The Perfect Second Birthday Present

My daughter Ava’s birthday party is fast approaching!

I’ve planned a Sesame Street themed party, but have yet to buy her a present. So, the last couple of days I have been thinking of a  ‘perfect’ birthday present for her. I don’t want to get her too much because she will be getting presents at her party from friends and family. Ideally, I want to get her one present, but one big enough to feel like it is special.

I try to encourage Ava to do creative activities, so I think the perfect present would be an easel. She loves to paint and especially enjoys it when we do it together.  An easel will be perfect because it will change up the activity and will allow her a larger space to paint. 

I looked at a couple of easels and I am going to go with the Melissa & Doug Wooden Standing Art Easel.

The easel is double-sided. I like that she can do more than one activity on the easel, so she will never get bored of it. One one side is the dry-erase board where the painting paper can be placed while the other is the chalkboard.

Although, the best feature about this easel is that the height of the easel can be adjusted. A lot of other easels don’t do this and my little Ava is already a little short 🙂

The easel runs for $79.99. I think this is a fair price. It’s not the most expensive easel on the market, but not the cheapest. It’s also good quality as I have seen it a playgroup I attend with Ava.

The only down side is that the Paint, chalk, eraser, paint cups, and paint brushes are sold separately. All these accessories are offered in a Melissa & Doug Easel companion set which retails for $34.99.

Do you have an experiences with the Melissa & Doug easel? Would you recommend it?