Hello experience parents--I have a situation that requires some advice.

A friend is due any day with her third child. Her daughter (almost 3) was just exposed to mumps and hasn't been vacinated yet. So, though she isn't sick, she is quarentined to the house (and their backyard) for the next 3.5 weeks! I want to make a little basket of small presents to take over for her to open (like one a day) to help with the boredom and as a 'new big sister' gift. (they also have a son who is almost 5 - not quarentined because he has been vacinated--so I don't want him to feel totally left out-but he still gets to go to preschool, see his friends, etc)

Do you have any suggestions for small gifts? I can't spend a ton of money, so inexpensive is best!

TIA

art supplies sound good and can I bring my daughter to play with her??? :lol: Sorry, crazy me, but this is one of those diseases I wish she would catch so I don't have to worry about the vaccine!

Anyway, we just got Janelle the colour wonder stuff (markers, finger paints, plain paper, and a colouring book) and she loves the markers, she doesn't understand the paints, but I think that is an age thing. Also side walk chalk is a LOT of fun for little ones. Ohh, and those bubbles you can catch, Janelle and the neighbor boy (4) love those! Hmm...I don't know what else right now...but I'm sure I'll come up with more soon!

Don't know if they'd already have them...but maybe one of the "my first games"? (Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, etc)...they'd be able to play it together.

Maybe you could put together some kits for fun craft projects? If you do it yourself, it would be pretty inexpensive. Like, for example:

Brigit's favorite craft project is to take glue sticks and/or glitter glue, draw on paper with them and then stick lots of stuff onto the glue to make pictures and designs. So I always set her up with bowls of little decorative things that I find around the house: confetti, buttons, dried noodles, oatios (or chex or other cereal), pieces of ribbon and yarn, fabric scraps, shapes punched out of colored paper, etc. You could give a gift basket with paper, glue and little jars or bags of decorations.

Brigit also loves to make necklaces and bracelets by stringing colored pasta in different shapes onto yarn. So you could put together a box of different pastas (or big beads or buttons) and some yarn or string in pretty colors.

Playdoh is always a great present - a kid can never really have too much!

Stickers are a super popular thing at this age. Brigit can make one sheet of stickers last for an hour or more. You could give a whole bunch of different stickers, or even pick out some sticker books.

Puzzles - at this age they're beginning to get into real (jigsaw) puzzles. The most fun ones we have are these giant floor puzzles - they are just challenging enough to fill up an hour or two without being overly frustrating.

Paper dolls! We love paper dolls around here! :)

Or how about a bunch of new books? (Those are the absolute favorite gift in our house.) If you shop used book stores - or buy used from Amazon or Ebay - you could put together a box of books without spending that much.

Thanks so much--I ended up getting them
- Book each
- Stickers each
- Drawing pad and new crayons
- Some little stuffed animals
- Confetti filled eggs (to celebrate outside with for their new sister)

Ought to offer a bit of a distraction! :lol: