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Gift ideas for niece and nephew?
I'm totally stumped. Fi has a niece and nephew who are 5 and 7. They are both adorable kids. The girl is super-girly and loves anything "princess", and the boy is really into sports. The problem? I feel like "princess" and "sports" stuff is way too obvious for these kids....they tend to get cornered into these roles, and part of me wants to try to reinforce the idea that they are amazing people, no matter how pretty they look or how well they can kick a soccer ball.
But, they genuinely LIKE these things. Should I just get their Christmas lists from my FSIL and get them stuff I know they are into, or should I go for gifts that are more educational and less role-specific? If so, any ideas of what I could get them?
Is it obvious that I don't have kids of my own?
Their parents (and kids) probably just want the pricess/sports stuff, right?
Edited to add: BTW, these kids and their parents are American, and we will actually get to visit them for Christmas so we'll get to give them their gifts in person. Budget isn't a huge issue, but I'd definitely like to keep it to about $30-50 per child.
Re: Gift ideas for niece and nephew?
Books. Or even better a book token / bookshop voucher that they can choose their own books.
I believe that in general kids don't read enough these days (yes, I know HUGE generalisation!!) and the gift of reading is precious. I'm not talking about getting them really advanced books or anything, just books suitable for their age that will encourage them to be more inquisitive about books further down the line.
Reading is a skill that isn't encouraged enough in schools I think. I've an 11 year old nephew who is a very bright kid but he is starting to fall behind in his reading skills as sport is more encouraged in school and his mum would never have been a huge reader (her parents never read her bedtime stories... how sad is that?!) so that's been passed down now. I've already started giving my little girl books and she loves them (ok, she's 8mths old and they are touchy-feely books)
And if you get them a book token, you could offer to bring them to the book shop when you are visiting and make that part of the gift too (and the parents would get an hour or so to themselves...)
Sorry if this turned into a bit of a book rant...
Janae & Olivier
agree with all of this. And I think since you don't see them often, it would be really sweet to have the time with them. You could make it a 'lunch and book shopping' date and let them pick out whatever they want.
BFP Apr 2012, EDD Dec 19 2012 * twin h/b at 6wk, 9wk scan * Baby A lost at 12wks, Baby B was my rainbow born at 36wks
I want to put the whole set on my Christmas list sometime soon. I want to use them when I start teaching and for when I have kids. But I'm odd and like to buy things before I can really use them... I bought a beautiful illustrated set of language flashcards off amazon.de before I moved. They have the word translated in English, German, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Turkish. I brought them out to show my 8 year old neighbors and we had a blast learning some new words. It was called Einfach alles!: Die Wort-Schatz-Kiste.
2012 Reading Challenge
Now Nesting from Chicago, IL My nail blog:
I would try to get them something they wanted, but with a twist.
For the girl, Rosie Flo makes some awesome colouring books. She'll be able to colour in the crazy outfits and then draw heads and arms and feet on the people. They also make a boys version called Johnny Joe. There is also a great etsy shop called Love Mae that sell fabric paper doll wall decals that are re-usable and super cute.
Does the boy have a favorite sport? Would he like an England football and kit?
ETA : We have most of the This Is . . . books, and they really are gorgeous.
Oh, and if you're looking for a good princess book, The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child is brilliant.
I just went and looked at 'This is London' on Amazon. I think it would be so cool to get this for my niece (she's turning 2). What is the story about though? It doesn't have the cool 'look inside' feature.
It's not a story as such, it's more like a walking tour with some kid friendly facts and gorgeous mid century illustrations. I think 2 is probably too young to really get anything out of the The Is . . . series, unless they just wanted to look at the pictures. The parents might enjoy it though? Also, it was published in the late 50's and so a lot of things have changed, but there are updated facts in the back.
If you're looking for something similar, in style and setting, Operation Alphabet would be a great choice.