A 2019 YouGov study found Brits spend more than £1,116 on average at Christmas, with more than £380 going on presents alone.
If you’re looking to buy a gift for your child or grandchild, finding the right age-appropriate gift can be a challenge. So, to help you, here’s a great guide to some of the most popular gifts you can buy your children and grandchildren this Christmas.
Ages 0 – 5
Anyone with a toddler will know how popular PAW Patrol is, and one of the must-have toys in 2020 is the PAW Patrol Dino Patroller, the first-ever motorised PAW Patrol team vehicle.
With its oversized wheels, the Dino Patroller can conquer any terrain. It features room for all six of the pups, a projectile launcher, and an exclusive T-Rex dinosaur action figure. And, when the child presses the vehicle’s badge button all the way down, they can watch it move.
If you’re looking to encourage your child or grandchild’s artistic side, then Melissa & Doug – Band in a Box has everything pre-school children need to start making music.
This lovely set comes in an attractive wooden storage tray and includes easy-to-play instruments that let the whole family get involved. The set features maracas, a tambourine, and a triangle, as well as a tone block, clacker, and cymbals. Suitable for children over the age of three, it’s perfect for a child showing signs of being the next Sheku Kanneh-Mason.
Ages 5 – 8
Considering the appreciation that NHS staff and care workers have been afforded in 2020, it’s a great year to choose a toy to reflect this sentiment.
Shiver ‘n’ Shake Rainbow Kate is a great interactive doll – but she is not feeling very well having caught the Sprinkle-Pox. When the child picks her up, they will feel her shiver with a fever but, thankfully, they have everything they need to heal her and make her better.
From checking her temperature to listening to her heartbeat, your child or grandchild will learn to care for Kate. It’s the perfect toy to generate care and empathy, and Kate will even tell the child how she feels.
More than four decades on, Star Wars continues to be popular with kids of all ages, and the latest toy features The Child – also known as ‘Baby Yoda’ – from the hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
Touching the top of The Child’s head activates more than 25 sound and motion combinations, including happy and excited sounds, giggles, babbles and more, all while the figure’s head moves up and down, ears move back and forth, and eyes open and close.
If you’d like something more challenging, then ThinkFun’s Gravity Maze is a combination logic game and marble run that contains 60 challenges from beginner to expert.
Playing through the challenges builds spatial reasoning and planning skills, and Gravity Maze is also partly an engineering and building toy that provides a great stealth learning experience for young players.
It’s easy to learn, so perfect to play straight from the box on Christmas morning.
Ages 8 – 12
From the makers of the terrific card game, Exploding Kittens, comes Throw Burrito, an anarchic mix of parlour game and dodgeball.
Players go head-to-head collecting cards and earning points, before playing a burrito card and forcing a battle. As the game says: “Finally! An excuse to hit someone in the face with a big fat burrito!”
It’s a really entertaining family game that’s easy to pick up and guarantees hours of laughter on Boxing Day as burritos fly across the room.
LEGO is always a popular choice at Christmas, and this year the building toy has evolved with the LEGO Super Mario Starter Set.
As well as building a Super Mario starter course, players can collect virtual coins and the LEGO Mario figure reacts to action bricks and enemies with instant LCD animations and sounds. Players get instant feedback and rewards for creativity, and there are a range of expansion sets to build the Super Mario world.
It combines the joy of LEGO building with skill-based gameplay, and there’s even a free LEGO Super Mario app.
Ages 12+
Subscription services have become hugely popular in recent years, so what’s better than a Christmas gift that keeps on giving every month?
Book Box Club is a book subscription service for teen readers. Every month, your child or grandchild will receive a brand-new book of the month, accompanied by a signed bookplate and an invitation to an exclusive online book group with the author.
Every box is also jam-packed with a selection of four to six unique bookish surprises, created by talented artists and curated especially for Book Box Club members. Your young reader can expect to receive great new books, and gifts ranging from candles to cookies based on that month’s theme.
Buy a Book Box Club subscription
If your teenager fancies themselves as the next David Bailey, the Instax SQUARE SQ1 is a super-stylish, easy-to-use instant camera that effortlessly produces atmospheric square photos.
Automatic exposure means they will never miss a moment, and the SQ1’s clever built-in sensors automatically calculate the brightness of the environment, to adjust the shutter speed accordingly.
All your budding photographer needs to do is point the camera at a subject and press the large shutter button on the front. Out will roll a fantastic square image to the tune of a high-pitched hum.
Don’t forget to buy the film!
All ages
It might not sound as exciting as throwing burritos or building LEGO, but have you considered giving a financial gift to your child or grandchild this Christmas?
According to The Times, 40% of parents who gave their children a present between March and June this year chose a financial gift. Some of these gifts were in the form of investments, and half of the children who received money in any form said they’d be happy to save or invest their gifts.
With a wide choice of savings options – including Junior ISAs – a financial gift could be a great choice – and it could have Inheritance Tax benefits too.
If you’d like to have a chat about the best ways of saving for your children and grandchildren, please get in touch. Contact us by email at info@blueskyifas.co.uk or call us on 01189 876655.