<p>*Dress up clothes/accessories were always important for my girls. *</p>
<p>At that age- I think that pretend type stuff- for both boys and girls are very important.
I know one boy ( who is now a marine) who loved his high heels, his vest, his fedora and his huge handbag ( which he called " his bag of stuff) to carry around.</p>
<p>I would take the money- go to value village and buy scarves- jewelry and hats- and put it in an interesting bag to carry around.</p>
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<p>LOL! Too bad that gift is not in the $15 budget!</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the great suggestions. I have ordered a subscription to Ladybug magazine from me and one to Click from my daughter. I’ll bring sidewalk chalk and a bubble pipe to the party as it will take a while for the subscriptions to arrive.</p>
<p>Despite their parents’ efforts at fostering gender neutrality the girl LOVES dressup, especially her high heels and the boy LOVES his tool kits. They are really wonderful kids and I hope they enjoy their gifts. (I don’t think the parents are CC addicts yet!)</p>
<p>My daughter got this dinosaur Rice Krispie treat kit for the little boy she babysits (he is on the dinosaur kick at the moment). Parental guidance is needed, but it was quite the hit!!! There are other kits as well, like a fairy one for girls…</p>
<p>[Brand</a> Castle Crafty Cooking Rice Krispie Treats Dinosaur Deluxe…](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Brand-Castle-Cooking-Krispie-Dinosaur/dp/B002LUIM2A]Brand”>http://www.amazon.com/Brand-Castle-Cooking-Krispie-Dinosaur/dp/B002LUIM2A)</p>
<p>When I have to get a gift for anyone and I don’t know what they already have, I go to the dollar shop and get something cheap, dress it up really cute, and then either give cash, a check or gift certificate. I have had dollar bills rolled up and put into balloons that are then filled with helium with something cute anchoring it, I have found puzzle kits, including a wooden rubic cube and a gift box that is a puzzle in itself with a bill in there. I;ve made the dollar bills into little birds with origami and put them on a little dollar shop tree. Who knows what books they already have, which super heroes, doll clothes, legos, etc? Even if you do know, you don’t know if they’ll get the same thing from someone else. </p>
<p>I recently put $10 in 4 round boxes that fit in each other with the last one holding the bills folded into little flowers.</p>
<p>There are certain gifts, in my opinion, for preschoolers that even if you don’t know what they already own, can never have too much of…such as art supplies.</p>
<p>Also, by the time they are three, they may not own that many books. You could skip the best known titles in case they already own them, but buy some other picture books that they likely might not own by their third birthday.</p>
<p>Lastly, things like dress ups, blocks, or toy figures are collection oriented and you can always have more! Same with teddy bears or other plush toys. Same with puzzles.</p>
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<p>From what the OP says, the above is true in this instance. But I’d like to make a plea for folks not to assume it all the time. My D hated dress up clothes. And dolls. And really anything pink, except maybe My Little Ponies. Perhaps gender-neutral was easier a couple decades ago, when girl fashions werent’ so out of hand. but I do know that a lot of people who say they’re bringing them up gender neutral give up pretty quick–and are quick to blame nature, not society.</p>
<p>Anyway, for the sake of those little girls who have other than princess ambitions, I vote always for books, arts/crafts, sciency stuff, outdoor play equipment, and anything else that lets them make the call (like Duplos, for instance.)</p>
<p>garland, my older daughter was never that into dolls or Barbies or pinkish girly stuff either. She did like having outfits for her teddy bears (like soccer or ski outfits)! My other D was not that into dolls but did have the American Girl doll stuff. I sometimes notice what other college girls do to decorate their beds and dorm rooms and neither of my girls have the pink girly stuff at all!</p>
<p>gearation is always a favorite in my office, but it’s $30.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Tomy Gearation: Toys & Games](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Tomy-TY6526-Gearation/dp/B00000ISEH]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Tomy-TY6526-Gearation/dp/B00000ISEH)</p>
<p>Fridge version is less.</p>
<p>I see it’s too late…</p>
<p>Gotta go with a dishwasher box!!!
