Hello my friends,
I am on the hunt! I’m sure you are too… for gifts! I start early… I always do! The thing is, how can you give someone the perfect gift if you only do it last minute?! I would be waaaaaay too stressed!
For me, finding the perfect gift is an exciting challenge. When you care about someone, you’ll pick up things about that person throughout the years. So that helps you greatly to choose the perfect gift! But when you know someone for a very long time, it gets harder and harder to find them something original…
So if you’re looking for inspiration! Here are some gift ideas, that I’ve also given in the past!! So close friends of mine, if you’re hoping for spoilers, you won’t get them here, muhahahaha!
I’ll start off with the small ones!
Babies
It’s quite easy when the baby is born and for which the parents have made a baby wishlist. Then you just need to pick a gift out of that list. But what if you were a tiny bitty late or for whatever reason, the list was already closed? It sure happened to me. I’m sure some of you are thinking right now “Hey, that’s an easy one! I’ll just buy a teddy bear”.
Of course, it’s a very cute gift, but it’s rather obvious everyone wants to give them that. So the parents are likely to end up with a mountain of bears! but again, there’s nothing wrong with buying a teddy bear. But chances are, that you clicked this post, because you were hoping to find more original ideas :p.
Usually I like to go for a more personal decorative piece for their room. We all have this romantic view of how we’ll some day have kids and decorate the room beautifully, at least I do. But I think that in reality, we underestimate how tired we’ll be once the baby is there… I hear from many young mothers that they’re sleep deprived and how little time they have for something as simple as decorating a room…
1. Shadow lamp
You can of course order these and be done with it. There are some really pretty models out there! But if you have a smaller budget, you can also buy a cheap lamp and get black sticker paper and cut out the shapes yourself. I once made one with little birds for my BF’s nephew.
2. Little drawings
If you remember the theme that was on the birth card, you could make a couple of drawings of cute little animals and frame these. It’s so simple, yet so personal. And you don’t need to have great drawing skills here.
Portrets
Giving parents a portret of their baby is something very pure. I’ve made a portret for each child of my BF’s brother and sister in law. And seeing their faces each time, it’s a feeling you can’t describe with words. I feel grateful being able to give them that.
If you’re not great at drawing you could use a light box to outline the bigger lines. Or hold a thin paper against your computer screen and draw softly the outlines. Or you could also ask someone to draw it for you. Putting this in a pretty frame is everything!
If you buy a simple frame, you could decorate it with some cute animal figurines or whatever you fancy. It would also look cute with fake flowers on the frame or even polymer figurines (like little cookies or chocolate).
Toddlers
Money
I know in some cultures, it’s not done to give money. But in Asian cultures it’s absolutely normal. Buying toddlers toys can be a bit expensive and they get tired of it so fast, so I usually buy something cheap that makes a lot of noise or little bath toys and hand the mom a separate envelope with money, so she can put it on their bank account or buy something useful for them haha. I think Toddlers especially enjoy the unpacking process more than the toy itself :p.
Look for … books
Our little nephew is a true bookworm. At only 2 years old, he just like to turn pages and look for animals. He could basically do that for hours and sit on everyone’s lap at least once, to show you his books. If you have a child like that in your life, you know what to get!!
Kids
Nothing was more crushingly disappointing for me as a kid than to receive clothes! Seriously! The only giddy person to be super exciting and happy about it was my mom… So if I were a kid again, do not give me something to wear, but rather something to play with!!!
Kids change a lot throughout the years. And it’s not because they liked something a year ago, that they’ll still like it. It’s obviously part of the growing process. There are of course the classic toys like dolls, cars,… And there’s nothing wrong with giving that. But today I just want to give you a little bit more creative ideas.
I’m not going to split up the ideas up for girls or boys. Because we shouldn’t force a girl to play with dolls if she prefers dinosaurs… We shouldn’t force a boy to play with cars, if he’s just more interested in animals… There’s nothing wrong with tough girls and sensitive and sweet boys :). I’m mostly familiar with the Creative child, the Entertainer, the Nature Loving kid and the Gamer. As I never was a sport lover, I’m less inspired for the sporty kids. But I’ll try to come up with some ideas.
