What are you getting your 3 or 4yr old for their main present?

[SlinkyB]

I'm stuck! Was going to get my son some Lego Juniors, to start him on his Lego journey (he has Mega Bloks and a little tiny bit of Duplo) but I've made the mistake of telling family, who are now getting him three sets between them.

I don't want to bombard him on Christmas Day with tooooo much Lego Juniors, so that he doesn't appreciate/play with each set individually (yy, I know it'll all end up in a big bucket mixed up eventually, but I'd like for him me to be able to make each set up separately for a few days at least).

He'll be four at the end of Jan, so we can always buy him one of the bigger Lego Junior sets then.

What is everyone else getting? He keeps asking for nasty plastic crap he sees on tv adverts (groan) like Mousetrap or that Play Doh launcher game, but we're not keen.

Budget is up to £70. Any tips appreciated! (friends are buying theirs a bike, but he already has a balance and pedal bike from his last birthday).

A bike for my 3.5 year old, she learnt to pedal my nieces bike over the summer so she's going to be so excited to have one of her own!

A kids digital camera?

DS turned 3 last Sunday, he got a bike. For Christmas he is getting a Wendy house. Both second hand, both in good nick.

He has also got some Playmobile coming from relatives. He hates Lego and building things, he is just getting interested in figures.

Oh, and he also got a €4 wind up torch from Ikea and bloody LOVES it! Got the idea off MN he keeps turning all the lights off and running around, looking in drawers, under the sofa etc.

Chalkboard and chalks, paints, new paintbrushes etc.

Hth

DS is 6 now, but thinking back to presents well received that had a bit of longevity:

Anything octonauts
Playmobil (pirates, zoo, dinosaurs)
CD player
Puppet theatre
Dressing up clothes
Imaginext toys (castle, batcave etc.)
Thomas take n play
Scooter

An Octopod and (another) Gup to add to his collection.

He'll have a whole ton of other stuff too, some from us and some from family.

3.4 year old ds is getting an Easel and art stuff from us, but he has only asked for one thing which his grandad is buying and that's a cd player. He'll be so obsessed with that he'll probably ignore all other presents!

With that budget and a january birthday, what about putting it towards something like a trampoline llater in the year? I've got a january birthday and it was rubbish getting all presents in one end of the year.

Other ideas:
dressing up stuff
Wooden railway stuff
Kitchen and accessories (ds is really getting into his, bought last Xmas)

Or experience type presents? Panto, theatre etc and small related item to open? Or comic subscription? The cbeebie one is good.

Another idea, not costing much but I know he'll love, is a photo album of pictures from his year. Mostly of him, which he'll love!

Octopod and Gup
Playmobil campervan

He is also getting some Lego juniors, but as he needs help with it I'm holding some back for his birthday in a few months.

I was really tempted by a lot of playmobil stuff, went with what I thought he'd get most play out of and that was a bit different to some of his other things, but they do a really nice fire engine, police van etc.

My ds will be 4 at the start of March. For Christmas his main gifts (from FC, me and family) will be interactive dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Train programme (he is dinosaur mad), the Playmobil Noah's Ark, Thomas Take n Play sets (he's not had this before but loved it when we went to visit family) and a Jake & the Neverland Pirates ship (a very recent new interest for him).

I'm saving Lego Juniors and other Playmobil sets until next Christmas.

Just 3.

Playmobil digger, Cranky crane and wooden railway bits and bobs, Tomy pop up pirate. GPs are getting an imaginex helicopter

Dd2 is 3 and her main (as in biggest) present is a big marble run because she will love it, it wasn't expensive but she already has all the big things, bike, scooter, dolls house etc.

Wooden railway excellent idea

My ds was 4 in June and is having the lego police station which he will need help with. He is also getting a dinosaur excavation kit, ninja turtles motorbike thing and a Nerf crossbow.

How about a scooter? My ds loves his micro scooter.

DS 3 - will be 4 in April and already getting really into "proper" Lego, has been building with Duplo for a while and we've skipped the Lego juniors bit.
So now he'll be getting Lego Knights castle and a Lego digger from family as well as Playmobil fire engine and Imaginext Batcave (this is mixture of us and grandparents) oh and a buzz lightyear toy... Looking at it now all sounds like rather a lot (too much).

For his birthday he'll be getting an art easel from Ikea with black one side and white board other side, and chalks, pens etc
He also has the Ikea kitchen which seems to be so popular and he's had quite a bit of play out of that.

Ds is 4 in June and is getting a big marble run and more train track/trains to add to his huge collection! Lots of suspension bridges from eBay.

My 3 and 4 year olds are both getting Micro-scooters and matching helmets. This is more what DD2 wants than DD1 but if we don't get them the same there will be hell to pay DD1 will love it when she sees it though

Highly recommend Micro scooters, my daughter rode hers nearly every day and then at 6 went onto a Maxi Micro, cost per use it is the most value for money present we have ever bought.

Family have bought:
Disney Cars Stunt Car race track
Octonauts bath toy
Lego set
Light saber
Main present from us is an addition to his TrackMaster Thomas set.

My DS 3yrs 9mnths is getting Playmobil construction vehicle sets :)

DD is getting the Playmobil School as her main present.

Toy Story T Rex
Vtech Toot Toot Parking Tower
Small Nerf Dart Gun
Little Live Pet Bird (blue)
Lego Junior Spider-Man Set

Thanks for all the suggestions! After reading the first few replies last night before bed, I realised how spoilt ds is as he already has a scooter, balance bike and proper bike (two out of three second-hand though).

He isn't really into Octonauts or Thomas the Tank...or anyone in particular atm. He started the year loving Ben and Holly and Fireman Sam, then went onto Doc McStuffins, Curious George...then back to CBeebies. Such a fickle child!

He has the Ikea kitchen, and the easel with plenty of craft bits. Also the toot-toot drivers track set and vehicles, though feel they're a bit young for him now so will probably pass these down to ds2 who's 1 in January (I know, two January babies).

A torch and some den-building/dress up stuff sounds like a good plan, but not really a 'main present' from Santa. Will have a look at Playmobil playsets as he does love playing with his cousin's. He has soooo many figures though as he gets lots of hand-me-downs from family, but he does enjoy playing with them.

Pop-up-Pirate is a good shout, forgot I'd already added it to his Amazon wishlist.

I'm trying to avoid Nerf for a few more years

He usually gets money and Toys R Us vouchers from extended family, which we spend in the spring/summer on outdoor toys. Will look into a Micro scooter then as his old scooter is a bit battered.

Some sort of play tent to be his den?
Orchard Toys games
A wind-up torch?