And maybe a brush and some paints to decorate it (you could pre-paint it too!)! Pre-cut out the door----and have it so it can fold flat under a bed.</p>
<p>My child never loved a toy more than a play tent----or even better the dishwasher box!!!
Clearly I am really into recycling!!!</p>
<p>My kids loved big boxes, too!</p>
<p>When my boys were little, they loved those plastic toy lawnmowers with a ticking sound. They would spend hours “mowing” the lawn. They hated the kind that blew bubbles because they were “fake” (out of the mouths of 3 year olds). </p>
<p>Another one of their absolute favorite toys was a set of cheap cardboard brick blocks. They arrived flat and I had to fold and tuck them into the brick shape. Once folded into the brick shape, they were extremely durable. </p>
<p>Many boys and girls love simple digging tools for the beach—Shovels, buckets, and sand molds.</p>
<p>We make the “brick” blocks ourselves by covering shoe boxes with wallpaper. </p>
<p>It may not be appropriate for 3 year olds but the funniest book I ever read to the 4 yr. old class (most were almost 5) was “Walter the Farting Dog”. One of the kids brought it for show n tell.
The other teacher and I had tears rolling down our faces fr. laughing and the kids were just delirious. It was the best show and tell ever.</p>
<p>Another vote here for the cardboard blocks. I know the OP has already made up her mind to purchase something else, but this may help someone else who wants a great gift for a little one. My sons played with those blocks for years from the time they were about 3. S1 used to use them to barricade his bedroom door from floor to ceiling to keep out pesky S2!</p>
<p>And yet another vote for those cardboard bricks. My kids used them for years - to build and to make roads snaking through the house for the multitude of matchbox cars, etc, that they owned. Definitely a favorite toy!</p>
<p>My standard gift for this age group is a very large set of crayons. Even if they already have crayons, the good colors always get used up first.</p>
<p>with the weather that we are expecting- a blow up wading pool!
We are apparently going to have the summer heat compressed into a few days.</p>
<p>Sidewalk chalk. D2 (14) and her friends STILL use it. </p>
<p>Outside this price point, I just tried a plasmacar ride-on. It would be a fantastic present for this age group if your budget goes up to $45 or so. I like toys that can be used by a toddler on up through adult.</p>
<p>It really depends on how well you know the family and kids. We have tens of thousands of kids books, and art supplies up the whazoo. Getting another pretty much assures a duplicate of which we got plenty of times. I just hate spending money on something that just is going on the shelf to be used in time. I want a little bit of the “ooh” factor. Also, just giving appliance boxes or shoe boxes may not go over too well with some folks you don’t know well. We were a box family, and we also always had lots of boxes. Still do. I made a carry basket out of Listerine box from Costco and filled it with things after spray painting and papering it, and it was a huge hit to the recipient. But can’t always do that. So I try to give cheap or hand made whimsy, with a little bit of cash/card so that kid/parent can put it towards what they want. </p>
<p>I remember my brother bought a huge knight castle set that he was coveting for his son but was out of budget range if he gave him a birthday party since SIL was out of a job. Well, he got enough gift cards, checks and cash to make a nice dent in that purchase. I did give a larger check than usual in this case, hoping that this would happen, and bought his borders cards from him so he had more money towards the thing. Also got him some little cheapie Spiderman stuff that cost $5 total that he enjoyed until he got his castle.
American Girl stuff really gives you limitless opportunities to spend. My little niece is now into that, and boy did I shell out this past year since she decided she wanted, needed the stuff AFTER her birthday which was around Christmas time. My bro and SIL were clueless about this–she’s not American, and he is not in tune with girly things. So gifts for her are set for a long time.</p>
<p>At a grad party that I attended recently, the mother or father of the grad had party bags for the young nieces and nephews. My favorite was the Crayola “finger” paint that was a colorless gel that only became colorful on the special paper. The three year old made some beautiful paintings with absolutely no mess. I intend to buy some for my great-nieces.</p>