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Christmas

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

Original poster

Do your DCs have a wooden play kitchen?

45 replies

Ewe · 05/10/2009 22:16

Was it a good present? Do they use it?

Thinking of getting DD (who will be almost 2) one for Christmas as she love cooking and playing in the kitchen with me. Any particular one you think is especially good?

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1974 · 05/10/2009 22:26

My dd will be 2.1 at Christmas and I have brought her this

I didn't want to spend a lot in case she doesn't play with it. I didn't really want more plastic tat either. I thought this was reasonable at £28.99 (+ 6.99 P&P).

I haven't received it yet so fingers crossed

jemart · 05/10/2009 22:27

They have a plastic one - got it last Christmas - much loved toy. My dd's are 4yrs and 2yrs.

The ones I looked at varied in price enormously from around £30 to nearly £100 and I'm guessing a nice wooden one may cost considerably more.
I would suggest you go for whatever you are best able to afford, I don't think it actually matters to the children which one they get as they will love it regardless.

1974 · 05/10/2009 22:29

This link might work better!

I see it's gone up in price now though

trixymalixy · 05/10/2009 22:31

DS has the one from john lewis. He plays with it pretty much every day and every child that visits makes a beeline for it.

Original poster
Ewe · 05/10/2009 22:32

That's really nice 1974, the wooden ones I had seen were £100+ which imo is a bit much to spend on a 2yo at Christmas!

Good to hear yours is loved jemart, I am sick of buying things that DD never touches. Rocking horse, wooden pushchair etc. Hopefully this might be a more successful purchase!

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Original poster
Ewe · 05/10/2009 22:34

I love the JL one, the red one right? Might have to tap up the GPs if I want her to have that one though. It looks quite big too, I have no play room or anything so it'll be in open plan lounge/kitchen/dining area.

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1974 · 05/10/2009 22:35

This one trixy?

It's gorgeous

mooki · 05/10/2009 22:37

I bought this one for DD for her second birthday, she likes it very much. And there's often Verbaudet offer vouchers that bring the price down or give you free postage.

StrictlySazz · 05/10/2009 22:40

Mine have a cooker and washing machine - 50p each from the car booty . Oh and they love the fact they have buttons to press with cooking noises and the washing machine goes round at different speeds for the wash/spin cycles.
Wood ones are beautiful, and i may get slated for this, but i think parents buy them more for themselves (ie they look better in the house than my crappy ones) than for what will provide entertainment for the child

trixymalixy · 05/10/2009 22:41

Yes that one 1974, but I got it on ebay for £40 , think it was a store return or something, but there was nothing wrong with it.

Northernlurker · 05/10/2009 22:44

I want to get dd3 the John Lewis one. I always wanted to get the older girls that sort of thing but we never had the room. We do now and they'll play with it with her

Original poster
Ewe · 05/10/2009 22:48

You're quite right StrictlySazz! I want a wooden one so it looks pretty... I wouldn't care if I had the space to hide it though I live in a 'minimalist' bachelor pad type flat, it needs to work

I am going to trawl ebay!

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StrictlySazz · 05/10/2009 22:54

at minimalist

My booty bargains fit right in here . And i live in a barn conversion. Sadly tis not of the Grand Designs swanky version

trixymalixy · 05/10/2009 22:55

Actually ikea have a nice one at the moment and i would highly recommend their play pots and pans etc.

ja9 · 05/10/2009 23:08

we've got one. it was dd's 2nd bday pres but i knew ds (4) would play with it too. from ebay. 3 seperate units. about £100. played with EVERY day.

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 05/10/2009 23:09

The DCs have this which is fab and fairly small, but we didn't spend anywhere near that much on it (am a bit at how much it's on sale for, actually).

WriggleJiggle · 05/10/2009 23:12

I picked up an old ikea one from a car boot sale for £5. It is fantastic, a really simple design (opening oven door, painted hobs, a few turning dials). THey play with it constantly.

Do make sure they have plenty (far more than you would think to get) food items, plus pans and other cooking implements. Alot of the things can be bought cheaply from Tesco - a baking tray, small wooden spoons, whisk, tea towel ...
For mine, its the little additions that provide the hours of 'busyness'.

1974 · 05/10/2009 23:20

Great tip Wriggle.

I have been looking at job lots of play food and thinking that dd wouldn't need all that .. but it seems she does! And I would do (almost) anything to keep her occupied for more than 5 minutes

teafortwo · 06/10/2009 00:13

www.natureetdecouvertes.com/pages/gener/ficheProduit_view.asp?uid=4&oid=9&suid=236&refArt=30133250

We gave dd this for her 2nd birthday - she was overwhelmed by it on the day... and for the past year and a half has played with it at least once most days often more than once in a day!

We put her kitchen in the hallway opposite our kitchen so we cook together!

I think the specific design isn't important but the idea of a wooden kitchen for Christmas is a great one - GO FOR IT!!!

We told all of our family what her 'big present' was going to be. For the same birhday my Nanna gave dd a tea set and my Uncle sent toy fruit and veg that she keeps in a basket beside her kitchen. Which was lovely!

I think be careful to have some extras but not too many... My dd makes food such as ice-creams and cakes out of lego, cooks buttons and coins and asks for real food and water which we tend to let her do then just bung most of the stuff in the dishwasher afterwards (the wooden pans have to be washed up by hand).

teafortwo · 06/10/2009 00:23

Ha ha ha - snap ProfessorLayton!!!

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 06/10/2009 08:56

We actually bought ours from Nature et Découvertes! Although it was only about 40? when we bought it (I think they had a sale on). I didn't realise that N&D had a website... I wonder whether they dhip overseas...

FlamingoBingo · 06/10/2009 08:59

We got a beautiful, big one off freecycle - the DDs play on it loads - a very, very good find and I would invest in one if we hadn't got one on freecycle.

NightShoe · 06/10/2009 12:08

We have this one here but our version is not as bright, it is a pastel one. It is in our kitchen and DD plays with it every day whilst I am cooking. I think that any kitchen is a fantastic present.

sarahken · 06/10/2009 12:55

We have a blue wooden one from Early learning which we got our ds for xmas a few years ago which was over £100. We wouldn't have paid that much but it was for my son and the only one I could find in wood that wasn't pink.

Vertbaudet do one (catalogue number 2210080) for £69 and if you use the code '6507 ' on checkout you will get 50% off and a free biscuit cutters and baking set, which is perfect to use in the kitchen. So the Kitchen will be just £38.50 delivered with this code. They do have it for £55.20 in the sale, but you can't use the 50% off code with this price, so only use the catalogue number I've mentioned. If you registered with another email address and name you could get the utensils and pan set for £14.50.

Original poster
Ewe · 06/10/2009 12:58

Aaah bugger! Bought the vertbaudet one this morning (well my Mum did actually) before seeing that code. Oh well, done now!

All the little extras will make excellent stocking fillers. Thanks all!

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