Santa's grotto present ideas for pre-schoolers please

[AllBuggiedOut]

We have a grotto at our baby and toddler group Christmas party, and I need to buy a small gift for santa to give to the kids (who will range from birth to almost 5). Last year we did the same for all the children; a plastic, christmassy cup (from Baker Ross) with a packet of chocolate buttons inside. Any suggestions for what we could do this year? I guess we could do different things for different ages as we'll know roughly who's coming, but if I can come up with something that will suit them all that would be ideal.

Any ideas please? TIA.

Toddlers love balls and you can get those cheap little foamy/leatherette balls that come in fun colours and patterns. Not sure who sells them in bulk though.

Rubber ducks/other squirty sort of toy for bath? Hawkin's Bazaar do fun ones. Maybe a christmas themed one, with reindeer antlers or a santa hat or something? DS used to chew his as a baby and now plays with it in the bath properly. DP likes squirting me with it but DS thinks that's hilarious too!

Found this, but from USA so might be too expensive with shipping.

www.amazon.com/Dozen-Christmas-Holiday-Rubber-Favors/dp/B000E8S9WO

Ooh or how about magic flannels which you drop into water and they expand? Hawkins' Bazaar do Christmas ones (they are £1.99) and children love them. (They would be useful for babies too)

Those are lovely, BB. Will see if I can find any closer to home. I think the flannels are too expensive. Do your kids like those balls, pointyhat? Mine have had a few in party bags over the years and never play with them...

Any other ideas please?

Bump...

How about musical instruments like tamborine etc.

I was in Tesco's on Monday and I bought my toddler DS a whistle/recorder which was orignally £1 but now are 25p. They are doing things like Peppa pig plush toys and little phones for £1.50 now. We bought a few for Xmas when families drop round.

Ooh, my first thought was yes, love the recorder idea Shortie3, and then I thought of a room full of 50 toddlers, all with a whistle [shudders]. But maybe tamborines would be OK...

Yes, agree. My DS played his for about an 1 hour but luckily found his Thomas's puzzles. They also did some vehicles which were push and go's (Tesco make) for under a £1. Also, they had wooden castenet etc.

I am not sure why they are marking some items for 75% at the moment but we been popping in that aisle everytime we are in. Someone on hotdeals.com mentioned they recently did 24 tubs of playdough for under a £5 but our were out of stock.