I’m kinda stuck for ideas for my daughter’s Christmas present. She’s 8 and is quite the pretty-princess type of girl.
On the other hand, she has too many dolls, stuffed toys, and *girlie *stuff already.
I need ideas for a gift that isn’t all pink and pretty but still would interest a young girl. So far I have a Rubik’s Cube electronic game, a DVD, and a bead kit from Michaels. I’d lke to add one more item that isn’t pink, stuffed, bejeweled, or related to dolls.
Ideas?
No help, sorry, but I have a 9 year old niece and will be watching this thread carefully. 
A bedazzler?
How about a book? I’m not sure what the younger set is reading these days, or if your daughter is a big reader, but books are always fun. Or at least I think so.
Make her a CD of good, but appropriate, music so she can dance to it.
NOT THAT KIDZ BOP STUFF!!!
Is 8 too young for a Harry Potter book?
Legos.
I’d go with art supplies. A large pad of paper (or two), a set of markers, colored pencils, crayons and watercolors.
You can find good ones at craft stores. Something along these lines.
Webkinz are wildly popular among that crowd. They’re stuffed animals, but they come with a code to log onto a website, and the kids can set up their IDs and share with friends. Though they are stuffed animals, so that might knock that off your list.
Polly Pockets (dolls, sort of, but tiny). Littlest Pet Shop.
Does your daughter have a Nintendo DS? If so - Nintendogs is a huge hit.
The suggestions for crafts are good ones. They can make all sorts of fun things and Michael’s is a terrific source.
Fabric pens and a couple of plain T-shirts?
Music as someone suggested: My daughter (age 10) and the other Scouts in her troop zoom right in on my Weird Al Yankovic music when I’m driving them somewhere and bring out the iPod. 8 might be a bit young, or might not; you’d have to be the judge. Of course, my daughter also loves Da Vinci’s Notebook. I’m teaching her some very eclectic musical tastes
I’m a guy and I have all brothers and all male cousins so I have no idea.
But Targert recommends these toys for 8-9 yr old girls.
http://www.target.com/b/ref=sc_iw_r_12_0/601-3941908-6469743?node=236157011
They have a Dance Dance Revolution game that is on DVD. I would get this for me if I didn’t live in an upstairs apartment. It’s fun and exercisey.
My daughter’s seven and has read them all. Yes, I am bragging.
If she’s too young for Harry Potter, maybe Narnia would be a better fit. Mine also enjoys comic books–Marvel and DC each have several books with the code-word “Adventures” in the titles, to signal that they’re suitable for children. Another comic series that we’re working our way through is Bone. It was first published in black-and-white years ago, but the creator is slowly coloring it for collected books. He’s up to volume six of nine.
Narnia might be a good call. I was in about third or fourth grade when I started reading them myself.
I also live in an apartment, but I want that DDR DVD!
Craft kits.
I LOVED getting them as a kid.
For books, maybe A Wrinkle in Time? I think I read that for the first time about that age.
I’m just trying to puzzle out what to get my son. sighs
Tamagotchis are fun around that age. They cost about $15.00 and two would be nice, since they can “play” together.
For my niece’s birthday earlier this year her mother (my sister) recommended I get her a gift subscription to “American Girl” magazine.
She loves it. I’ve renewed the gift subscription as one of my Christmas gifts for her.
My sister is also really happy with it; she says the content is very good quality.
It’s targeted for your daughter’s age. (Specifically, the age range it’s intended for is 8 to 12.) Here’s a link: http://www.americangirl.com/agmg/
I loved getting magazines at that age. I got American Girl and New Moon (http://www.newmoon.org/). New Moon was my favorite.
I’d go with a complete palette of the ready-mixed tempera paints in the big 16 oz. bottles. Those carefully packaged teeny Crayola containers of tempera paints they sell at Wal-Mart by the markers and crayons are idiotic and footling, and useless for any serious Art with a capital A. You don’t get very far with your magnum opus with only a couple tablespoons of paint.
Get her a couple reams of nice white drawing paper, too, as watercolor paper is too expensive for the supremely disposable flood of crude pix of horses and rainbows she’s about to inundate the world with. Construction paper, typing paper, and copy machine paper will just buckle and collapse as soon as they get wet.
And a selection of paintbrushes.
And, here’s the part that makes the whole thing really rock: get her a package of plastic 3 oz. Solo bathroom cups, to put the paint in, instead of a classic artist’s palette. When you’re eight, and ya wanna fill the world with paintings of rainbows and horses, you need big gobs and swoshes of paint, not dribs and drabs in some sort of weenie palette.
They have to be plastic cups, because paper bathroom cups will just soak up the paint and get soggy. And get her at least an entire package, because that way she can mix as many shades of “pink” as she requires [sigh :rolleyes: 
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How about some Sea Monkeys? Those are fun.
When I was about her age I LOVED my Legos, and I loved them for many years to follow. I also loved Lincoln Logs and the Erector Set.
Eight might be a good time to start a diary. Get her a fancy pen and a nice notebook. She might also enjoy access to a computer to write some stories of her own.
Diana Wynne Jones has some excellent books which are accessible to kids, which adults can enjoy too. I began reading longer books to my daughter at about 7 or 8, a chapter each night. It helped to settle her down for bedtime. Of course the Little House books are good for this too (and might give her a notion about how non-princesses lived in the Olden Times).
I’m going to go against your wishes and suggest a tiara and/or a feather boa. Yes, it’s pretty princess girly girl stuff, but it’s also dress up material, which can lead to active fantasy play.
Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends (And if your family has it–good on you–his follow on collection that is nearly as good: A Light in the Attic.)
In fact most of Shel’s stuff is great, although some of it is uneven. (However, I would not give an eight year old Different Dances.)
This is a problem with technology, not enough catalogs like when I was younger.
When I was 8 you’d know just what I wanted because I’d present you with a catalog with my choices circled.