Whilst we made no specific plans of when to try and have our children by fortune of fate they were both born in January-  2 years and 8 days apart thus meaning that 3 weeks after Christmas the presents and party chaos happens all over again in this house.

A trip to the shops a few days ago has got me thinking about how … not in a deep and meaningful way but in a really shallow one about presents and parties; this year they turn 4 and 2 – so as you can imagine our house is a little bit on the pink side, all the usual stuff – a kitchen, a dolls house (well 3 actually – none bought by us!) , tea sets, dolls galore, girls world – you get the pretty pink picture and I headed out trying to get ideas of what to get the girls for their birthdays and am stumped!

Foolishly I decided to embark upon a solo trip with 2 pre-schoolers to the toy mecca that is Toys R Us whilst my OH headed off to the derby match in Manchester.  Going solo with 2 children was a big mistake in itself – the nearly 2 year old insisted on trying out every ride on car in the store and protested loudly when I tried to move her on  – visualise lying on the floor kicking and shouting ‘Not fair’ rather loudly whilst the nearly 4 year old found the most garish Barbie outfits possible and insisted that it was her favourite thing ever.  But whilst I was looking for inspiration I realised that my girls actually NEED nothing, no more toys, crayons, dressing up – they are really fortunate and have lots to choose from already so that leaves me feeling a bit weird about what to do  – Do I buy some toys I know they would play with at some point (once they have worked their way through the Christmas toys) but definitely don’t NEED or be really practical and sensible and buy something small for them to open and then just put the money we have budgeted for in their bank accounts? My head says one thing my heart says another.

What would you do?