When I was a little girl of about 6, on a Christmas whilst my dad was away on detachment my mum had a dollhouse made for me, and we spent Christmas morning opening gift wrapped parcels of miniature furniture and accessories and furnished by beautiful new dollhouse together.
I still have that dollhouse in my garage! I vividly remember unwrapping the wooden furniture with mum (and I am a person with very bad memory and thus not too many childhood memories) and putting my toys to bed in that miniature house over and over. Years later I was allowed a pet hamster (RIP Ginger!), and I used to put him in the dollhouse and watch him crawl up and down the stairs and over the furniture!
All this is to say that when you gift your child a dollhouse it really does have the potential to be an heirloom gift that is treasured forever. I have taken that dollhouse with me on countless house moves and it is in my garage patiently waiting for its moment to shine again.
I do also have most of the furniture too, but as it was the old fashion wooden bits they are mostly broken, and when I get round to giving the house its long overdue renovation, I will be furnishing it with our gorgeous Maileg furniture & accessories, and the matchbox mice will be moving in!
Nowadays you don’t need to buy a kit and have someone specially make you a dollhouse like my mum did (although you obviously can) there are plenty of lovely budget options, or of course the Maileg House of miniature that is already decorated with wallpaper etc. The mouse castle is a great beginner option in my opinion as you can extend with an extra hall or turret whe you need more room for your mice.
If you are planning a similar core memory present for Christmas this year, here are some tips for setting up your new dollhouse.
Depending on age there are some items that I would say get a lot more play over others, and mostly it is to do with the potential for imaginative play rather than aesthetics!
For example, my little boy (3 years old) will happily play with the wellness mouse; taking her shower cap on and off for a good 20 minutes; getting her in and out of the bath. My niece (4 years old) loves putting all the mice to bed and turning the lights off in each room (her IKEA dollhouse doesn’t have lights – it’s all in her wonderful imagination!).
Other elements that are a hit with these two are any tea sets, and food; something that allows them to feed their mice / play pretend a picnic.
I have also heard that having a toilet and/or potty is a big hit with littles as they help the mice learn to use them! It makes sense really; our children are reinforcing their own learnt behaviours and routines through play. Pretty magical to watch.
Obviously as they grow up and the imaginative play extends to cooking in the kitchen, princess love stories, camping trips – your collection expands with their imagination!
