There certainly are no shortage of gift-giving occasions when it comes to children. Birthdays, the holidays, and the birth of a younger sibling come to mind. Instead of racking your brain to come up with an ever-fancier gift, take a step back and think basic. Sometimes practical is best.
Here are 5 picks for practical gifts that any parent would welcome:
1. Art supplies. We bought out most of the supply of Todd Oldham's Kid Made Modern line of art supplies at our local Target. While we're keeping most of it, a few of the items have been earmarked as gifts.
2. Food storage containers. You can never have enough of quality food storage containers in my book. A good assortment of sizes comes in handy when quickly packing snacks and lunches for kids. These are stainless steel Lunchbots.
3. Butcher paper. Buy them by the roll in white or brown and your friends will never run out of reasons to draw.
4. Straw & Sippy Cup Top Cleaning set by OXO. This little set is a fantastic gift for parents of young kids. Whether they are using bottles, sippy cups, straws, or all three, they'll be squeaky clean!
5.Wooden Blocks. You can't go wrong with quality wooden blocks. Kids can never have enough. Our favorites are the maple wooden blocks by Montgomery Schoolhouse.
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We also love reusable snack bags (lunchskins and Itzy Ritzy are our favs) complete with snacks.
Books are always my go-to if I am unsure of the child's hobbies, parents' do's and don'ts for toys, etc. For an upcoming 5 year old's birthday party, I just got this Seuss classic—perfect for kids, young or old.
I'm anxious to see more ideas in the comments. I have lots of nieces and nephews and most of them have an obscene amount of stuff that they don't take care of. Sometimes buying them presents feels like throwing money away. Most kids would be very underwhelmed with #2 though, unless it was really cute.
dual purpose, meaning grown-ups can use it, too are also a way to go. Some of my boys' favorites (4 and 2 y.o) include:
-tape: masking, painters', duct, scotch. you name it, if it sticks, they want it.
-bolts & nuts in various sizes & shapes.
-seeds (and pots & dirt if there's no backyard).
-along that line, terrarium kits are nice, too.
-paper & scissors--there are all kinds that are safe with neat-o edges (keep a 2 y.o. busy for 1/2 an hour)
-audio book for the car of one of their favorites
-ribbons
-play silks
ok, I'll stop.
My nephews have soooo much stuff that my SIL has started requesting that they either get nothing from extended family or $10 gift cards. We usually go with the gift card. Kids love picking out their own gift and they are young enough that $10 still seems like a lot of money.
For a friend's child, I bought him a paper robot assembly kit. It wasn't expensive and I liked that if he was going to be interested in robots, it would be building them rather than just playing with ones already assembled for him.
Coloring books/art supplies for little ones
Event coupons (you promise to take them to, say, movies or a local attraction)
A museum pass (if there is a science or kids museum nearby)
Kits of any sort, from cooking kits to lego kits to planting kits
Puzzles
Books
Local treats coupons: Ice cream cones or coffee shop gift cards for older kids
Cool beach towel (if summer); cool knit cap (if winter); beach playthings for little ones
Water guns
Bubbles or bubble kits for older kids (the kind where you make huge bubbles)
Rocket balloons (super fun; make sure and get the set with a pump)
Marshmallow guns
(can you tell I have boys? We love non-harmful shooting things)
I think you should distinguish between gifts for kids and gifts for parents of kids. What small child would want a cleaning kit for sippy cup lids? Come on.
@Austin & Foster, you're spot on with your recommendations. We try to keep clutter at a minimum in our house (it's a constant battle) and these are the gifts our 3 and 4-year-old boys love--flashlights, a tool box, the things they see us using on a daily basis.
Books. Kids love 'em, and parents usually don't mind the accumulation.
We have also given chopsticks (on our return from Japan). If you know the kiddos eat with them, they LOVE having their own kid-size pair. Get the kind that come with a cool case.
For girls, hair accessories are quite fascinating at a certain stage. You can get all kinds of beribboned, bejeweled, and feathered styles, plain stretchy ones, barrettes, pony-tail holders--all at Duane Reade. Toss in clear plastic toiletries bag and you're very popular.
I get a lot of kids gifts off of ETSY.
ie.) Personalized lunch boxes, water bottles, sippy cups, t-shirts with their names on it.