1. The creative child
I’m obviously starting with this category, because I was this type of kid :p. So for me, they’re the easiest group.
DIY kits (bracelets, painting a statue, gift cards, jewelry box, soap, perfume, candles, grow cristals, …). These gifts come in different price ranges and are a lot of fun for creative kids. I recently gave the kids in our family little ornaments to hang in the Christmas tree that they can paint themselves. It was cheap and simple, but they really loved it!
A book with DIY projects ==> I know I know, it’s corny. But I once received a book with tons of ideas and I’ve used it between my 7 and 16 years or something. It continued to inspire me (making cupcakes, paint big rocks, make carnival masks,…) and up until today it’s part of my precious memories of my childhood.
A painting canvas ==> My BF’s little niece loves, truly loves dragons (the scary fire spitting type, not the cute Elliot type). So I’ll probably just redraw a dragon on a canvas so that she can paint it in.
2. The Entertainer
Some kids are just born entertainers and just like to give you a good show.
A magician kit ==> I think this can be exciting and challenging for a 7-10 year old. It’s also a great way to socialize with other people from different ages. I mean, their parents, friends and grand parents will enjoy watching their performance.
A Puppet show house ==> very imaginative kids, that like to tell stories will probably enjoy this type of gift. There are some beautiful sets out there. But a DIY made out of cardboard will also work!
A DVD with dancing choreos ==> It’s obviously not for everyone, but if you know a kid with great moves, this might be a fun gift. Especially if it’s a DVD from their favorite group.
3. The Nature LoverÂ
Kit for an insect city ==> I know it sounds gross, but honestly observing insects can be very informative and fun. Especially seeing how hard ants work and live and build their hierarchy.
Triops kit ==> another weird gift, but bare with me. You get a little aquarium, some tools (pipet, spoon,…) and two little bags: one with the triops eggs and one with their food. With the instructions, you get to hatch a prehistoric crab like creature, which is the size of a baby nail. But it’s so intriguing. I once bought this for the biggest kid in my life, my BF. And up until this day, he claims it’s one of his favorite gifts ever. And it only cost me like 7€ or something, which was for a small kit. But you also can buy bigger kits.
4. The Gamer
The thing with gamers is that it is kind of difficult to buy a game that they don’t already have, or it’s already on their wish list. So most probably their parents or grandparents have already bought it for them. Secondly, gamers don’t really go out often and like to stay in whole days. So I thought the following game would be fun to get them run in the house and in the garden, chasing after aliens that appear on their screen.
5. The Sport lover
I’ve never liked sports, from ever since I was a kid. Except for dancing of course, which many don’t even count as a sport (I obviously don’t agree). I haven’t met a sport lover yet, who isn’t competitive! I find that when you meet someone extremely competitive, that that person is likely to be very good at sports.
I think that for those kids, it’s nice to have good sport equipment. As I don’t know a lot about that, I’d probably ask the parents about it.
Personally, I would get something that will bring people together: A game that requires a group of people to play, that is preferably outdoors. These games don’t necessarily require you to be good at sports, but you get to move around and I find that kids really enjoy it when they can play together with their friends and older family members.
Twister
An oldie, but a goodie!!! It’s a classic, but people still enjoy playing this…
Kubb
Kubb is a very fun Swedish game, appreciated by young and old. The rules are a little bit complicated when you first start out. But when you get the hang of it, it’s soooo dope and so much fun.
Okay, so that was one long post!! But I sure hope that you’ve found some inspiration here and that you’ll get some very nice gifts for your loved ones.
I’ll be covering the grown ups in a separate post and I’ll probably split it up according to beauty related and all other miscellaneous stuff.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post! I’d love to read your suggestions for gifts or even blog post ideas! And good luck with your gift hunt!
Love,
Sarah
mycupofdreamsbymy.wordpress.com 