The Cool Aunt’s Guide to Holiday Gifts for Kids

As a childfree woman, buying gifts for kids is probably not your area of expertise. Fortunately, The American Spinster has your go-to guide for birthday, back-to-school, and holiday gifts for kids. No matter their age or interest, we’ll help you find something that stands out for all the right reasons.

Spinster aunts give the best presents

One of the first blogs I ever posted on The American Spinster was, “How to Be the Cool Aunt.” In it, I mention that the cool, childfree aunt tends to give really great gifts. Mine certainly did. I outlined a general ways to do that, but I didn’t go into many specifics. So, a few years later, I wrote “Buying Gifts for Your Nieces and Nephews.” But, to my surprise, that was almost nine years ago! Most of the links were broken. After updating that post, I figured it was time to add a new guide for childfree women seeking gifts for kids.

In today’s blog, I’m going to dive deeper into how to be the cool aunt with the best presents. I’ll also recommend a few particular options for when you don’t know much about the child in question. That’s because it’s not just nieces and nephews you’ll find yourself buying for as a childfree woman. As your friends, cousins, and co-workers start having kids, you’ll be called on for birthday, Christmas, and Bat and Bar Mitzvah presents regularly. This is your guide to giving the coolest gifts for the kids in your life.

You’ll find general ideas you can adapt to suit the kid in your life as well as eleven specific gifts (with links!) for kids you don’t know well. The items and ideas I’m recommending include hands-on activities like cooking, gardening, and creating arts and crafts. I’ve also included advice on how to buy books they’ll actually like to read.

Skip Ahead:

Arts and Crafts Kits
Fiction Books
Nonfiction Activity Books
Gardening Kits
Gift Subscriptions
Gift Cards

This post contains affiliate links. Please see my affiliate link disclosure page for more information.

Arts and Crafts Kits

Art kits always make great gifts for kids. And they’re a fantastic way to introduce children to a range of different media. I remember getting an art supply kit for Christmas when I was in fourth grade. Opening it up to see a sampler of crayons, colored pencils, watercolors, and pastels nearly overloaded my child-brain with possibility.

Utrecht Art has a range of items designed specifically for young artists. Here are a few that stand out.

Copic Ciao Illustration Kit for Beginners

Does the kid you’re buying for love to draw? Do they have an interest in anime, comics, or illustration? Then they’ll probably love this introductory set to professional artists’ markers. The Copic Ciao Illustration for Beginners Set comes with 12 Copic markers and an instructional booklet by a master manga illustrator.

Windsor & Newton Mixed Media Set

Hoping to introduce the child you’re buying to art? Windsor & Newton offer several mixed media sets for beginners, including the illustration set I’m recommending here. The Winsor & Newton Metallic Mixed Media Set comes with dual-sided markers, ink pens, heavy weight paper, goucahe paint, and a brush. This is a low-pressure gift that encourages experimentation. And who knows? It might inspire a lifelong love of art.

Royal & Langnickel Deluxe Drawing Set

This has got to be among the very best gifts for kids who like to draw. The Royal & Langnickel Deluxe Drawing Set includes colored pencils, graphite pencils, charcoal, pastels, metallic pencils, various erasers and blenders, a wooden figure model, and more. All of this arrives in a latching wood carrying case with two risers, letting you see everything at once.

Most craft and hobby stores will have arts and craft kits for kids and beginners. So if the options above don’t seem like a good fit, shop around. You’re sure to find something that will spark the imagination of your niece, nephew, or godchild.

Books

Yes, books can still make fun gifts for kids! As ebooks rise in popularity and children have access to smart devices at younger and younger ages, book retailers have upped their game. You can find special editions, kits that include book-related accessories, and boxed collections all designed to grab kids’ attention. Make sure you give a bookish gift they’ll love by using my best tips below.

Fiction

If you know of a series they like, co-ordinate with their parents to get them a volume they don’t own. Alternatively, now that every book seems to have at least one special edition with sprayed edges and a ribbon bookmark, it can even be a book they’ve already read and loved. Just give them an upgraded edition. You could also surprise them with an audiobook of one of their favorites.

Otherwise, I recommend classic literature for older kids. You can find countless poetry treasuries aimed at children and young adults. Or you could make the gift more personal by finding a special, hardcover edition of a book you loved when you were a child. Something like The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett with 25 full-page illustrations and stenciled edges would be perfect.

Nonfiction

If you know what your giftee is interested in, of course you should go with something on that topic. But if you aren’t sure, or if you don’t know which books they already have, cookbooks make excellent gifts for kids. There are plenty of kids’ cookbooks on the market that are designed for small, first-time bakers and chefs. These can introduce kids to life skills in a fun and structured way.

