Gift Ideas for First & Second Birthdays

A friend mentioned she was taking her son to a little girl's second birthday this coming weekend and she was stuck on ideas of what to get her as a birthday present. As we're both mothers to boys, we were saying how much easier it is for us to think of things to get for a boy's second birthday but we have less of a clue what little girls of the same age are into. This made me think it could be helpful to share ideas here and hopefully get more suggestions from you!

Thinking back to my son's first birthday, there are some gifts that were a big hit and ideal for a one-year old (boy or girl). Here are some suggestions (I've tried to keep to fairly inexpensive items):

FIRST BIRTHDAY GIFT IDEAS

Stack and Nest Cups - as well as stacking and nesting the cups, my son loves putting small things in the cups and tipping them from one to the other
Stacking Rings
Stacking Boxes - trust me, they love stacking toys!
LEGO DUPLO Bricks - they may be too young to build with the bricks but my son loves pulling apart the bricks when we build something for him and he also loves playing with the individual pieces of lego, putting them into cups, boxes, trucks
Sticklebricks
Building blocks
Hammer and pegs
A ball
A Noahs Ark - this works well as there are little doors to the ark to open and close, lots of different coloured animals to look at and play with, to put in and take out of the ark. My son really loves his and it can entertain him for quite a while.
Bucket and spade - not restricted to sand castles, digging around in the soil or with pebbles and putting them in the bucket can be great fun for the little ones
Push-along toys
Pull-along toys
Pop-up-toys

Moving onto the second birthday, this list is more guess work than experience but I feel it's a bit easier to know what a two-year old might enjoy than it was with a one-year old. They are able to do more creative things and are enjoying pretend play more and more.

SECOND BIRTHDAY GIFT IDEAS

Crayons
Sticker books
Colouring books
Play Doh
Toy cars
Trucks
Pots and pans
Cutting fruit set
Household toys- these types of toys allow them to mimic you and feel more grown-up
Play tent - fun to use both inside and outside
Pop-up tunnel
Train set

BOOKS

It goes without saying that books always make a great gift. Here's a small selection that would be suitable for one and two-year olds:



Over to you! What gifts did your children receive for their first or second birthdays that you remember them really liking and getting a lot of use from? What would you recommend as a good gift for a boy or girl turning either 1 or 2?

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