Mario & Sonic?

Definitely Galaxy though.

No mistake, MP 8 > wario ware.  Its fun for about half an hour which is all it takes to beat.  Mario Party should be considered more than wario ware.

 Lies. It takes many hours of play to unlock all microgames and minigames in WarioWare.

 I've played both games in a party environment. MP8 was a snoozefest while WW was a home run. I enjoyed WarioWare's solo play enough to play it repeatedly and unlock every game, but I can't picture myself having any fun playing MP8 alone. 

 My beef with Mario Party is that it's a board game with occaisional spurts of interactivity. Not even a very good board game. If they'd boil off more of the board game and mix in some more video game it would be much more fun.

Manhunt 2- They is a good one to play with the whole family, nothen better than watching grandma crush in someones skull with an axe

No one mention "Cooking mama "?

I think some of you guys are underestimating females who play video games. Sure, there are many females who enjoy playing "party games", but there are many others who like to play games like main Mario games and Zelda games. I would definitely consider picking up Super Mario Galaxy.

First of all don't worry about being picky, that just means you are a good shopper! And when it comes to gifts a carefully chosen gift is usually 10x better than a random last minute one.

Second of all I completely agree with the games you have ruled out given the criteria you have mentioned thus far. But I would also move Zelda onto that list. Zelda really is a one player experience and fairly long game as well. One of my favorite games actually, but given your goals I think there are better choices for you.

For the remaining games:

• Super Mario Galaxy: This game really is an excellent gift and with the two player cooperative mode it would allow for more of a group activity. I can also add that when I got this game my couch was literally filled with people every night for about 2 weeks (and still some weekends) with people who wanted to play it. Some went out and got their own copy finally so thats a plus lol =) The only downside is it won't be a game you can get 4 people involved in at once, the extra folks will just be watching...but honestly I thought it was still enjoyable just to watch people play.
• MySims: I have fairly limited experience here so I will let someone else discuss its pros and cons.
• Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree: A great game for keeping everybody sharp and some of the features allow a bit of competition to keep everyone trying to prove who is really smarter. I'm not sure how it stacks up with the DS version but it is pretty hard to go wrong with this game for most adults...I am however unsure of how kids would react to it since it does have more of that education feel to it.....depending on personalities and if the kids pride themselves on being good students etc...this could be a smash hit or a flop..you will have to make a judgment call here.
• Mario Party 8: Offers multiplayer for all 4 people and a wide variety of minigames and silly activities masterfully woven into a board game that really ties the game together very well. For your needs I think this is another great fit.
• WarioWare: Smooth Moves: Similar to Mario Party this is a great fit, but it has a much stranger and sillier twist to the minigames in most cases. I again will say I don't have a lot of experience here so someone else might be able to add more. But from what I do know of the game it should fit quite well and probably keep them laughing as well.
• Petz 2: Horsez: Literally zero experience here, sorry.

Hopefully that helps some. But unfortunately since you know them better than any of us possibly could you will need to just make a decision based on your gut feeling. Of the games I was able to give you some information about I can tell you that all of them would be good choices so there aren't really any bad choices imo.

 I agree on Mario, but for 4 girls under the age of 13 I don't see them playing through a 40-60 hour zelda adventure. When they are older I'm sure they would enjoy it as I think I know more females who are huge zelda fans than males, apparently link is a bit of a "hotty".

Can't completely agree with you, Sqrl, my sister started playing Zelda back when she was about 8, though part of that might have been because she had been watching my dad and I play since she was born.
Still, she loves Zelda games, and she's not into Wii sports or pretty much any other game. she's kinda okay on Mario 64, but that's about it as far as i can see.

I wouldn't be extremely shocked if some young girls were playing this type of game, I would just suspect that the other games listed are more their cup of tea typically.