A daughter's gift - Her first painted mini

It's always nice to receive gifts from your family, but lately it's been pretty scripted. When my wife or kids need to get me something for my birthday, father's day, or christmas, I usually tell them exactly what I want or need for my collections. However to keep the spirit of surprise with gift giving alive, I came up with an idea.

I sent my wife with my older daughter, Bree (4 years old), to the gamestore to pick out any miniature kit from their GW shelf for $25 or under. I am always interested expanding my bits collection, and I feel I can make use out of just about any kit. This would be exciting because I would have no idea what I would be getting for my birthday, but I know I could use it for something.

So on my birthday last month she proudly brought to me what she picked out. Excitedly I ripped off the wrapping paper to find a box of Skeletons. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, because my daughter is in love with anything to do with Halloween, like ghosts, zombies, and skeletons. I can think of a good use for these, namely as dungeon denizens for RPGs or SoBaH.

She became fascinated with her gift, so I rewarded her with the opportunity to build and paint one of them.

I may have the potential makings of a little painting slave here. She was excited to copy what daddy does on most of his spare time.

Here is the finished product. As you can tell she has an affinity for the color red, refusing to try any other. I was able to get her to at least apply a shade of nuln oil to it to help bring out the detail. She picked the parts and pose for assembling, and I primed it for her. We will see what she can do in the future. Still a few years off before I start buying kits for her, but this could be the beginning.