Birthday gifts for my niece?

Question

My niece will be turning 2 in just over a month. For her first Christmas I stuffed a huge gift bag with stuff. The only thing she ever really played with inside were the books. For her first birthday I got her a lot of books. for her second Christmas I decided to get her clothes instead. I know her favorite toys are books. Whenever no one's around she'll grab a book and look at it for hours. We'll for this birthday I still want to give her books but something a little more so she can do something besides look at them. I bought some crayons and a coloring book. What else should I get her? Clothes are out of the question. Also can anyone suggest any particular books she might like. They have to be paper.

Anyother toy someone of her age and personality might like?

Stuffed animals are out of the question too. For her first birthday I gave her a bunny along with the books. She practically threw the bunny aside and started browsing through the books.
here's an example of her love of books. When she was 6 months, forget the mobile, just give her a bunch of books and go to sleep. If she didn't want to sleep she'd look at the books.

Answer 1

I always favor books for little kids, becuase they all have different personalities and like different things so it is hard to buy toys, but all kids seem to like books.

My duaghter just turned 2 and we started getting her books that are a little longer and have more words on the page. My duaghters favorties our:
1)Oliva-a cute story about a little girl pig and what she does all day
2)The Very Hungrey Catipiller-by Eric Carle
3)Brown Bear, Brown Bear-also by Eric Carle
4)Goodnight Gorilla

Also Usborne books makes great tuchy-feely books with flaps, toddlers love these books, they have a huge selection check out the website: http://www.ubah.com/ecommerce/results.asp?sid=F0230&gid=34108035&cid=660&page=1&submit=Returning&sqlwhere=+Titles%2EID+In+%28Select+ProductID+From+vCategoryGroupsItems+Where+CategoryID+%3D660%29

If you want to get her a toy also or instead of books try getting her a train set. Alll kids seem to love these.

Or since she loves books so much you can get her a membership to Barnes and Noble. It will get her parents discounts of atleast 10% whenever they get her a new book or anything Barnes and Noble carries. Over the next year it will really become valuable.

Answer 2

There are so many wonderful books and it's great that she loves them. I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say she'll look at a book for hours. Do people read to her often? Does she look through the books and entertain herself? My daughter loved books and had a collection on her own shelf that she could look at on her own and she would be content for a long time. She learned to read very early and has always loved reading. If she is used to being read to, by two years old she could already be able to listen to chapter books. I read the original "Winnie-the-Pooh" books to my daughter when she was 2 and she loved them. I would recommend getting her real books and by that I mean ones written by authors and not just books by Disney or Sesame Street or ones to go along with the latest movie or tv character. "Madeline" is a real classic. "Blueberries for Sal" and "Make Way for Ducklings" both by Robert McCloskey are great. Ezra Jack Keats and Kevin Henkes are both good authors with lots of books to their credit. Get her books with story lines -- not just one sentence on a page.There's a series of books about an animal character called Frances -- I can't remember the author right now but, the titles all have B's in them like "Baby Sister for Frances" and "Best Friends for Frances." They're really good. "Little Bear" by Maurice Sendak is really good and there are a few in that series. Same with "Frog and Toad." Also the books about the two hippos, "George and Martha" are good. If you want to specifically buy her things besides books (which I can understand but I'm not necessarily advocating!) perhaps you can get toys related to some characters she knows from books she has read. They make puzzles and games and certainly stuffed animals based on lots of books. She will recognize these characters and may be interested in the toys that way. Stick with her love of books and keep reading to her!!

Answer 3

Go Educational...Baby Einstein has a great sellection of DVD's to catch her attention. My son is nuts over these and the learning potential is fantastic. Don't spend alot most toys get brushed aside quickly. Don't overload with presents either, go simple, a couple things you know she will enjoy. Board books, A BALL, coloring book crayons ...suggestion, washable crayons or markers, make mom and dad's lives a little easier. Age 2...terrible 2's it is ALL TRUE!!

Answer 4

A small, fuzzy and soft stuffed animal can become a beloved friend. Girls tend to like bunnies more than bears.

For kids who love books, there's nothing better than more books. My daughter was the same. She's a teen now and still loves books! ;o)
So why not just more books?

(What a nice auntie!)

Answer 5

Since she loves books, that presumes someone will have to read to her. Get her a cassette player made for little kids and record some of her favorite books on the tape (or buy pre-recorded ones). Ring a bell or sound a buzzer when it is time to turn the page, and introduce the concept in your recorded introduction. She will be able to entertain herself for hours in this manner. Her parents will thank you, too!

Answer 6

Does she have any favorite shows? My niece will be 2 in September and I am also thinking of what to get her. My niece loves Dora The Explorer and Go Diego Go. I usually get her something from them and she gets so excited when she sees them. Try a character toy from their favorite show.
Also they have this thing where it's kind of like a game. It connects to the tv and she can color and draw and what she draws goes on the tv. I find that cool.

Answer 7

Unless she's extremely label-conscious, I would go with the Emu ones, if I were you. If they're rated pretty good, and there's a big price difference, it doesn't seem worth it to me to buy an expensive boot that she'll grow out of in six months. I didn't look the Emu boots up, but I've seen lots of Ugg knock-offs so I'm sure they probably look like an Ugg. Just out of curiosity, did she express an interest in the Ugg boots and that's why you're choosing them, or are you choosing them because they're popular? If she likes them, fine, but people either seem to absolutely LOVE them, or they think they're just Ugg-ly. I would never wear them, unless MAYBE if my only other option was going barefoot in the snow, because they're so incredibly hideous. But my friend has four pair because she thinks they're the cutest boots she's ever seen.

Answer 8

How about getting a book and tape yourself reading it. if she loves books, this might be fun. Find a book like Where the Wild Things Are, or Good Night Moon, and make it a bedtime tradition to have "Auntie' read her a story.

Answer 9

My 2 year old loves books and drawing. One of the best gift she has gotten was an Aqua Doodle. She can draw on it for hours and it draws with water so I dont have any mess to clean up. She is also likes her play kitchen and mega blocks.
My daughters favorite books are sesame street, my little pony, and disney princess

Answer 10

My daughter is 2 and loves those bears you can color on and then put them in the washer and start over. She plays with it everyday. Disney has some good books, mine loves the cinderella one, and snow white. She is big into all the princess ones.