Emma has once again been very blessed this past few months and weeks by several PR companies, authors and company directors and she got to play with some of the most exciting releases so I thought of putting together a handy list for anyone facing a big 7th birthday in the months to come.
As a list, the ideas below are pretty comprehensive as possible birthday or even Christmas presents and I hope you will find it useful.
- A personalised book
I have written about personalised books before on the blog and we have already a number of them in the house, both for Emma and in Georgie’s memory.
This summer, I have witnessed the exciting “birthing” of another beautiful personalised book called Message in a Bottle. Alongside a number of other mummy bloggers, we helped Tuire, the illustrator, decide on the graphics, the wording and the online kids’ club quizzes. I grew quite attached to Kiki, the lovable character in the book and was delighted to see Emma’s joy at discovering her name in the book and the personalised message we added at the end. I did fear that Emma would have outgrown the idea of a personalised book but I needn’t have feared, she still found the whole concept and book magical!
The book is printed in the UK and both the illustrations and the quality of the paper is superb and faithfully reflected in the price (£19.95). Delivery is free; the template option for the personalised message at the end includes beside birthdays, bereavement, parental separation/divorce, being different and self-esteem options so the book can be offered on a variety of occasions.
2. Subscription box
Emma got two subscription boxes to review this month. One, a toy box and the other, a book box.
The amazing thing about every subscription box is that the people behind them tend to do the leg work for you, so you are almost always guaranteed that the products you are getting are good value for money and age appropriate.
Emma was sent the Kids’ Parcel last week and to be truthful, I was as excited as she was about its contents.
I had seen the Super Hero dolls in Tesco the previous week and I knew their market value but to find all this wealth of products, all for £29.99 was simply amazing! The toys are spot on for a seven year old who still fantasises about being a super girl, who is getting to grips with writing and needs loads of notebooks to express her creativity and who loves painting neatly. We also got the UNO dice game, another win since children at this age start being much more interested in strategic games and the adorable Tsum Tsums!
I would wholeheartedly recommend this toy subscription box to anyone lacking inspiration for birthday gifts.
The second personalised subscription box Emma got sent this month was the WILF book box. We were actually offered a 50% code towards a monthly subscription box which brought the price down to £10 for us.
The idea behind WILF is amazing, personalised boxes of books sent out to children and a return service through which the children can gift some of their books to others.
As with the Message in a box, I did see it literally come to life, from an idea to the box we received last week.
The four books we got were lovely and three of them were age appropriate but would I recommend it as a subscription box? Not just as yet, to be completely truthful. There are some things that need tweaked, like the price and also, the choice of books. In this day and age where books are so competitively priced, paying £20 for four books, one of which is too young for Emma, is a bit much. I’ve passed my feedback onto the lovely and enthusiastic founders and I hope to see improvement in our next month’s delivery.
3. Books
Oh no, I’m not contradicting myself, I love books and I will always resort to them first when it comes to birthday parties as books tend to be presents which keep on giving, long after they were received.
This month, we found some gems in the local library and in our WILF subscription box, so these are our recommendations:
Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World sits right up there with the likes of Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie Revere, Engineer, and are amazing books that inspire girls to think outside the box and dream big.
Here is its introduction:
“The women in this book didn’t set out to be thought as ‘great’. They achieved extraordinary things simply by following their hearts, talents and dreams. They didn’t listen when people said they couldn’t do something. They dared to be different.“
In a world where Donald Trump is trying to reverse the society to a primal state where women are nothing more that pieces of meat, books like this one are priceless and their message resounds powerfully against the nonsensical propaganda of this age.
Prebook yours now on Amazon for £6.99, including delivery for Prime members.
Fins, fluff and other stuff came in our WILF subscription box and again, it is a book that totally supports my system of beliefs and how I want Emma to grow, as a happy in her own skin and confident child.
The book is relatively new, once again, having been published on the 16th of November 2015 and sells on Amazon from £1.57.
Here is my list, so far. Did anything appeal to you and why? Do let me know in the comments!
Disclosure: we were gifted some of the products mentioned in this post for the purpose of reviewing. The opinions expressed are truthful and entirely our own.
Mama's Haven 
Now I need to get that Women who changed the world book! Makes me mad that so much history in school is male-biased. Thanks for sharing.
Rosalie is only 2 and I am struggling to think of things to buy her as she has it all already. At 7 it must be even harder! Some great ideas here x
That book about “Fantastically great women..” looks fab. We (especially me!) love “Rosie Revere, Engineer”. I think I will get this one for mine for Xmas! Thanks!
I hadn’t thought of a subscription box for a gift idea but I love it – such good idea x
oh my gosh I can’t believe she is 7 already! love the great women who changed the world book! x
So many great ideas!
Thanks for recommending the books too – we are BIG bookies here! Happy birthday to your daughter xx
Funnily enough we have a 7th birthday coming up in this house too. I always insist on them having books for every birthday and christmas, even if they tend to be unappreciated at the time!
Lots of great ideas here. I love the look of the kids subscription boxes, I’d have been just as excited opening them to see what was inside.
Laura x
Really love these ideas, thank you. I will definitely get the Women Who Changed the World book for some really special girls this Christmas.
Im dreading the day i have to buy for a 7 year old. Birthday’s and Christmas’s get harder and harder every year. Why can’t they stay little forever? Some lovely ideas too! xx
Great ideas. I really love the idea of a subscription box. You can’t go wrong with books too and personalised ones are such a lovely keepsake.
My children were reared on the Uno card game but I haven’t seen the dice version before – would you recommend it?
I love the idea of the Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World book – it’s important to instil a sense of confidence from a young age:-)
Thanks for this, I’m going to check out Kids parcel, there are some great products in that package. Mich x
Oh I love the look of both of the book and the toy boxes – what great ideas!
A lovely round up of gifts – Eliza would love the superhero dolls
The kids parcel looks great. I am still looking for one that suits us. I’ll check this one out.
I am so intrigued about that UNO dice game in the subscription box. We love playing Uno 🙂
I remember being little and my godmother giving me a nursery rhyme book and it was personalised. I was so blown away that the characters in the book knew my name. I read and read it over and over and remember it feeling so magical and i still remember that feeling now 🙂
Some fab ideas here! My three year old loves books – so I love the idea of a subscription box for her! x
Great ideas, love all the books and that subscription box looks rather fab x
My daughter is only just 4 but is quite advanced for her age and this year I am really struggling for ideas on what to get her. She is however really into her books, so after reading your review I order my son and daughter a personalised book each. They arrived yesterday and I am so pleased with them, they are fantastic and I can’t wait to see their faces when they Unwrap and read them