Birthday and christmas ideas for 2 year old?

[LyndorCake]

My son turns 2 just before Christmas and I'm absolutely stuck on what to get for him!
He loves books, cars, things on wheels, imaginative play and animals.
So far all I can think of is a play kitchen (he loves the one at nursery) but other than that, I'm stuck! Please can you lovely lot help?
I don't even know what a normal budget it! I'm thinking around £75-£100 each? Is that too much? Too little? Help :(

Well our budgets are very different last year our 4 your year old got a 400 quid professional piano and 5 other things like hunter wellies etc this year budget is a 500 quid iPad and a bike and whatever under little things I see

But if you get him a trampoline or pay for him to be a zoo keeper for the day Christmas is a time where kids should be really spoiled

A Grimms large rainbow would be great. My son loves building things with it but is also used a lot in his imaginative play-dinosaur and animal enclosures and houses etc.

Have a look at Great Little Trading Company
My daughter bought the wooden tea trolley for her nephew (one of my grandsons) and we then all bought wooden play food
Also bought an Emma Bridgewater melamine tea set
It’s now been passed on to a younger grandson and every child that visits plays with it and serves us all food and drinks
It can be wheeled round easily and will be passed on again once outgrown

We’ve bought DS a cozy coupe car for his second birthday next week (£55 from groupon but Smyths and Argos have it as well) and he’ll be getting the Ikea kitchen for Christmas (£60). My parents are getting him a play till as he loves his basket of toy food.

A play kitchen sounds lovely. Ikea do a wonderful, if noisy, set of pots and pans and great packs of cloth play food. Melissa and Doug do wooden food sets and you can find various other brands of wooden food and accessories in ELC and Lidl.

Mine were just getting interested in train sets around that age. Ikea do a great basic set that’s easy to handle. As he gets older you can add other pieces (brio, bigjigs and Thomas are all compatible).

Books to read at bedtime are a great investment.

Mine loved their pop up play tent at two; it gave them a nice illusion of privacy! And from my point of view it packed away when not in use.

A set of water play toys could be nice; some cups, a sieve, a sponge and a ball give a good range of water effects. And bath crayons if you love cleaning the tub

There’s no need to go overboard. If I’m honest one of the things I’d do differently if I could go back is to give less at Christmas, but I might be in a minority

Also, I found that stuff my son (similar age) liked at other people’s houses and nursery, he wasn’t bothered about at ours! (Hardly touches play kitchen ).

At 2 they don't necessarily need a lot, but I would go for things that will last awhile, especially as birthday and Christmas are close together. Kitchen is a good one. If he likes trains then maybe a train track like the big jiggs kind? Or get some outside things if you have a garden and keep them for the summer? Scooter or balance bike?

I found that too many presents at once was overwhelming for mine, so I would say less is more at this age.

This was us last year! I definitely agree with the above post that less is more. DD seemed overwhelmed after about 4 gifts.

We got her the Ikea kitchen with pots and pans and food. Family got her dressing up stuff. I would recommend Melissa and Doug chopping fruit or veg sets. This get played with weekly.

My DD is nearly 2 so we have the same Xmas / bday dilemma and are sticking to a similar budget. Following for ideas.

So far this is the list but haven't decided which is for which day

We've got her the Grimm's rainbow, bit of a gamble but we'll sell it on eBay (they sell really well second hand) if she doesn't like it.
Some Julia Donaldson sticker books from Aldi.
Bath toy
Book
Wooden balls
Rainbow 'silk' scarves
Tea set
Keeping my eyes peeled for a second hand play kitchen
Melissa and Doug stuff
Also got a couple of short films on DVD as she loves stick man etc and can handle 30 mins or so
Will probably get some of these which were linked on the Xmas bargain thread www.littlefootprint.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/index/?p=2&q=Lanka

My ds turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and his absolute favourite toy is a second hand wooden train set I bought off a friend when he was just a month old and set aside until now. It keeps him entertained for ages. I bought a nice box for it to go in too so it packs away nicely.
The train set is similar to this one:
www.elc.co.uk/planes-and-trains/big-city-figure-of-8-wooden-rail-set/145844.html?cgid=5564#start=11

We got his marble run for my niece. At first we built the runs for her and she'd spend hours just putting the balls down them, but she's starting to build her own and loves it. www.argos.co.uk/product/7194184
My DS doesn't have a marble run yet because he has this which takes up a lot of space but gets lots of play. www.argos.co.uk/product/7176456

My son turned 2 in November last year so we had to think of presents for his second birthday and Christmas in quick succession . The things that have been consistently played with since are: a car park and vehicles; books; Orchard toys jigsaws (Rescue Squad is good); tool bench; books; train set; Happyland sets.

