Great Gifts for PreTeens!

Check out the Possibilities!

Maybe it's because I live in California, but when I was searching for something outstanding as a gift for my favorite niece, I found most of what I needed to put it all together in the local Thrift Stores. Consignment stores and Salvation Army Stores also have alot of items you can use for these Treasure Chest Gifts. Be sure anything you purchase slightly used is sent to the cleaners before you begin to alter them for your childrens' sizes...I altered Pre-worn (or never worn)  Wedding dresses myself but you can have the dry cleaner alter  them also.

Again, they shouldn't fit to their size...part of the fun of dress-up...it's not like their own clothes!

Your kids have out grown their play yard equipment, swings & slides.  Use the yard space for a tent, a fort or playhouse to store and use their dress up clothes....

Add Age Appropriate Novels to their Treasure Chests that Compliment the Dress Up Themes, Princess novels, Western Stories, Spy Adventures, and SuperHero Comics to name some examples!

You may find your son, in his Cowboy hat, reading a Western Story while sitting under a tree, your princess will leave your expensive makeup alone if you give her a set of flavored chapsticks and childrens' eye colors dressed up in a fancy pouch with a zipper.

You may find your Princess and her friends dressed up in their finest gowns and jewelry, reading their latest Fantasy Adventure Novels and all you have to do that afternoon is bring in the juice and cookies!

Masks and Superhero Costumes can be paired with Super Soakers for "LazerTag" like games in the Yard. An iPod can be paired with GirlBand Costumes.  Even Boy Band Costumes will be a hit with a RockBand Game for XBox or PlayStation III. 

The best Gifts to include in a Treasure Chest are the 'Gawdy Baubles" people are trying to unload at Yard Sales, or have donated to Thrift Stores.

Many strands of pearls and costume jewelry necklaces in a box look like treasure, boys will love small wooden boxes in their chest with chocolate gold coins and large skeleton keys and eye patches , plastic swords, "walkie talkies" and medical equipment for doctors and nurses and veterinarians.

The thing about Thrift Store purchases is many high end items can be found for under ten dollars because they are long out of style or the style never caught on...but kids love theidea of the garment...silks, satins, velvets and baudy gauwdy jewels! Lots of sparkle and glitter can also be added, glue gun applied decorations and patches, buttons and lace.

You can find mannequin heads at Swap meets, yard sales, beauty supply stores and discount stores that alo sell hat boxes. They can hold jewelry, wigs or hats, it's fun to have plain white styrofoam mannequin heads to draw faces and one fr boys can havean eye patch and pirate face...

Picture your Christmas Tree on Christmas morning, along each side of the Tree are two Treasure Chests, one for him and one for her, the top of the Chests are slightly opened with Packages poking out, and a bit of Gold Coins and fake gemstones spilling over the front...

The Treasure Chest itself is a gift for them to keep in their bedrooms or playrooms,  my niece had a set of mirrors in their garage which was an added benefit for dress-up, sort of three dimensional (3-D) play!  But when they open it and start unwrapping all the packages of dress-up clothes and assessories, the idea will begin to take shape of all the things they can do...Avatar games, role-playing, putting on plays and shows, all kinds of things can happen!

Be sure to include boxes of different shapes and sizes for storage of jewelry, hats, masks, and other assesories...

I found a Beauty Supply Store at a local Strip Mall that had styrofoam mannequin heads for wigs, only $6.00 each, it makes a difference for storage and display for the jewelry, hats and wigs...like a "dressing room".

An old desk can be made into a Vanity with a mirror attached, drawers for brushes, make-up bags and jewelry, desktop for keeping mannequin heads on.

Add plastic bins and drawer sets for storage in the playhouse, Fort or in a corner of the Garage, add some inexpensive mirrors to one wall and even a really cheap clothes rack with plastic hangers for gowns and costumes.

For really great stocking stuffers to continue the theme I suggest perfume, a jewelry box (homemade is fine, can be bigger to accommodate really big jewelry), and a disposable camera so the kids can photograph each other.

Target is selling overstocked Halloween costumes for $2.00-$8.00 each, I bought a $50. rubber mask for $13. and a dancewear shop was selling pink and white ballerina TuTus for $3.75 to make room for their new stock. Our local mega Halloween Supply Store sold it's leftover stock for 50-70% off, I bought a fog machine so my niece can have FX "effects" for her "shows".

She and her friends like to play runway and make small video stories in dress up!Our Christmas Treasure Trunk and Stocking stuffers will compliment the favorite past-times of my pre-teen niece and her friends.

Whether its' Role Playing Careers, Scientist with a lab kit, Veterinarian with doctors bag, Avatar, Superhero or Musician with Blue Hair...or Fantasy Backyard Games with the Neighborhood kids...Cowboys, Monsters or Ninjas, you can help your kids develop creative and fun filled Fantasy Games by filling a Treasure Chest with lots of costumes and assessories to aid in their fantasy creations.

Be the house on the block where all the kids come to play, Pirates...Robinhood or Military Rescue...it all begins this Christmas with a Treasure Chest made Specially by You!

Finding ways to keep them at home with their friends will involve them in healthy ways to express themselves and develop their own personalities at a speed more closely reflective of their emotional age.

Young girls love to play at beauty skills, dressing up and group activities; if they get a Treasure Chest like this for Christmas...expect sleepovers to including Fantasy Games and showing off for the video camera. This is a Gift that keeps on giving, for years of enjoyment when they are grown and bring their children to see videos of all the fun they had when they were kids.