where do you buy TASTEFUL little girls' jewellery boxes?

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

must have a fairy princess twirling around inside, obv, so not that tasteful...

what about this?

DD has this one. Tis not too offensive. Amazon have more along these lines. Bit more expensive than a really tacky one, but kind of made of really hard cardboard/papier mache kind of material. Fairy details relatively low on the naff scale.

DD also has a blue heart shaped one the same make - santa erm, doubled up somewhat one year

Pottery Barn Kids in the US has my favourite one - plain white, with the kid's initials painted on top in pink, and a key. They don't ship to the UK, but if you have a friend in the States that's easily got round.

These are more the ones we grew up with. I had the Night Time Ballerina one as a kid. Only mine played the Sugar Plum Fairy, if memory serves.

These have most of the same stock, but there look like a few different ones there as well.

Actually this butterfly one from Pottery Barn is really pretty too, and can have painted initials, if your dd would find white a bit minimalist.

I love that store. It's like the Little White Company without the jaw dropping mark-up.

gosh, those pottery barn ones are stunning, but i'd be frightened i wouldn't get it in time. i only have a fortnight before her birthday....

thanks, you two, i'll have a pootle around amazon, i'd seen some basic boxes but i think she'd probably really like the little sections that pull out. some of them are honking, aren't they?

Got DD one from Octopus, with a matching hair brush, no twirling dolly, but it comes with a little key, and it's v v cute

ah, thankyou but no twirling dolly is a dealbreaker. (plus as you know we're a strictly tangle teazing household. )

Aww, I thought you were thinking of Christmas. Agree birthday is cutting it way too fine.

If she's little, won't she love tasteless tat? I, um, did.

i think they're all pretty tasteless, obv, but at the time when i posted that email i was finding strictly high school musical and hannah montana versions so these latest are a great improvement, ta.

Ah, yeah, that's a tat too far.

When I was a kid I longed for tat and wasn't allowed, so a boyfriend of Mum's took pity and took me to this awful dress shop and let me pick whatever I wanted. I can still remember my adoration for this polyester, petticoated, frilly, bright yellow party dress. I'm almost sure tiered lace was involved. It was the late 70s, and my mother says now that it was still the most tasteless thing she has ever seen, before or since. I LOVED it. I still remember that boyfriend with tender gratitude.

Twirly Princess

without princess but very sweet

Lillifee

ooh, that notonthehighst one is nice, ta.
lindty, whereabouts in swizzo are you? i have a pal moving to zurich, she'll not know a soul...

Try here, lucy locket is the purveyor of all things pink and girly.

www.lucylocket.com/group.php?category=10&group=145&catname=Stationery+%26+gift&grou pname=Music+%26+Jewellery+Boxes

pname=Music+%26+Jewellery+Boxes just doing ll link

Oh, I am right at the other end of the country, Aitch. Near Geneva.

Has she heard of the Yahoo Expat Moms group? That is a good group for getting info about where to live/what to do with kids etc.

One of the best thing you can do as a new expat in CH is to go along to the local International Womens groups, a bit like an international WI. They are great for making contact with other English speakers. I think there is one in Zurich. They often do things like walking groups or book groups. And you can do free German lessons there too, I would imagine.

gosh, why have i never heard of lucy locket before?

i think she knows about the int'l womens groups, she's v good at making friends actually and already forrin and speaks a zillion languages. will tell her about the yahoo group, thanks for that.

Sorry - not great at links!!
Lucy Locket are fab, you get a lot of their products in catalogues like GLTC and Letterbox.

The dressing up clothes are a bit pricey, but are really good quality and beautiful, they have lots of detail.

My girls are real fans. Hope you found something suitable for your DD.

www.shop4musicboxes.co.uk/childrens-music-boxes-1-c.asp

Is it weird that someone has linked to a picture of my DD?!

where??!

IN the corner of the not on the high street link!

Next used to sell wooden boxes with twirly ballerinas which weren't too tacky, but were tacky enough for DD to think were 'beautiful'. This was 3 years ago, though.

I've just bought DD a pink ballerina one from John Lewis with a moving musical flower for £12(its not on their website). They also had 2 other designs in their toy department, one of which I'm sure was a moving fairy/princess. Might be worth calling your local branch to see what they have.