There’s almost nothing I loathe more than realizing a kid has a birthday party to attend that afternoon and being stressed to run around to a shop while trying to manage a busy day. Years ago, I decided to purchase a few items in advance so I’d always have a cabinet stocked with a few friend birthday gifts. It not only made my life so much easier, but it also helped us save a fair bit of money since I could restock friend birthday gift options when I found them on sale. Win-win!
I could go on for ages and ages with ideas in each of these categories, but I find those lists overwhelming. So I’ve limited each age range to some of our very favorite items that are perfect for friend birthday gifts. Here are my general criteria:
- Range in price from $5-20 that can be given individually or combined
- A little unusual (so it’s unlikely that most people would already have it) but still appeal to a wide variety of kids
- Won’t break or be thrown out within a few days
- Personally loved by my 6 kids and their friends – we only gift things we’ve personally tested and loved
Here are a few of our favorites!
Age 2-5
- Scissor activity kit
- Tape activity book
- Mess free finger painting book – my almost 3 year old loves this!
- Rainbow counting bears
- Mini magnetic tiles
- Magnetic dress up doll
- Games
Age 5-8
- Drawing book + colored pencils – this is our favorite how-to-draw book (we’ve tried many)
- Foil art – my 5 and 7 year olds are super into these sets (this is another great one)
- Rainbow lab or science lab – always a hit
- First sewing kit – my crafty kids love these
- Spirograph
- Games
- Snap circuits – we’ve used and loved these for over a decade
- Camelot Jr – a logic puzzle game that we’ve absolutely loved for many years
- Guess in 10 Animals
- Sleeping Queens
- Books – I love some earlier chapter books as well as some fun encyclopedic nonfiction books to gift to this age!
- Kanoodle – this is always super popular
Age 8-12
Age 10+
I find this range has a bit of overlap with the previous one depending on the child. Some of these might work for the younger age group, but since it tends to be more difficult for me to find ideas for those older age ranges, these are some things that work well for them.
- Games
- Light up frisbee– this is always very popular and a fun, active idea. This one flies really well and we have multiple.
- Glow in the dark basketball – another really popular one. My sister gave N (my 14yo) one of these a year or two ago and it’s been a bit hit with him and his friends.
- Books – here are a few we like to keep on hand:
- Adult coloring book + cool markers – something a little grown up – lots of options but those are a couple we like. My 12yo has also liked these and these.
- Paint pens + white ceramic mug – another fun older kid art project!
