Tap shoes, $3

It never occurred to my five-year-old to want tap shoes. After all, tap shoes aren’t advertised on TV, don’t line the shelves at Target or Toy Kingdom, and don’t come in shades of Barbie, Disney Princess or The Wiggles. And it never occurred to me to want her to want tap shoes until I was reminded that yes, you can spoil your kid rotten without resorting to Barbie, Disney Princess or The Wiggles. The makers of these tap shoes haven’t diversified into dolls and pencil cases and tissues and yoghurt, so I haven’t accidentally bought into the building of brand loyalty in pre-schoolers. Yippee! The shoes come from an op shop with a rather luxurious one-to-two ratio of volunteers to customers.