Best Gifts for Five Year Old Girls for Christmas 2013

The new Furby was without a doubt one of the hottest toys last year, so you would think that this year the holiday season would be free of the fluffy bat-hamster cross.

However, Hasbro has released the Furby Boom, for the children who are still Furby-less after last years extravaganza.  The big change with the new version is the introduction of eggs, Furblings and a whole virtual world through a free app.

Now your kid can take its mechanical pet on a virtual hunt for eggs, which hatch into little virtual babies.  Furbies and their owners can interact with the new additions to the family.  The app also allows playing games, giving the Furby a health check, feeding it.  By carrying out certain actions the child earns virtual money which can be used to purchase enhancements to the virtual world.

The big problem with all of this is that it needs an iPhone, or better, an iPad.  Not something that most 5 or even 8 year olds have.  Expect your own iDevice to be frequently requisitioned for play.  However, if you are willing to do that, the Furby Boom is likely to be a huge success as a gift.

acamera their children simply play the games.  This isn't a problem with my nephew and niece, the trick is to show the five year old how to take pictures, and the effects that can be added, before they discover the games.

The camera only has 128 MB of internal memory, so an SSD card to allow storing more photos is a good idea. 

5 year olds are just making the move from Duplo to "grown up" building blocks.  LEGO might well be the best aging toy out there, I remember my own sets from when I was a child, quite a while ago. 

Of course the sets didn't remain the same, LEGO is so successful nowadays because it has created a huge number of themed sets, Friends being targetted at girls with pink and purple colours and "girly" settings, and lots of animals and girl mini figures.

Of course just because you are buying for a girl, doesn't mean that she won't appreciate Ninjago or City or Chima sets more.  You know best what your girl will like. 

You might be safer buying sets aimed at 5 year olds, however the sets for six year olds are often bigger and more interesting, and can easily be handled by slightly younger children, especially if they already have experience with building blocks, and if you can devote some time to playing with them.

Many of the toys for children are themed on popular TV shows, such as My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic.  At the moment this is the favourite of my 5 year old niece, something I took into consideration when choosing her birthday gift. 

I must say I was not that impressed with the walking-talking Pinky Pie figure.   To me it looked like a piece of pink plastic with painted eyes, other than the hair (or rather mane) there was no finesse.  It did talk and sing, and walk in a funny way as advertised.

My niece, however, seemed to be very happy with it.  Also her mother told me that she once took it outside to show to her friends and was immediately surrounded with a crowd of admiring little girls.  I guess one should remember that 5-year olds like different things than adults, and it is what they like that matters after all.

The Doc McStuffin doll from the very popular Disney show was a huge hit last year, and this Chrismas it gets even better with a whole playset.  The talking get better centre comes with a little plastic lambie, toy medical instruments, an x-ray machine, a phone, and everything that a budding doctor needs to make her toys better.  

Check out the video at the bottom for a real life demonstration.  Of course if you want something that takes up less space, there is always the Doc McStuffins' doctor's bag.

Lalaloopsy rag dolls have long been very popular.  This year's offerings have long super soft hair that can be brushed and styled in many different ways.  

The dolls come with a pet animal and hair accessories.  Their shoes and clothes can also be removed.  They make great collectibles.

They come in two sizes, the one above is the full-sized version, there is also a mini doll which retails for around $10, in case you are looking for a smaller gift.