Gifting ideas for children

Many times one needs to gift something to a child, on birth days or on visits etc. It is usual to fix a budget and buy something, which may or may not be suitable to a child.

It will help if one thinks it over, when she is in such a situation.

Fixing the budget is first aspect. Due to inflation, cost of things had gone up. Hence, if one has budget like Rs 100 etc., one may not get anything really useful. So budget should be fixed taking this into consideration.

Next thing that can be considered is what can be given as a gift. Here are some ideas, which I found useful.

If the budget is small, say a couple of 100 s, it may be a good idea to give cash. The child can accumulate few such gifts and buy something useful.

Another idea, if budget is small is, a good book. But this will work only if the child is interested in reading books. Book can be obtained in various budgets. From National book trust(thee is a post on this in this blog), there are good books which are very reasonably priced. One can select few books suitable to the age and liking of the child. The advantage is that book is good as a gift. But the downside is getting it may take time(either from a store or internet).

Next, buying a toy(object) for the child. Here one needs to be a bit careful. Now a days, one is getting all kinds of toys like things(gun, harmonica etc), DIY kits or games. When choosing this one needs to consider the aptitude of the child. Giving a Do It Yourself kit to a child, who is not interested in making things, may be waste of money.

Also, one should have realistic understanding of the toy and do not go by the age mentioned on the cover of the toy. Now a days, children are more knowledgeable about things and any conventional toy becomes obsolete very fast. Also, there are really no good toys etc as gifts for children above 10  years.

Thus, one needs to think through the process of gifting from end to end(buying to utilization) with the child concerned in mind to make the process enjoyable to the giver and receiver.

This was a post of learning after being in both sides of the process.