This was my son’s favourite present for his 2nd birthday, which was just after Christmas, so he’d had toy overload or that point! www.fisher-price.com/en_CA/brands/littlepeople/products/Little-People-Work-Together-Construction-Site It has a remote control and plays music, I think he likes that bit the best. He also loves Marble Run.

Some great ideas, thanks!!
I definitely won't be spending £400-£500 on a 2 years old however lol.
Deffo going ahead with the toy kitchen and all the bits and bobs attached to that. We've got so much plastic in the house ATM, I'd love some more wooden toys.

My twins are two in a couple of weeks and I’ve bought them nothing yet as I’m totally stumped. They are quite behind (ones having a lot of difficulties with health and development) so there’s no imaginative play yet, plus he chews on anything wooden so I have to remove them. I’m at a complete loss.

The other twin loves duplo but already has enough of it for now.

I was thinking of some Happyland / Little People sets to see if I could start getting them interested in those.

Oh go on Lyndor, just think how much further ahead he'll be than all the poor kids who have to wait till 4 for a professional piano.

Train sets are good, tea cups and food, doll and pushchair, some simple puzzles?

Haha sleeping true! Could teach him to play Satie – Gymnopédie No.1 to help me sleep as well

Grimms Rainbow
Kaleidoscope
Clatterpillar (retro toy - see e.bay)
Wooden shapes board
Wooden blocks
Chinook helicopter (age appropriate)

If he loves books how about some audio books? The book people used to do a set of Julia Donaldson ones. They are also good for book collections, my dd loved Sue Hendra especially Dave the cat and supertato (still does at 6!) Also I highly recommend say please mr panda. My dd finds it hilarious. And if you are buying books, my dds liked it when I bought props or puppets to go with them. You can buy story sack sets but I just made my own. The puppet company have beautiful ones.

How about a personalised book? Wonderbly do amazing ones. We've got a few.

A puppet theatre was popular with my eldest dd with finger puppets.

My dds both loved their scuttlebugs around 2 and I could fold them up to put under the buggy for park trips too. Or a micro scooter with the seat attachment.

A wooden click clack track was used lots too by my girls.

Fancy dress- in particular hats, wigs and capes. Or Tabard style costumes. Plus favourite tv/film characters.

My dd got the large paw patrol truck at about 2/3 and it's still being played with now with the cars/pups.

Ooh, I am going to get them the Singing Hands DVDs - we watch their videos on YouTube and they are obsessed

Following as we have DD turning two in December!
I was thinking duplo... she already has the Ikea kitchen and loves it! She also likes her singing rocking horse (thanks auntie ), the Melissa and Doug clock puzzle and a borrowed plastic track set. My DH got her some "mathlink" blocks the other day and she's played with them constantly!

Our little one will be around the same stage by Christmas - things I'm considering at the moment are Duplo and a music table (www.love-emma.co.uk/collections/child-baby-1/products/music-table?variant=45843477194) as I think they will grow with him. Love Emma has quite a lot of nice wooden toys, and they're well priced. Can't go wrong with a bit of Melissa and Doug either!

I also quite like the sticker books from Galt (www.<a class="break-all" href="https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TLRSPK0)?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-christmas-3348187-birthday-and-christmas-ideas-for-2-year-old" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">amazon.co.uk/dp/B00TLRSPK0) and will probably get some Christmas books which are a bit more grown up so they last for future years (for example, the Christmas Busy Book and the Jolly Christmas Postman which I loved when I was a kid).

Another vote for Happyland toys here as well - we have the garage (first birthday present), and it is great - lots to do and very sturdy (puts up with our DS climbing all over it and using it to try and escape his playpen).

For something a bit different (and reasonably priced), what about an Ikea tent - www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/childrens-ikea-products/children-3-7/small-furniture/tents-canopies/ We have this one and DS loves hiding/playing in it.

Audiobooks are great, eldest loved them, youngest not so much. Ikea playkitchen great and looks ok too so don’t mind it being a permanent feature in the living room.

DS1 born week before Christmas and I must admit I am militant about separating out Xmas and birthday presents. No Xmas wrapping paper, no joint presents unless he asks.

Although seriously love I feel sorry for your child that your not willing to stretch to an iPad for him. I mean really how you could you?

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