Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

Surprise gift hits you would never have bought

47 replies

SpringSpringTime · 06/12/2020 18:17

Trying to think outside the box here as there’s really nothing big 2.5 yo dc would want. This summer he was given a sticker book which I never ever would have picked for him but absorbed him for hours and hours. What have your kids been surprisingly in to? Feel free to chuck in examples for other family members, I haven’t done any shopping yet Grin

OP posts:
Stompythedinosaur · 06/12/2020 23:31

9yo dd1 was hugely taken by a secondhand keytar dbro showed up with for her.

When dd1 was 2 and dd2 was a baby, dd1 insisted that she would like a silicon pastry brush for christmas. Dd2 bloody loved that brush and carried it around with her for ages.

user686833 · 07/12/2020 01:08

@Stompythedinosaur one of mine was obsessed with silicone cake cases. Stacking, chewing, putting toys in, just carrying around. Endless fun.

Not so random but my DS was given a First Carrera race track toy (Scalextric alternative) for Christmas when he'd just turned 3. That was definitely the biggest hit that year, it needed a lot of help to play and we had to keep replacing the cars so I hated it but he really loved it and did have so much play out of it. It was unfortunate I'd bought him really expensive more environmentally friendly Way To Play rubber road that didn't get a look in because of the plastic race track.

Marcipex · 07/12/2020 01:19

Sindy doll’s open top car... DS aged 3 could jam a teddy into it and drive around the world having adventures.

doodlejump1980 · 07/12/2020 21:29

Stationery! My boys have used their own little sellotape dispenser pretty much every day. Random, but a big hit!!

Santaisironingwrappingpaper · 07/12/2020 21:31

Ds 15 last year loved his spider catcher!!

iwantavuvezela · 07/12/2020 21:33

Glue gun - much loved gift and used endlessly through primary school on various projects

Allgirlskidsanddogs · 07/12/2020 21:33

DD aged 4 was desperate for a mattress topper. I was dubious. 10 years on and she’s still using it.

Mrsjayy · 07/12/2020 21:35

Kids love a sticke Smile I remember years ago I bought DD,1, a magnetic drawing board really cheaply she played with it all Christmas day think it was £3!

Zakidoodles23 · 07/12/2020 21:36

DS5 had hours of fun with post it notes. Also when he was 2 he had a set of marvel nesting dolls which he played with everyday for at least a year.

LooneyLovefood · 07/12/2020 21:37

One of DS's (2.5) favourite things here is a bucket of plastic eggs that you'd hide for an Easter egg hunt. He'll happily play for ages with them - putting things in them, hiding them, finding them, guessing what's inside. Best £1.99 ever spent!

Mrsjayy · 07/12/2020 21:37

Sticker*.

Leeds2 · 07/12/2020 21:37

My niece, through the primary school years, loved her own roll of sellotape in her stocking every year.

ChristmasinJune · 07/12/2020 21:40

A big pack of garden canes and some of that bendy, rubber covered wire that holds them together....... he spent all summer building tents with them that were far, far better (in his eyes) than the actual tent that he had.

CarolinaWeeper · 07/12/2020 21:45

A feather duster..... or "tickling stick" as it's known to my now 3yo. I bought it as a sensory toy when DC was a baby but it provides lots of entertainment even now.

CarolinaWeeper · 07/12/2020 21:46

Also random but well loved present for my mum a few years ago was a magnetic shopping list she could stick to the fridge. It came with about 200 pages so she could tear her list off and take it to the shops. Cost a few quid and she always said how useful it was.

SupaTrooper · 07/12/2020 21:49

I once bought dd a playmobil castle for Christmas.

She told everyone who asked about how she'd got a triangle (the musical instrument).

Barton10 · 07/12/2020 22:02

DD loved blu tac and was very happy to get some for Christmas!

CoronaIsWatching · 07/12/2020 22:13

Ultrasonic cleaner

HeadNorth · 07/12/2020 22:19

My two both adored the plastic pretend picnic food - the type you velcro together to make sandwiches, and apple halfs that stuck together. We gradually acquired more and they played with it for years.

Ingridla · 07/12/2020 22:24

The Argos catalogue was a huge hit for my 2yr old nephew several years back, hours of fun tearing out pages!

PhantomErik · 07/12/2020 22:30

A squidgey shark toy that cost 99p has been played with all year. It split today & DS8 cried Sad

I've promised to try to repair it but will be searching for a replacement!

fourquenelles · 07/12/2020 22:36

My DGS (2 and a half) loves my dust buster so he is getting his very own from me this Christmas - a real one, not a toy version.

curlycat · 07/12/2020 22:36

For some reason it was a box of multi coloured plasters my Dd wasted anytime we went near Bodycare.
We could walk round ELC or Woolies and she wouldn't ask for a thing but every week we went home with a new box of plasters

Isadora2007 · 07/12/2020 22:41

One year I’d been pretty seriously ill and I promised myself I’d have a huge Xmas celebration to make up for it- kids were 4 and 7 and I went overboard and got them a big mamas and papas rocking horse and a GameCube respectively plus piles of presents and their stocking etc etc.

Fast forward to the return to nursery and 4 year old dd is asked about her Xmas. Does she rave about the presents and her new horse or the lavish gifts? No... she says “I got this really fun pin thing you put your hand on and it makes the shape of your hand”... one of those 3D fiddle toy things that cost like £3/4...

And it was her brothers!!! Not even hers.
Bah 🤷🏻‍♀️

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 07/12/2020 22:46

DD always asks santa for the most random present, tape one year (I bought a selection of different width and colour masking tape and washi tape), bubble wrap (I bought a huge roll of it designed for moving house and wrapped it like a cracker) and this year at 11 she's asked for pickled onions (I've bought her a huge jar like they have at the chippy). These random gifts are without fail the things she plays with / uses most. The bubble wrap kept her entertained for about 6 hours, she rolled on it, painted it, we used sellotape to make a suit of it.

At 2.5 years old Dds favourite toy was an upturned colander and giant pipecleaners shed poke through the holes. She spend hours doing it whilst half of the Early learning Centre sat in the living room untouched.

At 2.5 years I would look into play schemas (enveloping, projectile etc) , find out which one your DC is most drawn too and build their gift around that.