A Gift Guide for Kids

With opinionated picks by Ada (8), Julian (6), and me.

I’m going to roll out a handful of gift guides over the next week-ish, starting with this gift guide for kids by Ada, age 8, and Julian, age 6. I’ll be sending a separate gift guide on books for kids, so this one is scant in that category. Also forthcoming: gifts for readers (aka non-kid book recs), and some picks by me and special guest Jacob (aka gifts for the parents / aunts / uncles / grandparents / friends).

A few notes:

• Gift guides are what they are, so I write all of these with that in mind. It’s both season of gifting, celebration, and gathering, and a deeply sad, violent, and traumatic time for many. As a general rule, time + energy for and with people > things.

• The only picks that garner any affiliate revenue are books via Bookshop.org, all of which goes directly back to this newsletter. Everything else is a recommendation from me or my children.

Without further ado, enjoy these picks:

Ada’s picks: 

• Botanical Garden LEGO Set (LEGO, $79.99). “This is the BEST Lego set ever. It reminds me of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. There are a lot of unusual pieces with rare plants from different biomes.”

• A fuzzy cropped sweater (Old Navy, $18): “I basically look like a teenager and it’s really soft and warm.”

• Pentel Color Pens, Fine Point, 36-pack: “I keep these next to my bed because my mom doesn’t let me use Sharpies in bed. They come in good colors and are good for drawing comics.”

• Jenny Lemons hair clips and accessories ($24): “My dad got me the hot dog hair clip in San Francisco and I love it. I love hot dogs.”

• Peachybbs slime ($14.99+): “You can get cloud slime, fizzy slime, clear slime, and they have a lot of special charms. It’s the best slime, but it sells out really fast.”

• A giant boba stuffy ($28.99): “I loooooooove boba.”

• Box set of the Babysitters Club Graphic novels ($84): “My favorite is Claudia because she’s an artist and also loves gummy worms. The show is also really great. I’ve watched some episodes at least seven times.”

• Story Rollerskates ($60): “I got these for my birthday and the laces and the color are really pretty. They are really smooth to skate in, even on the blacktop.” (Kids size 2 and up)

• A wool beret from La Coqueta ($31.50): “My aunt and uncle got me a wool beret when I was two and I said I hated it and cried, but now I love it and it looks great on me.”

Ada’s pink wool beret.

• Earrings from Pierced and Oh Clem ($20-22). “I just got my ears pierced and these places have the cutest earrings. They have lots of cute foods and plants and Christmas things.”

• A puppy. “I want a puppy, but my mom says definitely not. She said maybe a kitten, though.”

Julian’s picks

• Suspend Balancing Game: “This is a fun balancing game and also you can do challenges to build structures by yourself.”

• Wooden Chess Board ($24.99): “I looooove chess. Did you know that even a humble pawn can bring a king to its knees?”

• Plus Plus Blocks ($26.99): “We have tons of colors—even metallic and glow in the dark. You can make them into houses or patterns or even make something that looks like a portal.”  (available in many color ways)

J’s creation out of Plus Plus blocks

• The Sato the Rabbit books: “There are three Sato books. Sato is a boy dressed as a rabbit who has adventures with nature. Sato the Rabbit: The Tea of Sea is my favorite. Sato rows through a sea of tea then cooks the sun into the moon in a pan in his boat.” (Sato the Rabbit, Sato the Rabbit: The Moon, Sato the Rabbit: The Sea of Tea)

• Wooden Art supply kit ($39.99): “This is what I just got for my birthday when I turned 6. It has tons of colors of pencils, pastels, and crayons and everything has a special spot.”

• Nike Air Jordans ($60): “Mine are red, black, and white. They’re really rare and special.” (Editor’s note: they’re not rare).

• LEGO Sunken Treasure Mission 3-in-1 set ($34.99): “You can make a submersible and a giant octopus with real tentacles that actually move.”

My picks:

• A gift card or swag to your local bookstore: For us, that’s Books are Magic, The Lofty Pigeon, or Community Bookstore / Terrace Books.

• A mom-kid day where they get to pick the itinerary. To make it a gift, you can make it a “coupon” where the kid gets to pick a spot for a meal + 1 destination (like a museum, park, botanical garden, movie) + 1 treat (ice cream, boba, popcorn). My kids call this a “Yes day” because they feel like they get to do whatever they want!

• A super fuzzy and warm fleece ($64.95): Ada is committed to wearing this all year long. Everything Reima makes is incredibly high quality. This Tirro ski jacket is also a Julian favorite.

• Glerups Slippers for kids ($60-70): These are probably classified as a boring gift if your kids are like mine, but also my kids constantly steal my slippers, so this is me solving a problem for myself.

• Puzzles that they’ll want to do ($10-15) : The Mudpuppy 500-piece Search & Find puzzles are the right balance of kid-friendly imagery, and challenging, but with lots of highly differentiated pieces.

• A headlamp for kids ($30): These have both a standard LED and color-changing lights. These get a ton of use at bedtime, inside forts, and during sleepovers.

• Gorgeous rainbow-maker window stickers ($14) from Plottkowski’s Etsy shop. (Order early, these ship from Germany). I love the clouds and the prism window.

• Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils: Prismacolor makes soft, silky, and smooth colored pencils that changed how I think of colored pencils. They never dry out and get my kids excited about drawing.

I also shared an array of ideas in Cup of Jo’s new newsletter, Big Salad, last week alongside great recs from LaTonya Yvette and Pandora Sykes.

The Gift Guide

What are your picks for kids? Drop your own suggestions below!