]

DD turns 6 soon. Usually for her birthday I like to buy her one ‘wow’ present that she’ll be surprised and really excited about. Something that I know she’ll love and get a lot of use out of. I really can’t think of anything this year. Past successes have been a bike and a karaoke machine. She uses them both all the time. She loves singing, dancing, crafts, dressing up etc.

DH thinks we should just go to a toy shop and let her choose some things but I hate that idea. We’ll end up with plastic crap that she will love for a day or 2. She’ll get lots of little things from family and friends and lots of it gets forgotten about as she has older sisters and all of their old toys are available for her to play with.

any ideas very welcome!

Does she have a dolls house? Hours of fun and other people could add to it with furniture sets, tiny dolls, other miniature items.

Watching for ideas. But off the top of my head for suggestions:

Barbie Dream House
A dressing up rail with some new outfits
Scooter

Thanks for the suggestions. She’s never really been into role play or dolls houses (my other kids have but not so much her). She has a scooter and a dressing up rail.

Trampoline
Schleich Horse/Animal sets
'Real' baby doll, pushchair etc
An experience rather than a present

So for my younger nieces christmas this year I've bought them a (second hand) Tonies box each.
If she likes stories then it'd be good. They also do a figure that you can put music onto so they can listen to what they want independantly.

Does she have a Yoto player? If not, I recommend a Yoto mini. They're brilliant. Much better than Tonies for older ones.

Call me old fashioned...

I get that she uses some of the things you've bought her a lot, but would an experience of some sort not be more impactful now she's a bit older/will retain memories? She'll get "stuff" from other people like you say, why not give her something really memorable that she can look back on for life? I used to love certain toys as a kid but I'm much more appreciative of the times I had together with my mum than the stuff she bought me.

Probably not helpful, but we've stopped giving big presents as my son never really wants anything.

Instead, we do a trip of some sort. For his birthday this year, we stayed over at a theme park (his absolute favourite thing to do). So, a big "wow" present for him.

Would she enjoy something like that?

Go kart

We did a chessington stay over for Dts when they were 6, they loved it. They've got enough stuff already.

Kidizoom Studio
Dressing table www.littlehelper.co.uk/products/girls-childrens-dressing-table-and-stool-vanity-unit-white
Keyboard
Teepee with fairy lights
Acelufly dance mat

I’ll second the Yoto player - best thing I’ve ever bought my son. I’m not really one for giving a ‘main present’ unless there is something I know he’ll love and enjoy but this was an exception, and it was so successful that 2 months later I bought him the mini too! (They hadn’t released the mini when I first bought it - for a 6yo I’d probably just go straight for the mini unless you really want the gro-clock type features.

It gives him so much independence with listening to audiobooks and definitely helps as an alternative to screen time.

what age is yoto player for please? i had considered it for 6 year old, but thought would be too young for her? given it's quite expensive i would like something that would last a few years

She uses our alexa to listen to stories so I don’t think something like that would get her excited. We don’t really have to space for a trampoline.

Yes, a theme park visit or a holiday announcement might be exciting and will do something like that but I do want something that she can physically open and will love. It doesn’t have to be expensive. One year I bought her art mad older DD some drawers and filled them up with arts and crafts things and she lost her mind!

Definitely not - especially the mini. My son is now 9 and has had his for nearly 2 years. There are lots of story cards available via Yoto for older children, they seem to be bringing out more for that 8-12 group all the time - but we also use borrowbox to loan stories from the library. I put them on a Yoto MYO card so that he can listen to them independently (if he was using borrowbox on my phone or a tablet he’d be much more likely to get distracted into playing a game or something) and that way he has a pretty much unlimited supply of new stories. He also makes up/records his own stories and then I link those to a MYO card so he can listen back. It’s hilarious listening to him chuckling away as he listens to himself 😆Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions x

The Yoto mini has a few advantages over Alexa: it's very portable and can be used without Wifi, so it's great for long journeys; all the content is child-safe, and there's some great content for children including the Yoto Daily podcast (which my 6yo loves). Plus it can be used with headphones which can be a positive if different people want to listen to different things at the same time or if like me your child is listening to Peppa Pig audiobooks on repeat and you're losing the will.