My niece is turning 3 years old soon and I need to bring something for her birthday. I don’t have much experience buying gifts for kids and am interested in learning what others have had success with. She does not have any particular interests yet apart from playing with whatever is in front of her. My price range is up to ~$200. What have you had success with? What have you not had success with?
Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
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Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#2A super soft stuffed animal that is verified child safe as in it does not come apart easily and/or have small parts one could choke on. It should be something really cute that both the Niece and other family members will be happy with. Send links and pictures of your ideas to the other family members for their input.
Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#3> She does not have any particular interests yet apart from playing with whatever is in front of her.
In my experience, that's where it's at. My niece at ~3 was as excited about the wrapping as the thing inside, sometimes more so. She was also swimming in toys thanks to family members.
If you really want to spend a lot of money, ask if the parents have a savings account for her or something, and get some crayons or other flashy fun stuff for like $3 or whatever.
Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#4A super soft stuffed animal that is verified child safe as in it does not come apart easily and/or have small parts one could choke on . It should be something really cute that both the Niece and other family members will be happy with. Send links and pictures of your ideas to the other family members for their input.
Thanks. Do you have any places you would recommend buying from? I am guessing Amazon might not be able to meet this criteria.
Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#5A super soft stuffed animal that is verified child safe as in it does not come apart easily and/or have small parts one could choke on . It should be something really cute that both the Niece and other family members will be happy with. Send links and pictures of your ideas to the other family members for their input.
Thanks. Do you have any places you would recommend buying from? I am guessing Amazon might not be able to meet this criteria.
It's been a while for me. Try to find a local specialty shop with a very good reputation that carries children's toys and collectables. Local because you can feel and inspect the toy and you are dealing with someone face-to-face. If you have a facebook group for your local community they will have ideas. Yelp may also have some suggestions despite being heavily gamed. Read the negative reviews. Local shops will cost more than online but it may be worth it in my opinion.
If there is a Children's Hospital near you they usually have unique things in their gift shop also pricey but worth it.
Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#6Save the $200 for when she's an adolescent and enjoy this period where a $5 thing that makes noise is just as much fun.
Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#7[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#8Put that money in a 529 and get a bgood bumble bee from target for $20.
Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#9Put that money in a 529 and get a bgood bumble bee from target for $20.
B. Bumble Bee*
Re: Ask HN: Gift Ideas for 3 year old?
#10I'm sure everyone else has much more morally virtuous ways to spend money, but speaking from experience, this thing is super cool:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/big-interactive-community...
You get both the duplo pieces to build a train track and train stations, but also the train engine itself is battery powered, drives around and includes a sensor that lets it react to different sections of the train.