Gifts by occasion
The gift that works for a fifth birthday is not the gift that works for an Easter basket. This is the same tested-at-home approach as our age guides, sorted by the moment you are buying for – what goes in the basket, the box or the party bag, and what gets played with a month later.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This page may contain affiliate links.
By Age
Every year from newborn to eighteen, each with its own Amazon list.
By Age Group
Six bands, babies to teens – for when you do not know the exact age.
By Interest
Dinosaurs, art, building, outdoors, sport – for the kid with one obsession.
By Occasion
Baskets, boxes, stockings and party bags, in the order the year happens.
Right now – autumn
Halloween is the first basket of the school year, and the one most parents get wrong by filling it with candy.
Boo baskets for kids
What to put in one so it is still being played with in November – sorted by the job each thing does, plus the candy-trade plan.
Halloween crafts & activities
84 things to make and do once the basket is open.
Thanksgiving kids’ table
One thing that covers the whole table, six free printable games, and the timeline that keeps dinner calm.
Winter – Christmas
Four separate buying moments, not one. Most families need the stocking and the Christmas Eve box more than they need another big present.
Christmas Eve box
Pajamas, a book and one thing to do before bed. The format, by age, with what we have actually put in ours.
Stocking stuffers
Small, cheap and still in use in January – the hardest brief of the year.
Advent calendar fillers
24 little things that are not chocolate, for a reusable calendar.
Teacher Christmas gifts
What teachers say they want, and what quietly goes in the staffroom bin.
Christmas craft ideas
50+ things to make while you wait.
February – Valentine’s
The class set is a volume problem; the family gifts are a thoughtfulness problem. They need different lists.
Valentine’s class gifts
Thirty of them, non-candy, cheap enough to do thirty times, and nothing that ends up on the floor by home time.
Valentine’s baskets for kids
The same five-thing formula as a boo basket, in red.
Valentine’s gifts for dads
From the kids, not from the shop – things a four-year-old can hand over proudly.
Valentine’s gifts for moms
Same, for mom, including the ones that are made rather than bought.
Valentine’s craft ideas
What to make together in the week before.
Spring – Easter and the end of term
Easter is the second biggest basket of the year, and the one where non-chocolate fillers matter most.
Easter basket ideas
Fillers that outlast the chocolate – garden kits, bubbles, outdoor things that come out of the shed in April.
Mother’s Day from the kids
Made, bought, or a bit of both.
Teacher appreciation
End-of-year gifts that are not another mug.
Father’s Day from the kids
Same approach, for dad.
Easter crafts
Everything to make in the run-up.
Summer and back to school
Two boxes do most of the work here: the one that kills the holiday boredom and the one that survives a long journey.
Summer boredom box
One box, opened on the first wet day, rationed across six weeks.
Travel and road trip gifts
Busy bags that work at 30,000 feet and in the back of a car.
Back to school gifts
First-day nerves, new lunchbox, the small thing in the bag on day one.
Traveling with children
Our packing lists and on-the-go activities.
Any time of year
The occasions that do not sit on a calendar but come round just as often.
Birthday party bags
Five things worth putting in one, and the four that go straight in the bin.
New baby and big sibling gifts
The gift for the baby, and the more important one for the child who has just been demoted.
Sick day box
What to have in the cupboard before the first temperature of the winter.
Which guide do you need?
If you know the child’s age and not the occasion, start with the age guides – nineteen of them, newborn to eighteen, each with its own Amazon list. If you know the occasion, work down this page. Everything here is tested at home first; if it did not survive a month in our house it is not on a list.