Birthday gifts for kids

jenna8984

My niece and nephew both have birthday parties coming up next month and I'd love some creative gift ideas. Christmas was pretty recent so they have PLENTY of toys so I'd like to avoid standard toys.

Nephew- 5 years old. Divorced parents so he has double the family buying him toys and clothing. Maybe something more interactive?

Niece- 1 year old. Has lots of toys but isn't old enough to really do anything else...?

dcbride86

What does the 5 year old like?  At 5, they can start getting pretty cool interactive gifts.

As for the neice, what about a book?  I got my future nephew "Oh the Places You'll Go" for his first birthday, and wrote a note in it.  He can't read it yet obviously, but it's something he'll be able to read a bunch down the road.

HaileyDancingbear

Are there any children's studios nearby?  A lot of people have been buying each other gift cards or paying for classes for a child as a gift where I work, and the recipients seem pretty happy with it.  If there is any children's place that you know they enjoy going to, a gift certificate to that place would be nice.  

You could do a big batch of play dough, I have a recipe that I use for work that is pretty simple, and you can make it a really cool color with food coloring, or add glitter- I add glitter to the stuff I make for work and the kids love it!  (It is kinda messy, but not awful.  The glitter mostly just remains stuck in the play dough, and will get on hands and the surface it's used on, but it's not the kind of glitter mess where it's still inexplicably being found in every room of the house months later)

penguin44

I got some board books and a stuffed bunny for my friend's one year old for christmas. This is a spoiled kid with lots of aunts and uncles, so I will probably always get her books. She has enough toys.

[Deleted User]

How much are you looking to spend?

Maybe for your nephew, something like a science kit or something like this (click)

For your niece... we made a ball pit for our son out of an inflatable pool for his birthday and bought balls to fill it up. It was a favorite of his, and also good for him to work on his colors  

You can never go wrong with books and puzzles, but I know that isn't really unique.

This is a fun book that we have... it comes with these fuzzy gloves to make the person reading the story the "tickle monster"... it's pretty cute.

For my friend's little girl I got her this little stool on etsy that also doubles as a puzzle with her name.  Something she can grow into as well.

Click

dcbride86

Also, for the 1 year old theres this really cool dog called "Scout" or something.  They have a pink one and a blue one, and it does all sorts of different things depending on the age of the child.  FI always gives it to his friends babies, and has gotten rave reviews about it!

jenna8984

@alisonm23 You are so good at this! I love ALL of those suggestions!!

@dcbride86 Writing in a book is a really sweet idea. Both kids have the Scout & Violet doggies

theartistformerlyknownas

All the babies in my circle love:

Scout the puppy

Vtech Go!Go! Smart Animals

Little People playsets and extra people

This Three Little Pigs play set - as wee ones it's fun to put them in and out the doors and chimneys, and as they get older they can tell the story along with it. http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Three-Little/dp/B000NV6DRU

theartistformerlyknownas

For 5 year olds... 

Stomp Rockets

Transformers Rescue Bots

Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel game.

princessleia22

For Christmas we got my 3 year old niece a personalized book through Shutterfly. <LINK> You send photo of the kid and they incorporate them into the adventure story.  She loved seeing a book about herself. We did a Dora the Explorer book.  They asked details, like birthday, and incorporate those details into the story also... like you need to find the key that has the same letter as kids name or follow the path that has 22 flowers because kids birthday is 22nd. They also have Sesame Street books or an alphabet one which may be better suited for 1 year old. It takes about a month to have it made though.

jenna8984

@princessleia22 That is so cool!!

vmj23

I have a ton of niece and nephews(6 total), who all have a TON of aunts and uncles, so i always hate trying to come up with gifts.  They don't need anything!  They get soo many gifts.  I just got my 1 year old nephew this: 

https://pinholepress.com/products/mini-storybook-of-names-faces-glossycoated-1-20081/