I've been giving cash and encouraging them to put it into diversified exchange traded funds. I may offer to match any returns for a year this time, so they are less likely to spend it all. It's a tough sell for young people but I want to help them develop good habits early.
I think it will be B&N gift cards for my just-about-to-be-teen daughters. It will encourage them to buy and use something physical whether drawing supplies or books. Fingers crossed.
My daughter (29) is getting a filing cabinet and pastel folders. And a cute EDC kit with knife, pen, and screwdriver. My grandson (2) is getting books, little people, and a cheap drone that floats and is controlled by hand movements.
I'm sure you know, but for those who don't know: "Little People" is a Fisher-Price brand of American-chibi-style figurines. They're basically the kids version of Funko Pops. I got my son the Fellowship of the Ring set.
It really is a genius-level show. I’m so happy it exists. Every detail is just perfect and both my kids love it and have learned so much from it.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s so entertaining they love watching it over and over, making it even more impossible to avoid committing its (very useful) memes to memory!
All 4 of my kids are into scratch but are sort of hitting a wall doing it online, and they also have expressed interest in robotics, so I did research on the two and came up with the mBot series of robots.
That mBot Ultimate would have made me very happy at that age. I had a 1st gen Lego Mindstorms NXT when I was a little older than they are, it was a blast.
Hopefully adding hardware into the mix will spice things back up for them.
I told my (step)sons shortly after I met them at 9 and 14 I would make sure that they went to college [1]. They both decided not to go. I’ll gladly help them out a little if needed. It’s a lot cheaper.
[1] My wife and I met at a startup and worked together for over two years before we started dating. We got married 7 months later.
I've been giving cash and encouraging them to put it into diversified exchange traded funds. I may offer to match any returns for a year this time, so they are less likely to spend it all. It's a tough sell for young people but I want to help them develop good habits early.
I think it will be B&N gift cards for my just-about-to-be-teen daughters. It will encourage them to buy and use something physical whether drawing supplies or books. Fingers crossed.
Good call. I was thinking about what books to get my 11 year old but I think the gift card would be good too.
My daughter (29) is getting a filing cabinet and pastel folders. And a cute EDC kit with knife, pen, and screwdriver. My grandson (2) is getting books, little people, and a cheap drone that floats and is controlled by hand movements.
Your grandson is getting little people?
That's a lot of responsibility for a 2 year old!
I'm sure you know, but for those who don't know: "Little People" is a Fisher-Price brand of American-chibi-style figurines. They're basically the kids version of Funko Pops. I got my son the Fellowship of the Ring set.
A wooden train set for my toddler-aged son.
I bought one for my son a couple years ago, when he was 2. He's 4 now and still plays with it every day. Highly recommend.
Train is always the right answer. Congrats!
He's really into trains right now so he's going to love it.
One 8 y/o one 3y/o This year:
- Transformer robots
- Origami book & papers
- Some ski gear
- Metal detector
- Climbing harness & slings etc (small climbing frame in the grander they like to attach to and just kinda swing about)
- Kids Cookbook
Past Years Winners:
- Magnatiles - both have loved these, one of the most used toys and reasonably open-ended
- Diablo - the circus toy thing
- Modu - https://modutoy.com
- Potions kit - just a bunch of small pots etc with random glitter and what not in them. pretty good one for an upcycling project
- Playdough - classic for a reason, also DIY'able Little printer roll instant print camera
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Third on the magna tiles being a huge win for all my kids.
The metal detector is a good idea. We live by the beach, so doubly so.
Our Magna tiles get so much use. I should really buy the kids some more.
And that Modu stuff looks so cool, I’ve never seen that before.
College tuition
My 5-year-old loves the British series Numberblocks, and they have lots of licensed toys.
My 9-year-old still remembers that show and sometimes says things like “did you know that fifteen is a staircase number?”
I think the show gave him an intuitive understanding of numbers and made basic math easy for him
It really is a genius-level show. I’m so happy it exists. Every detail is just perfect and both my kids love it and have learned so much from it.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s so entertaining they love watching it over and over, making it even more impossible to avoid committing its (very useful) memes to memory!
The numberblocks theme song goes so hard.
All 4 of my kids are into scratch but are sort of hitting a wall doing it online, and they also have expressed interest in robotics, so I did research on the two and came up with the mBot series of robots.
For the 11 and 9 year old: the mBot Ultimate (https://www.makeblock.com/pages/mbot-ultimate-robotics-kit)
For the 7 and 5 year old: I wasnt sure whether to go with the mBot Ranger or the mBot2 Rover and went with the Rover (https://www.makeblock.com/products/buy-mbot2-rover-emo-robot)
That mBot Ultimate would have made me very happy at that age. I had a 1st gen Lego Mindstorms NXT when I was a little older than they are, it was a blast.
Hopefully adding hardware into the mix will spice things back up for them.
5 year old - laser tag, brain rot toys 8 year old - roller skates, make up/face paint
And just random stocking stuffers / books, etc.
One neat thing we found was a frog dissection toy - https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/slimy-dissect-mini-frog-wit...
Microbit for my 7yr old kid.
Interesting, never heard of that. Looks cool
My kids are 23 and 28 and both live on their own. We gave them $1000 each. One to help move and the other to get tires for his car.
Oh sure set the high bar ... now I need to consider this. Couldn't be something like 50 bucks ...
Of course looking back my dad was giving us money for a number of years and with inflation ... arg I hate giving it away :-)
I told my (step)sons shortly after I met them at 9 and 14 I would make sure that they went to college [1]. They both decided not to go. I’ll gladly help them out a little if needed. It’s a lot cheaper.
[1] My wife and I met at a startup and worked together for over two years before we started dating. We got married 7 months later.
Lego and Sketch book with coloring pens.
3 wheeled scooters and a Switch 2
beyond the normal stuff: a microscope, speks mini magnetic balls, 3d pen, japanese snacks.
What microscope did you go with out of curiosity. That never crossed my mind but actually might be something my kids would be into.
16 nearly 17
Chromebook
Some paper books
Battlefield 6
Board game
A subscription to ChatGPT of course. Not like they'd ever get a job in the new world anyway...
Nice, I recommend having them take a class to be effective. I recommend this short video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWFFaKxsz_s
The first 3 minutes and 20 seconds might be a bit tough, but the useful for most people starts then.