The next best thing to seeing a musical live or in a movie theater is to see it on a DVD. Of special interest to children will be the extras that are included on DVDs. These can be interviews with the stars and director, insights into how the musical was made, etc. These can be things which fuel the imagination of a young person, as well as acting as an inspiration for them to emulate what they have seen and heard.
Presents don't have to consist of material things. Any child who receives a ticket to see one of her favorite music stars live will remember the experience for the rest of her life. The music-show gift can be to see either a pop concert or a musical. Seeing a big movie in an impressive cinema can also have a stunning effect on a child, and most adults will normally be able to reel off many of the movies they saw in their early years.
Children do love dressing up in replica costumes of their heroes and heroines, whether it's Superman, Spider-Man, Batman or Wolverine for boys or Catwoman, Storm, Cinderella or Tinkerbell for girls. A replica costume will have an even greater appeal when you give it to a child after he's just seen a movie featuring his hero. A birthday-party theme could involve having the guests come in replica costumes.
MP3s and CDs have advantages over each other, so a combination of the two for a child is a great idea for a gift. You can complement a greatest-hits CD by a singer or group could with vouchers or a gift card to download MP3s of other renowned songs by the artist, since it's rare that any greatest-hits album will feature all the artist's most-celebrated songs. With a CD a child can read about the artist's career in a booklet, whereas other songs can be cherry-picked from a download site.