What can I buy for a 5yo girl I've never met? All gift ideas welcome!

[HelloBeastie]

So, I'm doing this charity thing...and I foolishly thought, I can buy for a five-year-old girl, that'll be just like my 20-month-old dd. Only bigger.

But all 'age-appropriate' normally means to me is buying things that can't be swallowed - I have no idea what a five year old likes. And there is a whole world of pink sparkly fairy stuff out there confusing me. And what if she's not into girly-girly stuff?!

Can you lovely mumsnetters please help me to find a present she might actually like?

Orchard do a lot of games, some of them are educational but are also fun.

Some of the games that my DDs have had are :

Party Party

Tummy Ache

Tell the Time

Shopping list

They normally start at around £6 ish

play dough all kids love it!!

i think they all like bratz. or you could get her a book? millymollymandy? what is the charity thing, where is the girl, in uk?

5yr olds IMO are between the worlds of hair/makeup/glamour and little people/baby dolls/farms/animals etc.

many of them like High School Musical (glamour) and many of them like soft cuddly toys (animals).

I would say that you probably could not go wrong with an animal-based toy containing some 'glamour' element.

For example;
puppy or kitten in my pocket
animal hospital
polly pocket with animals
barbie with animals
animal sticker book
playmobil with animals, unicorns, etc

or they all tend to like crafty/colouring/ glittery things IMO, but not necessarily pink.

a handbag!

try next or monsoon

handbag good idea but I would say cheaper than those shops ...claire's accessories is 5-11yr old paradise

Wow, that's loads of ideas in twenty minutes, pretty much none of which I'd thought of

Thank you all, should've known asking MN was much better than standing in a toy shop looking bemused.

iheartdusty - that's the kind of age thing I was struggling with, soft toys etc seemed too young and the HSM/makeup stuff seemed too old. I did stick my head round Claire's Accessories, but I had DD with me in the pushchair and it had lots of narrow aisles and tempting dangling things so I backed rapidly away!

Yes, tis the UK, fishie, via the local women's refuge.

I will brave going into town again tomorrow, now I have some sort of clue what I'm looking for!

I do this too, I had to buy for a 10YO girl I have never met, tis bloody difficult was also through NCH/womans refuge do you live in the Highlands by any chance LOL.

5YO girl I imagine would like

Drawing materials- Pens, Glittery ones of course sketch pad and maybe a doll or something. Depenidng on budget obviously.

My soon-to-5 yo dd loves all kinds of arty stuff- ELC do a lot of "kits" eg make your own jewellery box/ design your own T-shirt. I usually stay away from things like play-doh or glitter- mums can get quite annoyed about them (due to mess factor!)

for the situation you say

a sticker/craft book? chalie and lola mags in m and s

a t-shirt from hennes

the fairy books - eg ella the emerald fairy or whatever - my 5 year old loved those with a passion

hama beads?

I agree with above orchard toys bratz all good toys here is a good website with them both and will get before xmas most things next day delivery
www.toffeeapplebaby.co.uk