My DD is that age. She loves Bath & Body Works stuff -- a gift card might be nice if she has a store nearby. Or The Body Shop, or what's that other store...Lush? She likes fun patterned socks. She also loves anything "fuzzy" -- socks, fleece tops or pj's, throw blankets. She wears flannel pj pants around the house a lot. Abercrombie Kids is a new favorite of hers. She likes a lot of their sweatshirts/hoodies. If your niece likes arts and crafts at all, she might like a collection of fancy duct tape (if you're not aware of the new designs in duct tape, you may be surprised!) or washi tape. Or Sculpey modeling clay. My DD and many of her friends love Vera Bradley stuff, too. She even has a VB quilt on her bed and on her Xmas list she has a VB throw blanket, slippers, and robe! I think a lot of girls are getting into jewelry at this age, too. Mine is just starting to wear necklaces once in a while, and she has pierced ears so she wears earrings every day. She still likes small stud earrings, though I did recently buy her a pair of small hoops that she was thrilled with.

We love to give and get books in our house. The toddler board books are fun for little ones, and almost indestructible. DD always like the rhyming ones and the ones that were fun to read because they had different textures or pull tabs. I would recommend Dr. Seuss and Sarah Bornton (Pajama Time and Snuggle Puppy were favorites). Leapfrog reading books were also a big hit with DD. Melissa and Doug wooden play food, blocks, large threading/lacing wood pieces, and puzzles are fun too, and were great for DD who had some balance and hand eye coordination issues and was going through physical therapy to develop her motor skills. DD learned her colors, letters, numbers, shapes, and US states at an early age just from playing with her puzzles! I'll never forget when she was no more than 2 years old and corrected her older sister by telling her one of the pieces was not a moon shape - it was a "crescent" :) I don't think DD realized that pretty much all of her fun toys prior to age 4 or so were educational! She's now a straight A honors student in middle school, and I like to think all of our early learning play together gave her a good start :)

if u don't want to go the book route, how about a savings bond?? u pay $25 and in 15-20 (i forget which) years its worth $50., i know its doesn't sound like a lot but we did that for our kids since birth. for my oldest it paid half of her college bill in junior year. had the whole family on board and everyone did it when they were too little realize they really didn't "get" anything.. everyone always got them a little something to go with it, so when they we knew they should get presents, they had something to open.. the amounts go as high as $500 i think. did it for every occasion, it really adds up!!! $500 bond, $1,000 in allotted time plus interest if u hold onto them past the mature date....

Agree with the somewhat misplaced emphasis on gifts in our culture. I have never really liked the idea of giving guests gifts or favors at weddings, a custom that has seeped into adult birthday parties, christmas parties and even ordinary dinner parties. I do think that anyone in a position to do so should establish an investment account for their kid and have them read the statements and follow their stocks or mutual funds. Eventually they will appreciate it. We used to say our DD pinches pennies until Lincoln’s face bleeds— I don’t know what’s on a penny now, but she’s still at it. She had many merit scholarships and grants and basically paid for her own education, all three degrees. We contributed in a small way to her living expenses for her undergraduate degree, but once she was working she paid for the second and third without asking us for a dime. Some kids are just made that way. But she never turned down a clothes shopping trip! In her junior year of college I surprised her with a one day trip to the Mall of America. We flew up and back and bought her a new spring and summer wardrobe in a day.