Finding the best gifts for kids means a lot more than going to Toys Я Us and buying the first shiny recent-movie-related thingy you come across. For one thing, you can be almost assured that you don’t watch the same stuff your kids do, so you probably don’t actually know the cast of characters they pay attention to as well as they do — by a longshot. Kids under 8 are also notorious for changing loyalty at the drop of a hat — one day it’s the Twinx fairies, and not 48 hours later they’re obsessed about Avatar: The Last Airbender or even, heaven forbid, Invader Zim.
It’s easy to think that you ‘know better’ than your kid, and that your gift is better than what they ‘think’ they want — but that’s a surefire way to give a gift that will collect dust faster than a Swiffer. Fortunately, the best gifts for kids are, in fact, constant over time — just not in the way you might think. The answer is remarkably simple.
Gift Baskets.
Gift baskets are perhaps the best gifts for kids under 8 years of age, because they haven’t really cemented their beliefs about what rocks and what sucks. A generic-ish basket filled with lots of small toys and gifts for kids will almost certainly contain several things that they’ll find awesome, and they’ll find at least some use for nearly everything in the basket. Gift baskets come in many themes — so many, in fact, that it’s easy to pick one that will be appropriate even if it’s not exactly the currently-in show of choice.
If you’ve got a young boy, and he still has legs (arms optional), consider getting him a soccer basket. Among the best gifts for kids that love to get out and run around a bit, a soccer basket usually includes a duffel bag, a soccer-themed watch, a soccer ball, and even, if you get a good one, a collapsible goal. Tack on an additional David Beckham bobblehead, and you’ve got a gift! For kids who are just learning what kinds of things they love to do, this is a great way to direct them toward something that’s active and ‘cool’ without being tacky about it, as well.
If you’re looking at a young girl, once upon a time a Hannah Montana gift basket would have been ideal, but given Miley Cyrus’ recent and sudden oversexualization, that could start sending the wrong message. Instead, rely on a fallback position until something new and even awesomer shows up: the PowerPuff girls, Dora the Explora, Lilo and Stitch — there are several pretty generic girls’ baskets out there. Or, if you want to be unique and introduce your girl to a classic, hit up a retro store for a Jem and the Holograms gift basket, and get all 65 episodes on DVD from Amazon to go with them.
Are gift baskets the only gifts out there for young kids? Hardly — you can find ideas for such gifts en masse at giftshops like A Creative Expression. But are gift baskets the BEST gifts for kids under 8 years old? Almost certainly.
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