In particular, I recommend American Girl Cookbooks. (Note that while these are appropriate gifts for kids of any gender, some boys might feel less comfortable reading something that says “American Girl” on the cover.) The American Girl website lists the age ranges it’s appropriate for (there is one book for grown-up girls, 21+, so be careful of that!). I personally suggest one of the following.

My Holiday Cookbook Collection

American Girl partnered with Williams-Sonoma to create this collection. This three-book set includes:

• American Girl Holiday Baking
• American Girl Cupcakes
• American Girl Cookies

These are great starter guides with easy-to-understand instructions and plenty of pictures to make learning to bake easy.

The American Girl Cooking Gift Set

This makes an especially great gift because it comes with an American Girl kid-sized apron. The cookbook includes a wide range of dishes, from easy, no-bake recipes to full, hot dinners. Any steps require adult help or supervision are also clearly marked.

Gardening Kits

It’s no secret that parents often struggle to cut their kids’ screen time. You can give them a helping hand by gifting some hands-on, screen-free fun in the form of an indoor garden. Seed and garden kits make especially good gifts for kids who are interested in science and nature. Help the child in your life develop patience and ongoing interest by giving them something to grow.

The Smart Garden with Choose-Your-Own Seed Pods

You know it wouldn’t be an American Spinster gift guide without me mentioning Click & Grow at least once. But this recommendation isn’t quite as simple as dropping an item in your cart and handing it over. This is a two-part gift. The first part is the garden box itself. But the second part—and what makes it a truly great gift for any kid—is the customization. Click & Grow offers gift cards. And that means you can let the child order their own seed pods. They can choose what plants they want to grow from seed, which means instant engagement.

Self-watering flower box? Cool, I guess. If you like that sort of thing.

Self-watering flower box where I can grow anything from herbs to flowers to fruit? Now we’re talking!

Alternatively, you can give them the Grow Anything seedless seed pack. This optimizes the soil to accommodate basically any seeds they want. That way they can select their own even if Click & Grow doesn’t have what their heart desires.

I promise, unless the child you’re buying for actively hates plants for some reason, this is a going to be a win. What’s especially great is that because it’s self-water and lighting, even little kids can enjoy it.

Subscriptions

Subscription-based gifts are always a win, because they keep coming throughout the year. Subscription boxes, specifically, make excellent gifts for kids who enjoy building and creating. If you’re buying for a voracious reader who’s always looking for something new to learn, a magazine subscription might be perfect.

Subscription boxes

While the subscription box bubble has deflated a bit, there are plenty of options when it comes to gifts for kids. KiwiCo is well-known for offering fun, educational products for children from 0-16. The child in your life will get a subscription box based on geography and culture, science and engineering, arts, crafts, or design. Little Passports also offers educational boxes for ages 3-10. Like KiwiCo, you can choose from a wide range of subjects, including “Kitchen Adventures” and “Science Expeditions.” Both of these start at around $25 a month.

Magazines

Don’t forget about the tried-and-true magazine subscriptions, either. Highlights, National Geographic, and Ranger Rick have age-range-based series that make it easy to find something the child in your life will enjoy. These are affordable options that will provide year-long excitement (and education).

• Highlights, brainPLAY, CoComelon, High Five, (ages 0-12)
• National Geographic (Kids and Little Kids)
• Ranger Rick, Ranger Rick Jr., Ranger Rick Cub, Zoobooks: (ages 0-7+)

All of these brands also offer books and gifts for kids based on these tried-and-true series.

And, when all else fails…

Gift Cards

Generally speaking, kids like gift cards. They love having their own money and being able to pick out their own gifts. The only downside is that they’re not very fun in the moment. The kid who gets a gift card when the other kids open toys is going to feel a little left out. Granted, nowadays it’s easy to get on a parent’s phone and start browsing a web store right away. But there are a few things you can do to make a gift card more of a gift.

I advise including a catalog from the company, if possible. There’s something exciting about flipping through a tangible book, marking pages, and passing it around to friends and cousins. If that’s not an option, consider including a fancy notepad and pen for listing out the things they want and keeping track of the money on the card. Anything you do that allows the kid to interact with the gift right then and there will help make it fun.

Then there’s the option of turning it into a partial gag gift. Get the kid an article of clothing (something that they can use and that’s in their size), and tuck the gift card into a pocket. It’ll turn a seemingly boring gift into something exciting.

What did you think of my gifts for kids recommendations?

I hope this guide has helped you find some top-notch birthday, back-to-school, or holiday gifts for kids. If you have other ideas you’d like to share, please leave them in the comments below!

