First Birthday Present for Boys - any ideas

[RuthT]

I have to buy 2 1st bithday pressies for boys and have not an idea of what to get. I'd like to spend about 20 (ish) on each one and for it to be a decent and well recieved by parents pressie. Any ideas?

I will spend a bit more if there are any must have's....

A sandpit was the big hit for DS's 1st birthday. Also a ride-on car.

Baby stickle bricks - my 11 month old loves them! Also chunky aeroplane, cars, lorries. I know it sounds a bit gendertypical but I can't beleive how mesmorised my little boy is by boys toys when we go to some one elses house. He house an older sister and is a bit surrounded by the pink stuff at our house!

I thought a train would be good but can't find any nice ones on the web

Mothercare do a good range of wooden toys and they have a train and some building brickings

bricks are indeed good, a trip if you can manage it with the little ones to the Bear factory is also nice. Anything ride on or push along, or stackabloe. Or a paddling pool of course- ELC have some nice ones

Ds's (and now dd's) favorite toy at about 1 year was this ball popper from argos. Had his complete attention for ages, and now he 'shows' dd (just over 1 year) how to play it!

My dd got an aquadraw for her 1st birthday which she really liked. It's basically a mat that you draw on with water-filled pens. The water makes the backing on the mat change to blue, then when it dries it vanishes. It's particularly good for little ones as if they sook the pens it's only water rather then ink (and they can't mark furniture, walls etc!) so good fun for the kids and appreciated by the parents!

This site has some lovely wooden toys, including vehicles. I haven't bought from them myself, but someone on MN recommended it.

wooden Brio train track. Don't buy the actual Brio, buy Tesco/Sainsbo's/ELC lookalike (not Ikea tho).
Can get a nice set for £20 and it's an everlasting toy which grows and grows and is more or less unbreakable.
\link{http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Product.aspx/TruHome/TruLearning/TruLearningTraditional/039373|this kind of thing is nice} tho there are better ones but the ELC site isn't working for me just now.

oh pooh
like this

Trike with parent handle and harness
Sand and water table
Buggy (ELC do them in blue) but a bit cheap - only a fiver and all one year olds love them IME>

Another vote for the Brio. The thing about it is that if someone else gets them some too it doesn't matter, in fact it's brilliant.

Some 'real' Brio stuff is nice - I'd choose Tesco bridges, stations and plain track, and Brio trains - especially battery powered engines - ds has one that is a pain to get batteries into (do it yourself if you can, or get the shop to do it) but he went CRAZY with excitement about it and still loves it, it goes forwards or backwards and makes exciting bell noises/flashy lights.

I don't reckon much to trikes fwiw. By the time a child can pedal them they are too big for them ime.
Yeah, Brio trains, battery powered thomas ones! now they are expensive....but nice

Hi. like the ideas. Really like the idea of brio butit all says 3+

If I took too much notice of the 3+ thing ds would play with Duplo and nothing else (though that's always another option!) It's worth looking at the brio kits to see if they include a lot of small figures etc, as the boys MAY be the types that still put a lot in their mouths at 2, but most of the bridges, track and big trains are absolutely fine IMO. Make sure you give the receipt to the parents in an envelope in case they feel differently but I bet they don't.

sorry at 1 not 2.

Agree with using your own judgement rather than following the 3+ guidelines which are very limiting for children aged 12-35 months.

I agree that trikes aren't that much cop for peddling in general but DD absolutely loves been taken out on hers (DS's castoff from his first birthday to be precise) with the parent handle on.

My LO has the Brio My first railway and I think it was labelled as okay from 18 mths
this

Not actual trikes - but a little 'ride-on'.
A push along cart with bricks...now someone does a nice wooden one that isn't wildly expensive...where is it?

My ds loved his little people animal sounds farm ... and a set of baby einstein animal flash cards and all the boxes from the other presents!

Fisher Price little peoples sets are great - the train set was a huge hit with our ds

wooden trike? small and tasteful and can be used inside or out

My DS1 preferred the Tomy Tomica train set to the Brio when he was that age - the pieces of track click together and don't come apart as easily when he walked over them, tried to pick them up etc. I think it's more robust for a very little boy. And he still loves it with the more complex bits and pieces now he's nearly 3. He has the Brio one too, but the Tomica has been a bigger hit. Much of it is Thomas, but we started with this and have bought bits like these to go with.

Agree that ride-ons and dolls buggies are brilliant, enduring toys too.

And the vtech discovery tree is one of the best toys we've bought. Again, still played with by nearly 3 year old.

ruth T don't worry about the 3+, Brio is fine for all ages imho and even a 1yo get ssomething out of it (as long as mum builds the track!). Plus it will grow with the child and you cannot have too much (I know...)

I bought the full set of the Mr Men books for some friend's boys. You can get the whole set at a discounted rate of around £20 from the Book People. I actually bought a set for my DS when he is older.

They do something similar for Thomas the tank engine as well.

Well I think I really like the brio set - sold to the indecisive present buyer