presents for girlies

[Rian]

any ideas for christmas presents for girls, 7 & nearly five. they love Barbies, baby dolls, polly pocket etc and they just want more of the same but I'd like to widen their intersts just a little bit. Is this fair am I being mean. I just get a bit overwhelmed by the sea of plastic bits & DH is horrified at how steroetyped it all is. Also wondering whether the seven year old should be moving on a bit from this stage. She's told me she wants a dolls puschair (she already has a pram, admittedly donated by a cousin). also, what does anyone else with two girls close in age do - do you buy two of everything or get them to share?

Barbie/Polly Pocket themed craft kits?

Wouldn't worry too much about the 7 yr old though. She'll move on when she's ready (my mum says I was still into baby dolls etc at that age, despite having mountains of train sets etc bought by non gender-stereotyping relatives. I am not in any way girly now.)

Playmobil sets - supermarket, holiday home, riding school etc - or Belville Lego (princesses , castle ..), Clickits/Ello, craft sets ? Our niece who is almost 7 is into Bratz dolls (Yuk!) and there is a themed game to go with it.

echo playmobil which is great (and our two happily play with "boyish" sets as well; I've got dd the viking ship for Christmas); the disney shop have got a nice Mulan doll half price at the moment which is a bit less "full on pink" than the usual stuff; the My Scene dolls are much nicer than Bratz! M & S have raggy dolls with different outfits which are rather fun and a bit more traditional too. Also how about a CD player and some story cds? Any books by Lauren Child (who my two, 6 and 8, both adore); dressing up clothes; make up a home baking set with cookie cutters, rolling pin etc; a toy post office - these have all gone down well in our house, hope one ot two might be useful.

I'd agree with the Ello and Lego Belville suggestions. Both have plenty of scope for imagination and construction but with the kind of fairytale element that appeals to most girls this age. My dd got a Lego Belville palace last Christmas when she was four and loved it. I had to help her build it, but after that she played with it almost like a dolls house. The people are much better than usual lego people, jointed and wear clothes.
Other things would be stuff like roller boots, jump dancer, dancemat maybe?

you can get the 'girls' lego - clickits....
no experience of it but it may be worth checking out
would they like this?
HTH

thanks everyone for the suggestions, I had not realised that lego did 'girlie' stuff, also had forgotten about playmobil, although my mum has a few playmobil knights & princesses that they love playing with when we go to hers. I think I put off buying any myself by the price originally as it seemed quite expensive for what you got. However, I guess it is the kind of thing you can build on & maybe the time has come to invest!

Here is an example of the Lego Belville stuff. There are some good Belville-related games on the website, too. I also picked up lots of extras on eBay. Good luck!

My niece is 5 and loves the Bratz dolls and the Groovey Girl Dolls (Manhatten Toy Company). Can't do a link but there is a company on site called www.woodandtoy.co.uk of something.

What about a flower press? Got one for my goddaughter who's 4 from www.sleepovercompany.com for £9.99.

Rian, there were some lovely sets in Woolies and Makro last year. Box sets to make your own glass vases or mosaic or candles! They were really good i think for that age