Feature image by Laku Prosper Edge

So you’ve got to pick out a cool present for one of your sibling’s kids. But you don’t have the slightest idea what’s popular with the young ‘uns these days. Never worry. Here’s the childfree woman’s guide to buying gifts for nieces and nephews.

How to Get Your Nibling a Great Gift

One of the earliest posts I ever wrote for this blog is “How to Be the Cool Aunt.” In it, I talk briefly about buying gifts for your nieces and nephews. I mentioned that you should focus on gifts that:

• Aren’t too expensive
• Are based on their interests
• Encourage them to think creatively

Today I’m going to explain this in a bit more detail.

Your Role as the Gift-Giving Cool Aunt

My cool aunt always got us nice gifts. Not ridiculously expensive, but not cheap either. But what made them especially nice was how well they seemed to suit me. For a woman who only saw me for a few minutes once a week, she really seemed to understand what I liked.

The fact that she didn’t have children probably made it easier for  her to pay attention to what my cousins and I really wanted.

3 Tips for Buying Gifts for Your Nieces and Nephews

The best gift you can give to anyone is a gift that makes them feel seen and understood. The price tag and cultural relevance (i.e., the season’s hottest toy trends) are less important. So when it comes to buying gifts for your nieces and nephews, choose something that:

1. Isn’t too expensive

The goal here is to focus on the quality of the gift as it applies to the kid. That will probably mean spending a little money, but your job isn’t to get the expensive new gaming system. Leave that to parents and grandparents.

2. Relates to their interests

This is where you can really stand out. As I mentioned in the earlier blog post, parents are used to their kids. They tend to see them through the ideas they developed years ago. Even if the kid’s interests have changed or their personalities have continued to develop, parents can be slow to see it.

The trick to buying gifts for your nieces and nephews is to get something that wasn’t on their list, but does meet their interests. Pay attention to them. What do they love to talk about? See what kinds of toys or activity books you can find on the topic, even if it’s weird. If you have a niece who really loves looking at Pottery Barn catalogs, get her something like this Home Quick Planner.

3. Encourages creativity

When buying gifts for your nieces and nephews, make sure you look for an “active” gift. The design sketch portfolio above is a good example, because it gets them to think and design. Building sets, crafts supplies, and nature journals are other good choices. Passive entertainment is fine, but if you want to be the cool aunt, go for the gift that helps them discover new things about themselves.

So you’re looking for a reasonably priced gift that sparks their interests and encourages them to think, design, and create. It’s a tall order, but it’s worth the effort. Below are a few of my best sources for finding a gift that meets those criteria.

Gift-Buying Ideas

If you’re not sure where to start, here are a few tried and true Cool Aunt gifts:

Science kits

Generally I find most “science kits” to be a little too heavy-handed for my taste. You want something that will help them learn, but you don’t want it to seem like an educational gift. However, if you spend a little time you can find some really fun gifts. I came across a terrarium in a local store that looked much too fun to feel like schoolwork. It came with fast-growing sprouts so kids can learn about plant biology in a controlled environment with little to no adult supervision.

Building kits

Once your nibling has developed their fine motor skills, they’ll love building sets. There are so many types to choose from, but a tried-and-true favorite are marble run kits. These are simple and intuitive, teaching kids all about motion, gravity, and design. My brother and I had one when I was little, and we played with it all the time. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about from Marble Genius.

If you want something a little more advanced, try a roller coaster building set, like The Sidewinder from CDX Blocks It operates on the same principle, but it offers more complexity and a defined theme.

Simpler Toys

My cousins and I had lots of Colorforms to play with when we were kids. And while that company is still around, Melissa & Doug seem to have some of the best “reusable sticker” playsets at the moment. Like this cute little Chipmunk House.

These are quiet toys that don’t require a lot of physical energy. They need zero setup; just open the book and start placing your stickers. They’re basically like paper dolls, but more durable and colorful. Because there’s no script or rules to follow, they still encourage plenty of creativity. A puffy sticker playset is perfect for more reserved kids.

Ready to Cement Your Status as The Cool Aunt?

Based on my experience, if you follow these guidelines when buying gifts for your nieces and nephews (or cousins, little sibs, etc), you’ll quickly get a reputation for giving the best gifts. And that’s important because kids need to know that there’s someone paying close attention to them. Parents get overwhelmed, especially when they have multiple kids. Holidays and birthdays are your chance to tell your nibling, “I get you, kid.”

Was this a helpful list? Were there any good tips I left out? Let me know in the comments below.

All images are provided by Kaboompics.