Here's my list of cheap and thrilling potential gifts for my 3 year olds (and maybe yours too)
- A letter addressed to them in the mailbox. Spice has be walking around with an envelope with her name on it for 3 days now. She slept with it under her pillow. She knows I pick up the mail every evening and now recognizes that her name written down. Imagine her joy if I actually bring out an envelope with HER name on it from the mailbox
- A flashlight - any generic one from a dollar store would do. The girls beg and plead to play with the ones we have at home almost daily
- Stickers
- Old gadgets - like an old computer keyboard or camera. I saw the daycare had an old keyboard in the girls' room a few weeks back and they so enjoyed banging away
- Hairbands as bracelets - my little fashionista loves to wear theseon her hand and I got a pack of hundred for less than $5.
- Play money or empty giftcards. Somehow they've figured out the concept of money and credit cards and they love holding my store loyalty cards for me. I've also started teaching them to read the value/number off the currency notes as a bonus
- Their favorite foods - it's their birthday afterall. We can totally spend the day indulging in KFC chicken, ice cream, lollipops and grapes
- A little ID card with their pictures on it - This came with the Halloween firemen costumes and the girls aren't messing with their cards
This list is fairly specific to us but I bet one common thread that 3 year olds share is that they can be easily and cheaply pleased. I think this knowledge will be shaping my toy purchases going forward into the 3s.
What about you? What have you spent money on and later realized that your kids would have been just as happy with a cheaper and more common alternative?
How do you save on birthday and holiday gifts for twins?
