To ask you all what present did your 2 year old child like the most/get the most value out of?

[SybilRamkin]

DH and I need to buy a gift for our 2 year old niece's birthday, but don't have DC of our own and have no idea what to buy her! Something under £50 would be perfect.

Help me, oh wise MNers!

Dressing up clothes, toy kitchen, pop up tent

Colourful wooden bricks in a range of shapes...she played and played and played for years. Castles, fairy gardens, houses, zoos, elaborate buildings.
£10 at the time!

Tea set, ours has had hours of use over the last 2 years.

Duplo is easily the best value toy we have had. Still gets played with years later too.

Duplo house great, but might be quite expensive.

All of the above but be prepared for it to be ignored in favour of the box it came in.

Sand table was the best one ever but it might not be the best time of year for it!

10 yr old still plays with it when her friends aren't here

Happy land house or zoo or mouse house with figures.
Peppa pig figures and sets
Mini trampoline

Wooden food and a tea set and pots and pans. She will pretend cook on her own for hours.

Saxoflute! Much cheaper than your budget, so you might want something to go with it. I'll have a think.

The saxoflute was for my two year old who's now nearly nine. We put it away last year as he wanted to make sure it was in good condition for ds2 who was a tiny baby at the time. It was played with every day! We bought another one, the transparent one, but it wasn't as good as the normal one, so if you do get one, get the normal one.

www.amazon.co.uk/Quercetti-QA4172-Super-Saxoflute/dp/B0002CYSQ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1390675418&sr=1-1&keywords=saxoflute

Duplo definitely, DD has loved hers since she was about 18 months and we keep adding to it, at 2.5 she can play with it for literally hours at a time. DH loves it almost as much as she does!

Melissa and Doug toys are also great. Worth a browse.

my son got a play kitchen for his 2nd birthday.....he's 3.5 and it still gets played with everyday. now my 2nd son is showing an interest too - was a fabulous investment

Sorry just saw your budget ignore my kitchen post.

agree with poster who said tea set. also a cleaning set is good at this age as they like to copy mum and dad (broom/vacuume tv). As nice dump truck is fun for all ages and genders

Playdough and bits, eg rolling pins, feet/eyeballs/mouths etc these sort of thing, tools and cookie cutter shapes.

Don't bother with the big fangled machines as they jam and need a lot of cleaning and adult help.

Anything that doesn't make a noise!

Tomy Aquadraw.

It lets children play with a pen on a huge mat but the pen only has tap water in it so nothing to ruin carpets and dry out. The marks on the mat disappear when the mat starts to dry out.

Even better, it's not something big to store and encourages writing and drawing. We took it out with us when we'd visit others or go away.

www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber/3495502.htm

Happyland without a doubt. My oldest still plays with it on a daily basis and she is 4. Never tired of it, plus it can be added to over time so you don't have to think of anything next year haha

Duplo. Ikea kitchen 45 pounds!

Easel, my dd got one for christmas at 21 months and loves it. She has constant access to the chalkboard side and occasionally we paint when I forget how messy it is.

Forgot hugely obvious one...

mini micro scooter!!!

Duplo is fantastic too, my youngest are 8 and 10 and still play with it

My 4 yo DD still plays with the small baby doll she got on her first birthday. I got her a £40 wooden kitchen set from Asda when she was 2, still going strong. Also a toy till and play food have been used lots. Melissa and Doug and IKEA have been good for play food.

I got my 2yo niece a hobby horse for Xmas. She loves it.
this

Paint, brushes, paper, rollers etc (it's not your child after all!)
Drum and tambourine (see above)
Dressing up stuff, tea set, books, mini trampoline

Hobby Horse
Jigsaws
Fancy dress costume