Ideas for 2 yr old and 1 yr old

[xmummy2princesx]

Hi I am planning Xmas presents 4 my boys. My eldest will be 2 1/2 and my youngest will be 11 months. I don’t have much money so don’t want to buy lots of character stuff that they’ll end up moving on from in a couple of months so any ideas of long lasting presents would be great :) thank u

I have two boys, similar age gap
Popular toys at that age were

• wooden train track. (Like Brio) Can pick up second hand or from argos/ ikea etc and are all compatible
• Happy Land- again, can pick up second hand bundle (but ELC normally have a half price sale before christmas). They have a train track to go with it
• Big vehicles like buses and tractors (and surprisingly a bin lorry) were popular in my house
• a click clack track
• theres a couple of favourite orchard toys - like bus lotto and dotty dinosaurs that were played for several years
• 2 and a half is a good age for a scooter and a balance bike

From personal experience, my first son loved toot toot cars but it was loud l, and annoying and there was never enough track to make anything decent. My second son never got to experience toot toot as id already sold it

Have thought of a few more

• Paint sticks (looks like a glue stick but paint... amazing mess free painting). They sell them on amazon but The Works have their own version
• a till. We got the Sainsbury’s one as it has a moving conveyer belt
• duplo- eldest still plays with it at 5
• a tea set

• V tech do an ice cream cart that my 2 and a half year old played with daily

I would get the eldest a really nice set of wooden blocks with it's own storage container. My kids loved theirs and played with them for years.

Thank u every1! Gr8 ideas will have a look now!!

A big bundle of second hand Duplo and a big bundle of second hand Brio. Both will last years and are very resellable.

For your youngest maybe a pushalong truck with bricks. The bricks can also compliment the Brio to make buildings or whatnot. You could probably get that second hand too.

Tbh we got so many things second hand, it's such a great idea because if it turns out they're just not into it even though that beautiful wooden rocket looks gorgeous in his bedroom then you can just sell it on and you haven't lost much!

Duplo/ mega bloks
Instruments e.g keyboard
Car garage and cars (my son loved the tech toot toot drivers sets when he was that age!)
Tech laptops
Happyland sets from elc
Balls, rugby ball
Ride on toys like a motorbike or car
Outdoor toy like slide/swing/climbing thing they could share and grow with

A kitchen was the best present for dd who is 2. She totally loves it. Ikea have wooden ones for £40, but I've seen decent second hand ones on Facebook market and places like that too.

DD loves Peppa and I picked her up a portable kitchen reduced in home bargains last week from £20 to £5 so some character stuff isn't always terribly expensive, just keep an eye out for deals

Leap frog ice cream truck was also a winner, it's £40ish usually but Argos had it reduced last Christmas to £27.

Wooden blocks, duplicating, mega blocks are all things she regularly plays with too.

There's a Christmas Bargain thread on Mumsnet that I've just joined but is really good!

Thank u will check out the bargain thread. Luv the idea of pint sticks!!

Dgs is 13 months and his favourite things are his animal figures and his board books. Neither of them were expensive and expect he will play with both for a few years.

That’s a gud idea thank u x

Melissa and doug have some nice wooden cars/vehicles, portable garage £20 on amazon at times plus car transporter with cars for around £20. I find their stuff is good and lasts. My DS enjoys these, he's 2.

My DS will be 29 months at Christmas, my list for him is:
A wooden kitchen
Pots and pans and play food
Duplo
Wooden bus
Happyland
More board books
Wooden cars
Melissa and Doug car set
Musical instruments
Aqua mat

These are ideas for family as well.

Thank u sum great ideas!