Buying Toys and Gifts for Other Peoples’ Kids

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This post was last updated on November 3rd, 2021 at 02:13 pm

Giving presents to others can be a very satisfying experience and none more so than when you gift to children. When those children happen to be other people's kids, there are a few rules to follow to avoid upsetting the child, siblings, or parents.

Things You Should do When Gifting to Other Peoples' Kids.

At the very least you should first speak to the children's parents for advice on what to give them. And then to follow that advice. Some parents may wish to cut down on the number of toys their child gets as they don't play much with what they already have and would prefer a non-toy gift. Others may wish to suggest a specific product that fits in with a new sport or hobby the child is starting.

So if you ask parents advice - take notice, and act on it.

And give the parents plenty of time to make gift suggestions. Don't go hassling them to let you know as soon as possible. Give them plenty of time to make a reasoned suggestion.

Wrap the present before you give it to the family. Please don't leave it for the parents to do.

If you are not delivering the gift in person, ensure you allow sufficient time for the postal service or shipping company to deliver before Christmas. Also, ensure that you wrap it well enough to survive some possible rough handling along the way.

If your gift requires batteries, include some with the present. Batteries included in some toys are only of demonstration strength and don't last long. A few extra sets of AA or AAA batteries won't cost that much, and the child's parents will appreciate it.

With that said, there are some gifts you should not give to other people's kids.

Gifts You Should NOT Give to Other Peoples' Kids

Don't buy anything noisy. Hearing the same noise repeatedly for what seems like hours on end can be enough to drive the most mild-mannered parents close to homicide or suicide. Spare them!
Giving a gift that will cause a mess is also a definite no-no. That glitter looks sparkly, and the kids love it, but it will be all over their home in no time at all, and their parents will not be best pleased!
Stay away from giving anything alive. Pets are wholly inappropriate gifts, whether a puppy or an ant farm. Leave that decision to the parents.
Avoid gifting anything that results in an ongoing cost to the parents to get it to work properly.
Do not buy cheap, rubbish gifts, something that might break quickly. That's rather disrespectful.
Don't buy gifts outside the child's age range, as this can cause frustration for a child, upset siblings, and be highly annoying for parents.
Don't buy any present that could 'upstage' the parents.

So to wrap things up, don't give gifts to other people's kids that are noisy, messy, inconsiderate, high maintenance, tatty, annoying, irritating, or disrespectful.

Keep to these guidelines, and you won't go wrong.

Happy gift buying.