I just found out yesterday that my niece’s birthday is coming up in a month and I didn’t know about it. I feel a little silly to have lost track of that, but I’ve got a month and change to look for some gifts for 5 year old girls and pick one that she will like.

If you are looking for gift ideas for a 5 year old girl too hopefully my search will be helpful for you too. If you have any great ideas that I don’t get to in this guide please take a moment to let me know in the comments.

To Ask the Lady or the Parents

Usually the first thing I do when I am hunting for a gift idea is identify who my sources of information will be. For a two year old obviously you ask mom. For a ten year old you just ask the birthday girl herself. Picking a present for a 5 year old girl is a little funny because at this point she completely understands that she has a birthday coming up and she is going to get presents at it, but this little size S girl has a size XXL imagination and what will I do if she asks for a snow leopard.

(edit: I did ask her.  She wants a unicorn.  Until I find one I’ll keep working on this guide.)

I suppose the answer is to ask both parties and if she asks for something outlandish I will have to find a way to re-interpret the request in a form that is a good gift for her.

More Fun – Games for 5 Year Old Girls

One of my first inclinations is to find some sort of game to give her. She is constantly making up games so I would like to give her one too. Not that I am suggesting that she has the patience to play a board game, but if a five year old can make a computer game then certainly she can play one.

I was more thinking more along the lines of playing dress up, though. She already has a box of princess-y dress up clothes, but those are about dressing up to be pretty for her. Adding a play costume such as this veterinarian suggests many games (save the snow leopard, help the kitty, etc.) but it still requires her imagination and engagement.

It’s also possible that she has enough of an attention span to learn Checkers at this point. I would enjoy teaching her and playing with her, but I’m afraid that she probably won’t be too excited about board games yet. Better to just get my old checkerboard out and try to teach her outside of the context of her birthday.

Beginning to Read – Books

Of course 5 is a big milestone of a birthday (I know they all are at this point, but still…) because it marks the year she will go into kindergarten!  So exciting!  Your mileage may vary based on how shy your five year old is, but my niece has been in pre-school for two years now and is looking forward to going to ‘real school’. (her words, not mine, probably you can blame her dad)

When I went looking at reading resources for five year olds I found many books that were designed with a kindergarten curriculum in mind and that were aimed at beginning readers. I also found that most of those books were deadly dull. Since this is going to be a gift I didn’t want to give her a book with only line-drawn pictures and a ‘see spot run’ story line. I hope to be helping her read these, uncle can’t be falling asleep while we work on them.

For a good marriage of being appropriate for beginning readers and yet also interesting enough that a 5 year old would want to go to the effort to read them I still haven’t found anything better than Dr. Seuss. She already has one of the books in this boxed set, I know, but I don’t imagine that it will be a problem to have two copies of Green Eggs and Ham lying around.

(If your gift girl has more than one or two from that boxed set there is also a Second Beginner Book Collection that has some less commonly found books that are still a lot of fun.  They are less likely to already be on her shelf.  As far as making reading sound fun I think I Can Read With My Eyes Wide Shut is worth picking up even if you get the other set.)

Toys She’ll Play With Until She’s 6: Best Toy for a 5 Year Old Girl

OF course not every gift has to be educational. I would think a birthday for a kid would be wasted unless there was a sizable contingent of gifts that were purely toys with no ulterior motives.

For example, since she said she wanted a real unicorn when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday I could instead get her this plush unicorn castle pictured at right.  If you looked at that link earlier to the 5-year old’s video game you know what a ponycorn is.  I could even claim that these unicorns are, in fact, ponycorns and I would get to be the coolest uncle ever for knowing how awesome they are (they are the best because they are ponies and they are unicorns, you see).

And… and.. hmm… actually I don’t know if I am going to do better than a white castle full of unicorns.  I think a craft kit could be a very good gift as well because she is really getting into doing art, but my niece already has a pretty well stocked craft kit.

If your five year old doesn’t have such a thing this can be either a really big gift or a pretty inexpensive gift but a plastic tote filled with crayons and washable markers and bits of felt and buttons is a really fun toy that encourages creativity but doesn’t come across as enforced learning.  A trip to Joann and ten or twenty dollars can be a really fun shopping trip for you and your kids as well.

But as I said her parents had the idea before I did so I’m thinking ponycorns.

Enjoy Everything

Hopefully one of these ideas I mentioned above sounds appropriate for your five year old.  Any of the images link to Amazon, though some of the best gifts you could give (I am a big fan of those craft kits) do still require a trip to the store.

If you have a five year old or you remember what you loved as a five year old and you have a great idea for a gift for her please take a second to leave us a note in the comments for everyone else that is looking for ideas.  Thanks,