Help needed with ideas for 1st birthday present for good friends DDs....

[PutThatInYourPipeandSmokeIt]

I have absolutely no idea whether to buy a toy / clothes or something else...... what did you most appreciate for your 1 year old????

a really cute '1' longsleeved top?

What is your budget?

Great big pile of paper, crayons, painting bib etc in a storage box.
Thats what everyone gets from me

books.
i always buy books for kids.
i do love childrens books anyway.
but you cant go wrong with a book, i say.
very improving too

tip: you can type the kids name in as a search on amazon, then narrow the search by age range and find a kids book with their own name in title (sometimes), which goes down well at times. mind you, i got an Angus one for one of mine and its a bit scary as nightime stories go!

DD just turned one. Her two fav presents were:
A big crow puppet that crows when you squeeze its beak. Every adult finds it frightening as it is a huge, shaggy blag bird. DD screams with laughter at the sight of it and constantly hands it to people so they can make it crow.
A painted wooden cow on wheels attached to a stick so she can push it along.

I don't know what my budget is - I don't want to be mean or go over the top!! I quite like the idea of the craft box - I'm very in to crafts BUT is that too young for a 1 up to 2 year old???? I'm hopeless!

What about this

[http://www.oodlesoftoys.co.uk/index.php?page=toy&tid=9975&maincat=3]

DD2's godmother gave her a plate, bowl and cutlery set with Winnie the Pooh on. It was nice to get something that wasn't a toy (got too many already) and we used it every day, so it reminded us of her, which was nice.

For my friends, I always get them the 2 books that DS loved at that age - we spent hours and hours reading them.

I like it when

doggies

If it is for someone particularly close, I might buy something else too.

Gosh these ideas are great and the two girls I have in mind are very different, so it's great to have these suggestions. I'm going to end up pointing the grannies to this thread when it comes to DDs birthay!!