Big present for an 8 year old girl?

[monkeyfacegrace]

I have a thread elsewhere but thought this am appropriate place to ask.

DD is a very outdoorsy girl. Likes riding, bikes, climbing trees.
Has a phone, tablet etc.

What the Jeff can I get her for a big main present? I'm totally stumped.

How do you feel about her going away on her own (or with a friend)? PGL run residential adventure holidays
www.pgl.co.uk/en-GB/Adventure-Holidays

Also (genuine suggestion not being snippy) I was one of four and although we didn't get many presents (it was the sixties/seventies so different then) occasionally one of us got a 'big' present such as a bike and if that happened, the others just had to suck it up as it balanced out over the years ifyswim. Not a bad life lesson really.

swimming with dolphins?

Kohinoor diamond?

Slave?

Im.planning on doing "big gifts" for birthdays only and Christmas is stockigs amd little treaty bits.

Pgl holidays are brilliant!

I'm sure you are being entirely sarcastic bu she's swam with dolphins and whales already, and I'm her slave

Pgl sounds ace but I can't do it as I'm pregnant and she won't want to go alone.

Have you asked her what she wants? The value may not be important if it something she truly wants.

Yes, I would definitely move away from the idea that the presents for the 2 kids have to be of the same monetary value. Sometimes a child needs/wants a big value present and sometimes they don't. Don't look to get stuff just for the sake of it. Surely that develops the wrong kind of attitudes and values towards 'stuff'.

Some years my DS has had a big gift. Other years just very small things, because there wasn't anything specific he wanted or needed. It has been fine. The kids get a new bike at the point they need it, or driving lessons etc. but these are not very year.

She says she just wants a pair of pyjamas and a happy Christmas, bless her.

But how can I produce a motorbike for ds and then a pile of little things for her?

Value wise they don't have to be the same, but £50 against £1000 is going to look really unfair. And I'm not just buying ds a motorbike for a reason other than Christmas.

I like the tree house idea. We don't have the space though, very small garden

My DD had a "keeper for a day" experience as her birthday present (9). She loved it. Hers was at www.annaswelshzoo.co.uk/ this zoo, but others may well do something similar.

How about a day learning Falconry or something similar - an experience rather than a present. Look up Red Letter Day stuff.

If she'd like a quad bike would she not like a motorbike, same as her brother?

Yeah she probably would. A motorbike seems even more dangerous than a quad though! Ds is only 5, but a lot more physically able.

We will probably end up buying one of each so they can muck around on either

Tbh, if she is 5 she really won't know the difference in value. It is only you that knows it. Are you able to move beyond the monetary worth of the present?
Get her the pyjamas and lots of little bits. Small children love the little bits, such as sticker dolly books, fancy glitter pens, playmobil characters, sylvanian characters etc.
When children are small, I think they are more likely to complain that they have FEWER presents than someone else, rather than comment on the monetary value of them. Lots of small things is often more valued than a big thing.
And regarding all the experiences etc. although they are lovely, you need to leave somewhere to go with gifts for the next 10+ years of childhood. Don't try to give everything now....there won't be anything left to give later. And having everything very young is likely to breed an attitude of disappointment in a child,who always expects bigger and better, which isn't possible if they have everything.

The more I read this, the more I think it is a wind-up.
Really! 8 year old who has swum with dolphins and has nearly every other lovely thing mentioned here....and whose mother can only think about the monetary value of the presents, rather than what the girl has actually asked for! Surely no-one really gives their child everything before they are 8 and actually thinks that the monetary worth is the key issue?? And then says they will buy a motorbike and a quad bike and sighs.

Anyone else think this a wind-up or is this for real?

I don't understand where they will be riding the motorbike and quadbike if you have such a small garden.

at me not being real, I've been here for yonks and yonks.

The sigh being that I don't want two bloody huge machines to store.

We don't have garden but live in the middle of nowhere in the Cotswolds, I can literally open my front door and they can tank up the hills no problem. I just can't build a tree house as it's not my land.

DD is 8, it's DS that is 5.

Surely no-one really gives their child everything before they are 8 and actually thinks that the monetary worth is the key issue??

Sadly, I think the OP is for real.

OP, if you don't have space, then don't buy either of them. Your children will be just as happy with smaller, more modest presents.

I think it's a wind up too.

A pony

My 8 year old rarely gets a big present, she is happier with several smaller things, this year she has asked for a electric guitar and Shopkins, she's also getting a crystal growing kit and a few other science type kits, luckily her sister is getting a tablet so there won't be any huge gifts this year, we have got to the stage where less is more.

Has she got a iPad or kindle? Maybe vouchers for a activity or a night away ( see a show and stay in a hotel ).

I think most 8 year olds would be happy with a few craft kits, a onesie and some books .

She doesn't have 'everything'

I wasn't asking for judgement, I was asking for ideas.

Yes she has an Ipad.

Show is a good idea, I think Charlie and Choc factory is on in London at the moment isn't it? Will have a look.

Pony has a mouth so answer is no! She can borrow her friends.

I think it's only fair your DD has a motorbike if her brother has one.

Pony?

iPhone 6?

Dog?

Go cart?