How quickly time passes. It’s my niece’s 5th birthday soon and I’m scratching my head as to what to get her, both for her birthday and for Christmas. A joint present is most definitely not on.
She’s just started school and is learning to read and write.
What’s your style? Are you looking for books? Enrichment type gifts? Musical stuff? Or are you the cool Uncle who can be counted on for the all-out-retail-crap that kids crave and no good parent will put money toward? (Bratz, Monster high, etc.)
Give us a little more to go on, please?
I think little girls are so easy to buy for. Of course, it does depend on the girl, but my Amara loves Barbies, Princess dresses for herself, shiny shoes. Hair doodads, pretend makeup. But she is a girly girl.
Drawing and coloring stuff might be liked. If you want to spend a bit more, a ds3 or game boy type thing can offer hours of fun.
But if you can ask her, if she’s like mine, she’d be happy to make you a looooong list!
How much are you looking to spend? I know I could always count on my uncle for “Cool” presents. I like to lean towards gifts that encourage exercise and aren’t necessarily to girly. All the 5-year-olds in my neighborhood ride around on Razor scooters. There is even one that can draw with sidewalk chalk as they scoot along.
Here it is:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11195266&CAWELAID=784547199
When my daughter was five she loved these magnetic paper dolls. They make all different kinds, too.
Can you ask her? Now that my nieces are older, it’s fun asking them what they’d like for presents, instead of their parents.
Dress-up clothes. Shoot, I bet you could get some half-price halloween costumes right now. If you have any idea what she’s into, get stuff like that. Otherwise, there’s lots of stuff that just about any kid would enjoy. Hats, accessories, costume jewelry- stuff for playing. I’m not sure I’ve ever met a five-year-old girl who wouldn’t enjoy a feather boa.
When I was 5, my heart’sdesire was a pony. Never got one. But I was fairly happy with horse statures. Does she like horses? Breyer company makes HUNDREDS of pretty plastic ponies.
I have a five year old daughter. She would enjoy all of the dress up stuff mentioned up thread. She also likes books, and frankly it’s hard to have too many. (Recommendations? Pinkalicious, Fancy Nancy, Olivia, and Dr. Seuss all get read frequently at our house.) My little girl would also enjoy getting some fancy stationery or pretty notecards - especially if it came with a few beautiful stamps for mailing real letters and some fancy pens/pencils/crayons/markers.
Is she starting to have sleepovers with friends? Maybe she’d like a sleeping bag.
Does she take ballet or gymnastics or soccer? Maybe a new leotard or tutu or a soccer ball.
My daughter has an American Girl doll. If your niece has one of those, clothes and/or accessories would probably be a good bet.
Do you live nearby? It might be fun to get your niece a small present, but also take her to do something fun. Maybe a small stuffed penguin and an afternoon outing to go see Happy Feet Too. Or, if it’s cold weather where you are, maybe a trip to an indoor waterpark or a rock climbing place. If her room is anything like my daughter’s, her parents will thank you for not giving her anything else to make room for in the storage closet!
My wife bought our 4-year-old daughter a Leap Pad, you can see it at Amazon.
She creates her own profile, takes pictures with it, records herself talking, plays educational games and movies. The funny part is that her 2-year-old sister plays with it more. They both belt out the songs on it, “The “A” says “ahh”, the “B” says “bahh””, etc. Pretty cute. I hate the thing, mainly because I never got $100 presents when I was a kid, and the thing takes non-rechargeable batteries (4 AA) and it usually lasts a week.
Other than that, she’s into dress up now. The Halloween costumes were on clearance and we picked up a few for them to play dress-up. She wore a Wonder Woman costume all day on Saturday (and slept in it).
I really like Babyology as a product review site (Australian based though), but they do a Christmas gift giving guide which may help to give you ideas:
I second dress up. If you want to be super hip and stuff, check out Etsy.
I’m itching to get my niece a drum kit when she turns 5.
Sister has ok’d it.
Toys R Us - pink isle.
Does she like to make music?
A karaoke machine (they make them for kids), an inexpensive keyboard with a DVD with kid-friendly instructions and/or music lessons.
If you live close by, this time of year, a matinee of The Nutcracker would be a fun afternoon. Afternoon tea at a tea room, all dressed up, with finger sandwiches and dainty pastries if she’s a girly girl. Time spent doing something cool with her aunt/ uncle is something she’ll carry with her forever.
Skippyjon Jones or Bad Kitty books.
Dress up stuff, and not just princess dresses. Labcoat, fireman hat, pirate stuff, animal masks, etc. Cranium Giggle Gear are dress up and board game all in one.
Lots of good ideas; keep them coming, please!
How about a magazine subscription? I can recommend Ladybug (mostly stories and poems), Click (mostly science stuff) and Highlights High Five (like Ladybug) as being age-appropriate. It’s like getting a present once a month (for Highlights High Five) or nine times a year (for the other two magazines.) Or if she is really interested in animals, there’s Your Big Backyard.
That was a mainstay wrt gifts for my daughter for years and years. She actually does events for them now where she dresses as one of the dolls, this driven by her love for that whole line. Can’t go wrong with American Girl.
In addition to pretty much everything above, my girls liked stuff like Build a Bear, Polly Pocket, Littlest Pet Shop. They loved the Magic School Bus books, Blues Clues games for the PC; Aqua Play which is a canal system with boats and locks and things.
For Christmas, one of their favourite toys was the Playmobil Nativity Set. It comes with everything from the baby Jesus, the wise men, sheep and cows, loads of fun. They’re 13 now and they still set it up every year.