What to get for fifth birthday when DD1 does not need ANYTHING?

[Riponite]

DD1 has her fifth birthday in two weeks. I am completely at a loss to find something for her to unwrap. She spends most of her time writing, drawing or doing craft. She has more craft supplies than we have anywhere to put and does not want or need more. I have found one pack of nice Crayola pens in interesting colours. Her favourite toys are the baby dolls and their thousands of clothes and accessories - almost all secondhand and absolutely not needing more - and Playmobil, where they really seem happy with the sets that they have.

She has four bookcases full of books, secondhand or mine as a girl, which she reads constantly and my mother and I top up all the time as we find books we need in charity shops.

I have walked round the toyshop (a good one) going nasty, too old, too young, got one, absolutely not.

I am thinking a packet of felt tips, a T shirt and a voucher for an ice cream sundae!
Is this mean? I am not a believer in buying 'big' presents for the sake: for Christmas she had a new bicycle because she had grown out of the other and her sister had grown into it.

my 6yr old loves her scooter?

I don't tend to buy the kids presents as we pay for the party/cake etc

How about having a look if there's a suitable show at the local theatre to go to, and give the tickets as a present? My dd's were/are exactly the same as yours but I found that they really enjoyed being given an "experience" from this age onwards.

well ds is mad about his diablo
plays with it all the time
as do all the kids at school

game

nintendo ds

It isn't mean at all. Most kids have far too much stuff. We don't do "things" - we do treats/memories/experiences.

Nothing at all wrong with the items you are thinking of. I don't get this 'buying big presents for the sake of it' thing at all. Buy her something little to open and take her out for a little treat - sorted.

If you want a couple more ideas -

• icing, wooden spoon, cupcake cases and sprinkles so she can make cakes;
• brolly and wellies;
• hair clips;
• a secret diary with a key;
• some seeds and a plant pot;
• a bunch of flowers (seriously - somebody bought my dd1 a bunch of daffs at about that age and she was delighted!).

Is there anything she might grow into - ie. for outdoors or sports or something? How about some craft/art classes -though you will of course have to keep dragging her to them...

We have recently had the same problem with DD3, she has two older sisters, we have a house full of toys and she and really didn't need anything. I did exactly the same walk around the toy shop and felt I was just buying things for the sake of it. So we didn't. We just bought little bits and pieces like a a pair of "clippy cloppy" toy shoes (which DD2 has in the dressing up box and will never share!) and a little bag for life with toy food in from tesco. Things that cost practically nothing and she was thrilled. I had felt mean too but DP told me not to be so silly! And he was right, but I didn't tell him

I agree with others that there is no need at all for a big present.

If you want ideas there are some lovely things on here Myriad for unusual interesting craft and art stuff.

Would she like:
dressing up clothes
skipping rope
space hopper
roller skates
Fuzzy Felt
a beautiful tea set
a special picnic set
play tent
finger puppets and small theatre

She'll get things from other members of the family so I think she won't even notice she's not getting much from us - but theatre tickets are a good idea. I'll have to look out for something suitable. Or she may well end up with the ice cream sundae IOU!

Lovely lists of lovely things. I cringe to admit that we have pretty much all of them...

Flowers is a nice idea, she used to love getting flowers from the market on Saturday as a reward for reasonable toy tidiness but it fell by the wayside when little sis and glass vases weren't compatible.

And I'll paint her a T-shirt.

Anything for her bike?

ds2 got a Star Wars bike bell from us for his 5th birthday. Cost 3.99. Enjoyment was huge, and still is.

It's his 6th birthday in a few weeks and he's getting a womery thing! Again not expensive (although rather more than the bike bell) but he really wants a pet and because of allergies can't have fluffy things in the house. It was worms or a goldfish.

In fact, would your dd like a goldfish?

Or I like the plants idea.

Ooh yes, we got the dds bicycle bells at around that age which went down well.

How about buying a picture frame and making her a special picture for her bedroom?

Or buying her a sundae glass, some mini marshmallows etc to make an icecream sundae?

Ds has just turned five and he was given so much from his gps and friends at his party we didn't buy anything extra. He has so much already plus it meant we could concentrate on a great party.

Something small is fine.