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.

Sorry op but this thread has made me laugh, I came on here for some genuine ideas for my 8yo dds Christmas present

Anyway, my dd is also very outdoorsy and has asked for a metal detector, maybe your dd would like one of those? Unfortunately they don't cost £1000 though - sorry.

Think will stick with my original plans for dds Christmas presents ie playmobil, lego and a metal detector.

Maybe you could get her a trained squirrel

a late suggestion I know.. but how about a tent? can be used by the family in the garden or elsewhere or friends in years to come?

If you live in the middle of nowhere but its not your land is it ok to rip about underage on a quad or motorbike
It wouldn't be allowed where I live

she's swam with dolphins and whales already (sic)

Serious question, where has she been to swim with whales? What were they, Blue whales? Sperm whales? Narwhals? Beluga? Beaked whales? Sei whales? Humpbacks? Perhaps they were Bowheads?

I'd love to know.

They were manatee whales in Mexico. I was too scared to get in!

Yes, there is no problem with them using quads and motorbikes round here. There is very rarely members of the public around and the farmers don't mind.

I'm not sure why all the sarcastic comments. I've been on this site for ever, and know there are members from all walks of life.

Most of what my kids have is in line with their friends and neighbours. It's all outdoorsy things, and very normal for us. Sorry if that offends anyone.

Monkey, IF you are genuine, then surely you can see that asking your question to an audience that mostly don't have the expectation of spending this kind of amount of money on their children, nor even a desire to do so, is unlikely to result in very helpful comments. It makes you seem totally unaware of the rest of society or how most people view those who spend £1000 on a 5 year old or 8 year old.
You might get more helpful answers from your neighbours who have similar expectations about what is appropriate for a small child. Yes, there are differences of wealth and we all know that, but I think some of what you are saying is actually quite offensive to many people who are financially struggling......you seem to show no social awareness at all.

I maintain,that regardless of your personal wealth, trying to give everything that is available to such small children, sets them up to be discontented in future. There is nowhere left to go as they become 10 and 13 and 15 if they have had it all before they are 9. How can they then appreciate the smaller things in life? So go with the pyjamas she asked for. It is what the small girl would like and be happy with.

The lap top sounds like a really nice present. I cant afford all the things your dd has but if i had the money i definitely would.

I was going to suggest xbox one. My dd is 9 and wants x box 360 for mine craft. That will be her main present.

Sorry chocolate I don't agree.

What you don't know about me, is that last Christmas my DH was in between having tumours removed and starting chemo, and I'd literally just (days before) had a complicated miscarriage and was hospitalised. Along with my 14 year old dog dying the same week.

I may have some more disposable money than some, but I'd swap the last year for someone else's in a heartbeat.

So if I want to celebrate getting to this Christmas in a fucking over the top way, then I shall.

Lem we seem to be the only family in the world who don't own a single games console! She just wouldn't use one.

Come rain or shine, this girl is outdoors.

You don't have to justify why you want to have an indulgent christmas to anyone. I hate that. Some people can and do spend £££'s others dont. Some people get into debt as they feel the pressure to keep up and that is pants.

We spend about £150/£200 on dd2 not so much on dd1 as she has left home. We used to spend lots on her too.

What about a course of driving lessons off road?

I like the idea of a trip to London, night in a nice hotel, see a show (heard endless rave reviews about Matilda), maybe a voucher to spend in Hamleys... Be a lovely mother-daughter trip before the baby arrives

You can of course spend what you like OP I think what people are saying is that it is sometimes wise to question whether it is good for a child to be given everything its heart desires just because you can. Do your children take care of all their things, treasure them all individually and truly appreciate them? How do they 'earn' something they really really want if it is all given to them? Do you remember the pleasure (and good life lesson) to be had from saving and saving and doing little jobs until you finally had enough money for that special thing you wanted and bursting with pride when you could buy it all for yourself?

I'm sorry this is all going to sound fucking pious but there you go. I think it needs to be said somewhere along the line. Getting away from the pure pleasure of giving and receiving gifts there are of course wider concerns. Given that all children will now be growing up into a world of massive inequality, whichever side they are on, and into a world of finite resources it could be kinder in the long run to bring them up to understand that every 'thing' they own (unless created from fully recycled materials) has an ecological environmental impact that can't be made up for whilst also separating them one step further from the have-nots who make up the vast majority of the worlds population. How will your children interact socially with anyone but the tiniest slice of society when they are unable to appreciate that the things they have are actually quite astonishing to 95% of the worlds population?

My father was a wealthy man but we were not spoilt in the least and had to earn or save for special things. It was a bloody good lesson frankly even if I was dead jealous of the kids at school that were given cars for their A level results etc when my reward was a meal out at a nice restaurant. Given that I am now a single parent on a low income my ability to save money, to avoid debt and to appreciate earning any little treat I can afford is a godsend. Its interesting to think how much worse it might be for any of my spoilt classmates if the same happens to them. How will your children cope if the money suddenly dries up and everything they thought was important about birthdays and christmas turns out to be impossible to achieve? How will they have the drive to go out in life and succeed if everything is handed them on a plate?

A motorbike for a five year old?

