£50-£60 budget for 2 year old - ideas?

[Bigoldhag]

Hi all,

Shopping is well underway in Chez Hag - but stuck for my goddaughter. She’ll be just over 2 and a lucky girl who gets a lot off everyone.

I want to only buy one item, that won’t take up excessive amounts of space and the budget is around £50-60. Any good suggestions? Prefer not to get experience gifts (as the other children have got something else) and regular clothing/shoes.

I did think of a dressing up chest but haven’t spotted anything in budget that looks smart. She’s starting to enjoy imagination play now, and has a kitchen set that has a tea set and play food etc that she enjoys.

Duplo

At 2 we bought my DD a John Lewis wooden train set kit for about £60 for her Father Christmas present. It was the most played with present we ever got her - literally it was played with every day for the next three years. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

(It’s the £60 set currently on the JL website by the way - 120 pieces).

Doll and pushchair?
Tool set
Gardening set
Playmobil 123

Duplo set. Drs set

Toy shop?
Doll and pushchair
Happyland

Balance bike?

Microscooter

www.micro-scooters.co.uk/mini-classic-free-light.html

These are really good quality and easy to steer. Just slightly over at £62.95. Family can then get the accessories like helmet and bag as gifts.

Toy workbench or toy kitchen if she doesn't already have

The leapfrog ice cream cart has been a favourite for my dd who is 2!

Maybe ask her parents?

I know that's the boring option, but it saves the hassle of duplicate presents and there will almost certainly be something she has her eye on.

Another vote for duplo
Or
Playmobil 123

@foxgoosefinch

At 2 we bought my DD a John Lewis wooden train set kit for about £60 for her Father Christmas present. It was the most played with present we ever got her - literally it was played with every day for the next three years. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

I second this! Also our most played with toy by DD and DS, and you can keep adding bits as the years go by, especially as all the different brands fit together. Ours ended up massive! We had bits from Brio, Ikea, Tesco, Lidl, Big Jigs and probably John Lewis too.

It was our most played with toy by visiting adults too, they'd actually play with the train set with the DC, which the DC loved, and which didn't really happen with other toys except perhaps lego from time to time.

Duplo is a good call too :)

Duplo could be a good shout and will look up the JL trainset.

Not fussed on outdoor items as she will get those from Father Christmas/her parents.

@BlackShadowCat I don’t need to - well versed enough to know what she has already and what the key people in her life would intend to buy. Hoping suggestions will just trigger my lightbulb moment as I know what she enjoys to do (although she grows and changes like noone’s business!)

Duplo train set. It's a battery operated train which recognises commands when it goes over the controls like making noises, stop and start. It's about £60.

My 5 and 8 year olds still play with our duplo. Toy cars and garage also have had years and years of play.

About half your budget, but one of my DDs got a Melissa and Doug vet set around that age. She is 5yo now, and still plays with it along with my 7yo.
What play food does she have with the kitchen? If she doesn't already have it, there are wooden fruit/veg/pizzas/cakes that velcro together and can be 'chopped'. These also provided hours of fun at the toddler stage.

My little one loves Schleich animals and has had thousands of hours of play with them since 1! I vote for them!

I love the Melissa and Doug wooden ice cream counter set, pizzeria set and sandwich counter set. They're each around £40. They're not huge and they'd last for years.

Thank you all, some great ideas! Going to research duplo, melissa and doug and the train set from JL, plus continue research on dressing up kits!

LEGO always a winner and with so much play value, it can simply be stacked and knocked down or made into models using instructions or their imagination. Play dough and the activity sets that are available, ice cream making, pizza press etc.

Leapfrog ice cream cart is perfect. It's around £40 on Amazon at the moment

Ive got a two year old. On the Christmas list we have:
Magnetic tiles
A kids camera
This balance play thing www.decathlon.co.uk/p/baby-gym-balance-kit-ages-2-to-6/_/R-p-307098?mc=8545074

Recent big hits we already own are
The wooden train kit already mentioned
A scooter
A balance bike
Splash pad/paddling pool (I know not very Christmassy but useful all the same)
A garden tool set

We also LOVE getting visitor memberships, tickets and lessons as gifts.

A Grimm's rainbow 🌈