The holiday rush is here! Although many retailers start holiday campaigns and sales earlier in the fall, consumer retail activity ramps up at the beginning of November. Creating gift lists for family members and friends can be challenging, especially as the holidays approach quickly.
Are you still scratching your head for potential gift ideas for children and family members? Let us help you out with a last-minute gift guide!
Board Games and Puzzles
Board games and puzzles are some of the most common family gifts for a reason – they bring everyone together and teach valuable skills like teamwork and problem-solving. If the family you’re buying gifts for is attending parties or social gatherings for the season, games can be an especially great gift for the kids to play while the adults engage in conversation.
Educational Toys
There can be much emphasis on toys during the holidays. How many of these toys are also educational? Give the gift of play and learning by picking out a toy with educational value.
Educational toys target a subject area, such as reading, math, science, or art. Some of the best educational toys can help children learn from multiple subjects; an example is an item that includes numbers and letters. While many great electronic choices are on the market, tried-and-true wooden and plastic toys still hold up well in learning.
Experiential Gifts
Getting “stuff” is always fun. But gifting an experience can be especially memorable for both kids and adults. Many businesses will allow you to buy a digital pass, membership, or subscription online, making for a quick and easy gift.
For kids, consider tickets to an amusement park, museums, or other attractions. Look into a few lessons or classes for a sport or activity they are interested in. For their parents, concert tickets, day trips, excursions, or spa visits could be great experiential gifts.
Organizational Items
Have you ever felt overwhelmed after bringing home all the holiday gifts, wondering where you can make space for new items? Many parents know this feeling: grateful that the kids had a fun holiday but unsure where the toys, clothes, and other gifts they received will go. Consider gifting organizational items to parents.
The demand for these items is high year-round, so they can make great last-minute items since they will likely be in stock. Consider storage totes, fabric cube organizers, baskets, under-the-bed boxes, and more. These may not be the most “exciting” gifts to buy, but the parents will probably thank you.
Car Kits for Kids
The average American family with kids spends more time in the car than generations past. With children going from school to extra-curricular activities and back again, car trips can become monotonous, especially for younger children. Consider putting together a “car kit” for a holiday gift; this could be a basket underneath the seat with travel-sized games, activity books, or even small puzzles.
A hanging organizer that parents can tie to the front car seat’s headrest in for easy access for back seat riders. A car kit will be the gift that keeps car rides bearable for parents and kids alike.
Personalized Wall Decor
Once the holiday decorations come down, homes can feel empty. Consider gifting children or families fun, personalized wall decor so they have something to smile about after they take decorations off the wall.
Siblings who share rooms may be excited about a wall sign or wall art with personalized touches like their name or initials.
Sharing space can be challenging for kids, so any chance they have to establish their own identity in a shared space can help. Additionally, many families love to have personalized wall art with the family name in their home’s entryway or main room.
Family Movies
Even though we live in the age of streaming services, there are still benefits to having individual copies of movies or TV episodes. For a quick and easy gift, consider buying digital copies of some favorite family-friendly movies for the group to watch together. Or, if the family in question still uses physical DVDs at home or in the car, those are a great option, too. Big box stores often have floor displays of DVDs for relatively cheap prices.
Travel Gear
Is the family you’re buying for often on the go? Travel gear can be an excellent gift for families who like to take vacations or road trips. Additionally, many “travel items,” like backpacks, duffel bags, packing cubes, etc., can be used daily for sports, tournaments, camping, sleepovers, and more.
Also, consider lunch bags, Tupperware container sets, water bottles, thermoses, blankets, towels, and sleeping bags. While these items may not come to mind when you think of holiday gifts, families will surely use them year-round. You can add a personal touch by adding monograms to travel items or color-coordinating them to the child’s favorite color or print.
Check out Hollow Woodworks
Our Hollow Woodworks team is all about spreading seasonal cheer and making memories with children, parents, and the entire family. We’ve got you covered if you’re interested in several items in this gift guide (puzzles, educational toys, and decorative wall art). Our unique, handcrafted wooden gifts stand the test of time. Many items, from our puzzle stools to wall art pieces, can be personalized to add that extra touch.
When you buy from Hollow Woodworks this holiday season, you support a small business based in Ferguson, Missouri. We have been making puzzles and memories for years – don’t miss out!
Check out our online store today and celebrate the holiday season to its fullest.