The only answer is to get her a Range Rover then.

No doubt the OP will now come back to say DD got one of those when she was six.

I'm very sorry to hear about your bad year. As you say, all the material possessions in the world don't make up for the awful things that can happen.

I agree with what Numanoid says.

At the end of the day,of course it is your choice. However, if you go onto a public forum and ask people's opinions,you will get them. And if you express a desire to spend in a way which is alien to most, seemingly with little appreciation of that fact,you will find more opinions.

I hope that whatever you decide to get gives everyone much pleasure and they continue to get pleasure from their gifts for many years to come. One of the things I like to do, is consider different land-marks gifts I might like to give at different key points......so perhaps something like having ears pierced at 13. Maybe getting a phone at 12. Maybe some driving lessons at 17. An IPad Shuffle at about 10......they don't all have to happen right now.

Has anyone mentioned a course of sailing lessons? Quick google search comes up with a cotswold sailing club

Op, I have no where near your wealth (we live n a small terrace and my car wing mirror has fallen off my old banger ), however, I can't believe how some posters have ripped into op over the wealth.

I haven't read t as gloating or boasting, mumsnet is open to people from all walks of life, I don't see posters getting shredded saying they can' afford expensive gifts and asking for advice, so unsure, why the other end of the csale seems to be bringing out the vipers...

Op,when it comes, hope you all have a very happy christmas (and possibly noisy with the disco)

joyce thank you, but honestly, it's water off a ducks back.

You should see the pasting people get over on style and beauty if they talk about spending money on a handbag

I'm certainly not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

We live in a modest 3 bed home, just happens to be rural. It's a different way of life here, and not sure why that's so hard to understand.

Yes my 5 year old will have a motorbike and all the kit. So he can start doing proper trials and dirt cross. My children are happy, healthy, filthy and loved.

Yes we can provide them with material things, but why the hell not?

It would look stupid if I lived on an estate in inner London, but out here its the norm.

Everyone round here has big 4x4s, horses and land, it's just life.

And I'm not sure where all the 'she has everything' comments are coming from either.

I'd bet most kids have a trampoline. We have a large shed which houses skateboards, scooters and skates. Alongside buckets, ropes, swings, spades and anything else they can cause mischief in a field with.

She has a phone to correspond with her father, and an Ipad. She got marked down at school for not knowing how to use Google to find information. Hence the idea of a laptop so she can use word, excel etc.

Yes we go abroad a few times annually and she has had some fab adventures. Sorry, didn't realise we were meant to camp in a rainy field otherwise we are bad parents

Well, that turned into a rant didn't it. Anyway, some people on here really have sore arses.

I didn't ask for opinions on the contents of my purse, I asked for ideas on a large present.

I think you got quite a few, some of us were just gently questioning the need for the word 'large' in there is all.

Have you ever had the conversation with your child about 'what are the most two precious things would you save in a fire?'

I have. My adopted daughter would firstly save her first ever doll, the one I gave her when she came to me, and secondly she would save her silver charm bracelet which has teeny charms on it representing all the important people from her first few years (foster family, birth family, myself, her father and the dog) and then a charm representing what she thought was her best achievement each year, one for when she learnt to write her name, to ride a bike etc etc. Both small, both worth nothing financially, both absolutely incredibly precious.

Size and money aint everything is all people were essentially saying.

Don't have a suggestion in afraid but can you explain how and where your five-year-old is going to ride his motorbike?

You've given the impression he's going to just ride off into the countryside by himself. And is it a proper internal-combustion-engine bike you fill with petrol? Or an electric one?

They were manatee whales in Mexico

Manatees are not whales, not even close.

Might I suggest a book on zoology?

Manatees are not whales, not even close.

Don't tell her that, she'll go out and buy her DD a real whale!

Now that would be a big present.

disco lights

I am getting mine some too, which ones are you looking at - any recomendations? I have been purusing argos.

Don't have a suggestion in afraid but can you explain how and where your five-year-old is going to ride his motorbike?
Friends kids have a mini motorbike nad large fields they can ride in. Boys are 4 - 8, they all ride it.

JoyceDivision Sun 21-Sep-14 20:45:02

I agree, two years ago my DD main presents were all from Freecyle, therefore second hand and totally free.

I have no qualms whatsoever in doing this! A present fail for my eldest this birthday, is going to be re wrapped for the youngest!

I pick stuff up I see in car boots and all over the place, a huge hit one year was a £1 angel costume from Car B.

HOwever I do not read ops request in any way at all.

Op there was another thread recently about a child who truly sounded very lucky indeed, she had everything and indeed she had, the op got proper helpful responses with no sniping,

I am so sorry you have to endure such ignorant remarks from some posters.

Even after this:

What you don't know about me, is that last Christmas my DH was in between having tumours removed and starting chemo, and I'd literally just (days before) had a complicated miscarriage and was hospitalised. Along with my 14 year old dog dying the same week.

They still come on to justify themselves .

I hope you get some great disco lights, please tell us if you do! I am also on look out and will really brighten up dark january days.

HOwever I do not read ops request in any way@ at all.

@ rude problematic, boastful, in sensitve.