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‘Tis the season for holiday chaos (and the very many best gifts for kids)! If you’re asking me, there is no better time of year than the month between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, especially in New York City: the smell of chestnuts roasting on the street corner when it’s dark at 5 PM, the wacky, whimsical Bergdorf windows, the train show at Grand Central. The day after Thanksgiving, I am dutifully out buying my Blue Spruce. But as soon as we’ve finished decorating it, my toddler is already eagerly demanding, “presents go under tree!?”
With kids, the holiday season is a time of joy and delight but also total pandemonium involving lots of hard-to-assemble toys, shards of wrapping paper in every corner of your home, and meltdowns when they’re not allowed to open all their gifts at once. So we’re here to help solve your toughest gift conundrums for all the tiny tots on your list—whether they are yours or someone else’s. It can be hard to nail down the best gifts for kids, not to mention the added complication that a gift for someone’s child is also a gift—or nightmare—for their parent, so pick wisely and do unto others as you would like to be treated.
The Best Gifts for Kids, According to Vogue
- Best for the Nutcracker Nut: Meri Meri Nutcracker theater advent calendar, $95
- Best for the Mini Monet: Moulin Roty storytelling deluxe cinema box, $66
- Best for the Santa Baby: Anthropologie The Christmas songbook, $25
- Best for the Fledgling Fashionista: J.Crew jewel-embellished ballet flats, $98
- Best for the Climate-Anxiety Kid: Tender Leaf Toys weather watch toy, $65
- Best for the Gelt Groupie: Williams Sonoma DIY gingerbread Menorah kit, $66
- Best for the Mini Martha: Etú Home wood cooking set, $26
For example, stay away from the 10-foot-tall Santa or singing dreidel, and consider a chic wooden toy that isn’t an eyesore or some elegant holiday ensembles that will have parents wishing they came in their size. Herewith, a breakdown of the best gifts for kids by type with some outside-the-Amazon-box ideas for kids of all ages and gifts of all sizes—from Santa’s main gift to stocking stuffers. For the kids on my list, I’ll be getting family-matching pajamas, Meri Meri advent calendars, and La Coqueta knits.
For the Nutcracker Nut
Visions of sugarplum fairies dance in their head, and every morning, they wake up imagining the Christmas tree has doubled in size. This young one is an New York City Ballet aficionado and not only loves their weekly ballet class but would take Tchaikovsky over Raffi any day of the week, crack their nut with ballet dolls, or an aptly-themed puzzle.
For New Wave Old Soul
They’re always yelling ‘Cut!’ at their little sister and follow Director Fits on Instagram to inspire their chore jacket styling. Encourage this young cinephile’s passion with a projector kit or popcorn maker.
For Santa Baby, Literally
It’s baby’s first holiday season, so make sure they’re decked as festively as the halls from cheery red flannel to velvet Mary Janes that match the Christmas tree.
For the Fledgling Fashionista
This sartorial sprite doesn’t believe in Coco Chanel’s adage to take one thing off before you leave the house, she hews more to the Iris Apfel “more is more” approach and all of her stuffed animals are dressed to the nines.
For the Climate-Anxiety Kid
They love Greta Thunberg and loathe big oil…and they’re only four. Help relieve this tot’s climate anxiety with some eco- and weather-friendly gifts like this Patagonia three-season jacket and a weather watch toy.
For the Gelt Groupie
Eight nights to open presents! What more could you want? Well, for starters, a first dreidel kit or Supersmalls’s 8 Nights of Hannukah lip balm necklace. Treat this Hannukah Harriet to some holiday magic and make sure her smile burns bright for eight long nights.
For the Mini Martha
He saw you watching the Martha Stewart documentary and lives for rolling up his sleeves and rolling out the cookie dough. Get him a monogrammed apron, kid-safe knives and hand cuffs, just in case he has problems with the law as well.
