presents for 8, 10, & 12 yr. old girls?

Sama

any suggestions?

I have no kids so I am pretty much out of the loop on this one!

I have some ideas (lots of cool pens!)....are they out of the coloring book phase? one of those super duper mega sets of crayons like we have here in the US? was thinking of fun journals, too....but what do I know?

I'm thinking of some silly things, some serious things....

I think maybe it's time Silly String hits Chennai.....

these girls are sisters, by the way....

thanks!

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nayan

what they will enjoy depends a lot on their socio-economic background. can you give some more details?
10 and 12 yr old definitely out of colouring book phase.
1. childrens story books(vernacular and english) are generally cheap in India compared to the west. maybe you can take them to a bookshop and give them a treat of choosing a book for themselves.
2. pretty hairclips,pendants etc are always popular gifts
4. colourful t-shirts with your city's logo on it (unless they are from extremely traditional family and donot wear t-shirts/western wear).
5. chocolates (lots of it)even if the same brand is now available in India.

the opoponax

Cool pens, pencils, stickers, notebooks, etc from the US might be nice. I remember when I was that age (not so long ago!) there was a HUGE vogue for this stuff called "Lisa Frank" that did sparkly stickers, those pens with the feathery stuff on the end which wrote in purple ink, notebooks with unicorns, etc. 12 is probably the upper end for that sort of thing.

Hairclips and the like, definitely.

Depending on the socie-economic class of the people, what about CD's of currently popular teenybopper music? Justin Timberlake or Hilary Duff or whoever the kids are listening to these days. Might drive their parents nuts, though.

What about issues of Seventeen, Teen Vogue, etc? This would be perfect for the oldest, but not appropriate for the younger ones. Maybe comic books or picture books for them? What about literature of the Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, Little Women ilk?

Sama

they are daughters of the rickshaw driver whom I always use in Chennai and you can see their pictures from last year in my photo gallery....

keep the suggestions coming!

capt_mahajan

I am guessing they won't be fluent in English, so unless I was sure, thats out.

Gaudy trinkets, specially for the 12 year old.
Second (or third) hair clips and chocolates
yes, those huge crayon things too.

Damn, I have no ideas of my own

the opoponax

I would be absolutely shocked if Little Women and Anne of Green Gables hadn't been translated into Tamil.

nayan

ok..... can give more specific suggestions now
1. sparkly hair clips, earrings, pendants etc
2. t-shirts with chicago/new york/USA/barbie logo
3. cookie plastic/tin box with colourful grafics on top(they can use the box after the cookies are eaten to store personal treasures)
4. encyclopedia(not too fat)from some discount store with lots of colourful pictures. even if they cannot understand the text, they will like looking at the glossy pictures of the wonders of the world.
5. colourful satchel(to carry to school or tution classes)
6. chocolates (this is a must)
will add somethings later........

rushie82

They must be going to school (hopefully) in 3rd 5th and 7th std respectively. So i think they will love a nice backpack to carry their books to school. Good thing u r doing btw. they will be very happy.

Nick-H

I think I'd be horrified if they had!

Cuddly toys.

Cuddly toys with batteries that run about the floor, every so often sitting up saying woof (or whatever).

Torches.

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crvlvr

http://www.toysrus.com/shop/index.js...goryId=2255956 allows to you see what the most popular toys are currently in the US for various age groups.

Sama

I like the ideas of the hair stuff, bags for school, etc., and the chocolates! but won't the chocolate be all gooey and squishy and melted by the time I get to India?!?

Earthling

What's your budget like for each of the 3 children?

I like the school bags idea. In fact, anything educational is great I think.

If you have a fairly large budget, if you look on ebay, you could find great pentium3 laptops for as low as 50~100 usd. I'm not sure the girls have access to computers yet, so that might be one hell of a gift...

As I'm pretty sure the father will not pay to get them a net connection, you'll need to find various software (tamil and english) that can keep them occupied for months and years. There is loads and loads and loads of free software, someone needs to get them it, coz it's pretty difficult to get without a net connection.

Girls like pretty stuff and at 12 I think the older girl is prolly not so into crayons. Maybe even the 10 year old..

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Sama

uh....no. I don't even have a laptop. nor an IPod. I'm just an old fashioned gal.

they did not even have a refrigerator until last year.

but thanks for your suggestions!
think I will stick with the girly stuff and educational things!

Earthling

Anytime. Earthling's forte is giving free advice from the couch.

If I think of anything really really nice and not too expensive, you can bet I'll re-post in a flash!

Nice of you to do this..

amyl

1. This is a repeated advice. Take them to the neighboring dress/toys/books store and have them pick what they want. It so happens, at least in India, that kids often pass through some store or chance upon once, like something but their Dad/Mom is all no no no....its 'very expensive'. This makes the kids ever-wishing(dreaming). I am sure they will definitely be happy if they get what they have been really wishing for since a long time. It's like meeting their wish-list. Of course one budget has to be taken care of while doing so

2. Do get something from your US of A. It gives them a chance to flaunt among their friends saying 'eeda yumerica lendye'. (I got that Tamil from my direct-from-chennai-desk-neighbor . It has become so shoddy during the transition BTW .) Get something that is unique to USA. Tho that T-Shirt thing is a really nice idea but these days we get such things in India with almost any print. New York, California, Texas, Armani, CK, ESPIRIT, Levi's for 20Rs so that may not 'look' so special for them.

3. I would buy the 'very expensive' school bags from the local shops.

4. Yes hair 'decoration' items are really nice. Am buying a really cool hair thing for my niece. Barbie stuff. It's a set of colorful beads, stars, crescents, and lots of other things. Apparently a couple of strings are put through the holes.
Some funky clips will also be liked.

5. Be very careful on chocolates. Unless you buy those chewy jelly stuff. Others will most probably go bad somehow. Am sure you have noticed that you get almost all brands these days in India (At least in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore...not sure about Chennai ). Get them here.

6. Tho this Idea will make them fight amongst themselves and might stretch my pocket but I would like to see if a girlish bicycle(of course a local brand) fits in my budget.

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