Dolls house for 3 year old boy?

[Smomum]

I've bought DD a dolls house for his 3rd birthday in January. Its tenderleaf with thee furniture set. It looks lovely but cost £320!!!! I'm now worrying this is far too much and he may not get as much use out of it/it's more something lovely I'd like.
What would you do? Keep it? Buy a cheap one? If anyone has it and thinks its absolutely wonderful and worth it I can justify keeping it as worked some extra shifts for the money - but otherwise could buy him something smaller and use the money for many other things!

[OhBeAFineGuyKissMe]

Buy a cheaper one so he can play with it without you being worried something will get broken.

[Latenightreader]

Aldi have some really lovely dolls house furniture sets at the moment (our local branch had them earlier today). I bought my DD the outdoor set for her birthday a couple of years ago and she has played with it a lot. You could get an indoor and outdoor set plus a dolls house for under £100.

The tenderleaf dollshouses do look lovely, but seem very expensive.

[Nimbostratus100]

Have you thought about getting a Happyland dolls house?

[antshouse]

Sounds lovely but consider how you'd feel if it was decorated in finger paint or felt tip pens. Three year olds tend to get toys sticky and he might get more play value from something less expensive and wipe clean.

[HannahBee123]

I loved the Tenderleaf houses too and spent a good few weeks debating whether to buy my 3 year old DD one for Christmas. I came across some mixed reviews that put me off a little. From memory they were related to the overall construction.
In the end I decided it was a bit too pricey to risk it, especially as there are some other ones with better reviews and a bit cheaper (Le Toy Van etc).

I think for children there’s more longevity in the houses that fit a ‘Barbie’ size doll as I’ve noticed my DD has much more fun with that size. Although, I don’t think those houses are anywhere near as pretty as the Tenderleaf one.

[OhBeAFineGuyKissMe]

I would go with a Le Toy Van house - link or this one from GLTC - link

and then get the furniture set from Aldi - link or Asda - link

He will enjoy it just as much, but you won’t be as concerned with any damage.

[ASCB31]

We got a lovely one from Argos and then the people and furniture etc from Aldi and Amazon. Probably cost £130 in total

[mumarooni]

Our 3yo boy loves dolls houses. Anything with doors, small world play etc. He has access to an awesome big one at his Nains house and he will play for ages with it. More about the bits and bobs inside that keeps him busy, making a party, doing bathtime, bedtimes, baking, even rescues! All sorts. He loves using all the tiny things like mops and toilets etc. At home we live on a boat so no room for a dolls house. He has a fold up one, that looks like a book, and folds round to open into four rooms. He loves that too. At his other nans house he has a .... Door. Yup, just a door. He chose it from a charity shop when he was out with her and he plays with that loads, all sorts of reasons for little figures to go through the door (or, shock horror, NOT be able to go through the door) which he props up against different den type spaces or corners etc. So basically, if they are into it, probably anything will do. Maybe worth a cheap one to test his interest first?

[Laquila]

@mumarooni

Our 3yo boy loves dolls houses. Anything with doors, small world play etc. He has access to an awesome big one at his Nains house and he will play for ages with it. More about the bits and bobs inside that keeps him busy, making a party, doing bathtime, bedtimes, baking, even rescues! All sorts. He loves using all the tiny things like mops and toilets etc. At home we live on a boat so no room for a dolls house. He has a fold up one, that looks like a book, and folds round to open into four rooms. He loves that too. At his other nans house he has a .... Door. Yup, just a door. He chose it from a charity shop when he was out with her and he plays with that loads, all sorts of reasons for little figures to go through the door (or, shock horror, NOT be able to go through the door) which he props up against different den type spaces or corners etc. So basically, if they are into it, probably anything will do. Maybe worth a cheap one to test his interest first?

Hah my kids would have LOVED a door when they were younger 😁 it doesn't take much, does it?!

[Smomum]

Thanks everyone! Great ideas and will exchange as suggested. Just wondering, has anyone tried the mini playmobil one??
im not with his dad so no one to bounce ideas off!

[SBAM]

I just got my DS the wooden aldi one with furniture for his 3rd birthday (I think it was about £50) and his auntie got him some sylvanians to live in it.
It looks very sweet, was pretty easy to build and feels robust, which is why I went for a wooden one - he loves his sisters sylvanians but their houses and furniture are more delicate, and he’s a bit more heavy handed with toys than DD. I’m already wincing sometimes at potential chips on things, I dread to think how I’d feel if it had cost me £300.

[teaandtoastwithmarmite]

My sil got my dd a wooden one from a charity shop and then bought furniture and people. She got a lot of use from it

[FeltCarrot]

My DC are adults and no sign of grandchildren yet but, oh, how I would love to buy things from that company! We have my daughters dolls house which DH built from a kit and ELC furniture so I’m thinking the market stall and food and…

[Caspianberg]

I debated getting Ds a dolls house this Xmas. Mainly for small world play.

Ended up going down the schleich playset route. They are compatible with the animals he already has, and do tree houses, farms, vets, horse stables, Dinosaur, wildlife house and various cars etc.
We bought the tree house for €45 in sale which I think was a bargain, and grandparents bought wildlife truck. And can add over the years.

The Drewart wooden dolls house I was looking at was about €300

[Whinge]

If ever there was a present you should buy second hand it's a dolls house.

They're all over facebook marketplace, Ebay and Gumtree for a fraction of the original price, as it's a large item that people want to get rid of when their children have outgrown them.

As an additional bonus someone else has built the house for you, which is great as some of them can take hours to put together.

[sophiaabigail]

As a mom, I only want the best toys for my kids. I personally love Playmobils! My kids love playing with dolls and houses. I did some research online on the best Playmobil house for my kids and have found this rokondo.com/en-us/blog/the-best-playmobil-houses-guidebook. Hope this can help you.