Parents appreciate the "won't lose it at school" factor and it's something you don't get your own kids because of the insane cost of say 1 bottle. It makes a great gift though.
Some of the best gifts store bought have been the around $20 ones. Like the Leap Frog Text and Learn:
http://shop.leapfrog.com/leapfrog/jump/Text-%26-Learn/productDetail/All-Toys/lfprod19143/cat800014
Saved many possible tantrums in long car rides and doctor's office waiting rooms and it's educational. They also make a practice letter writing one & V-Tech makes a similar model for even cheaper.
For my son as a 2-3 year old: one of his favorites was a child sized broom - he loved to "help" out with it at preschool (the kids would argue over who gets it) and then, after I bought him his own for Christmas, he played with it for many, many months; we still use it now that he is 6 - I use it all the time in lieu of the adult sized broom for small clean up jobs.
My sister-in-law was just telling me about all the wonderful, well-meaning gifts that get pushed to the side, and how the most brilliant gift my 6-year-old niece has received lately was a small set of binoculars and a bird field guide for her area. She now carries them both everywhere. Six-year-olds seem to be nuts for field guides!
My favorite gifts to give right now are water bottles, books and stickers.
I have a 4 year old and a 1 1/2 year old and we have a big yard & driveway so some of their favorite gifts have been things they can use outside; mostly sidewalk chalk and kid-sized gardening tools.
Here are my go-to's:
Books, Legos, jewelery, sidewalk chalk, (beach) towels, beach toys/pool toys, beach/lawn chairs, T-Shirts brought back from a trip (bought a European soccer jersey once - it was a hit), Museum passes, Zoo passes, paint-by-numbers, puzzles, special/fun pillows, finger puppets, backpacks, candy, hats + scarves, socks for babies (can never have too many!), slippers, art supplies, gardening gear, tooth fairy boxes, hair clips, earrings, diary/notebooks, toy cars, games the family can play together, growth charts, and lots of stuff in the IKEA kids department.
AS I child I always love getting kits to make things such as paint but number, candle making kit or kit to make pot holders.
I love all of the ideas in the comments, and the only one I would add is magazine subscriptions. My kids read their Babybug, National Geographic for Kids, My Big Backyard, etc over and over again. We keep old ones in the car for car rides. Besides, what kid doesn't love to receive mail?
My kids favorite gifts ever (even in the midst of a Christmas overload on plastic branded stuff) were a box full of all different sizes of bouncy balls and a box of different sorts of flashlights.
I would agree in general that, in terms of longterm fun, they have really really enjoyed gifts like HUGE quantities of paper or tape or paint, so that they can be 'wasteful', ie launch themselves into sort of ridiculously large projects.
For xmas my 4 yr old got a box full of large bottles of inexpensive washable paint and some ceramic figurines to paint. Huge hit. (BTW those lunchbot colored lids chip like crazy, love it but I'd get the plain stainless top.)
WASHI TAPE! Our new favorite gift.
Flashlights (usually magl-ight brand-they just feel good in your hand)
Nice colored pencils
cool yarn for older kids
pieces of fabric & cool buttons (gotta know the kids/parents for that one)
One of the most popular gifts we ever gave were homemade doll quilts out of scrap fabric. Simple 9 or 16 square, uneven & the kids and parents LOVED them.
Books, is my go to. Kind of a dud when the kid is opening it up but then they have that book forever.
Stamps.
Cold hard cash. I have ten nieces and nephews, they love their birthday card with $10 bucks. Who knew.
second the getting mail suggestion. kids love mail. before mine can read, i tell them that all the junk mail is for them, like many other parents. it makes their day. of course, once they learn to read it doesn't work anymore, but after that i just tell them if they still want it they can still have it. and i make sure to get them some mail with their actual name on it every so often.
you can never go wrong with books!
Sippy cup cleaners and food storage are not "for kids." They are gifts for parents. Very few kids are going to get excited about a lunchbot, but hey, I'll take a free one.
Practical gifts for kids that don't provide clutter are art supplies of any type and books. For bigger gifts thinks like zoo memberships are awesome. I don't know a single child who *needs* anything IRL. Give consumable gifts.
I love getting and giving art supplies, but let's be honest: art supplies create the MOST clutter. :)