Top Gift Ideas For Toddler Birthday Party

Birthdays are special. And more so, if it’s your toddler’s! But choosing gift for a toddler on their birthday is quite a difficult job. You will have to keep in mind a lot of things like the safety, durability, and material of the gift. You may also get confused about whether the kid will like the gift or not.

Tips For Buying Gift For Toddler

The birthday gift that you choose for a toddler can make a lot of difference to them. Your gift should stay in line with the playing preference of the kid. Otherwise, they will not give it a second look. Here are the tips that you must keep in mind while buying gift for toddler:

1. The Gift Material

Usually plastic is used for making toys. While these are bright and durable, they do have a downside. Plastic contains chemicals that can harm toddlers who have the natural habit of nibbling on stuff (1). In addition, plastic is not biodegradable. If you are going to give a plastic toy, consider avoiding it, especially for the first birthday.

2. No Sharp Corners

Giving a metal or wood-based gift is also not a good idea as these can have sharp corners. There should not be any chance of the toddler getting hurt in a sharp end. Some flimsy plastic toys can break and hurt toddlers accidentally. Totally avoid giving glass or porcelain playthings.

3. No Choking Hazard

Again, make double sure that the gift does not pose a choking hazard in any way (2). Ideally, it should not have very small pieces. Also, it should not have any bag or anything like that.

4. No Clamping Hazards

Ensure that the gift does not have a mechanism that can clamp the kid’s hand or feet.

5. Preferably Washable

While gifting toys, ensure that it is washable. Gifts made of fabric are easy to wash and maintain. Soft toys can also be washed.

6. Educational Gifts

The category of educational gifts is diverse. From books to crayons, everything is educational. The shape-fitting toy is a great gift for one-year-olds. But, it may be too easy for a two-year-old. A great educational gift should be age-appropriate and experience oriented to facilitate maximum brain development (3).

7. Wrapper

Presentation is important. You can always take the extra effort to tie the gift with a colored ribbon knot over the wrapping paper.

8. Ethical Consideration

Think ethically. Although it is an usual custom to give toy guns to toddler boys, are you not encouraging violence in that way? If you are buying a book for them, it is best to get it from a real store instead of online. Then, you can go through all the images and check if they are appropriate.

Gift Ideas For One-Year-Old Toddler

There are numerous gifting options for one-year-olds. These gifts are mainly based on their gross and fine motor development and explorative nature at this age. Here are some of the gift ideas for one-year-old toddler that you can look at:

Flash cards are a great gifting option for one-year-olds. Flash cards with images of different fruits, vegetables, flowers, insects, animals, and vehicles will help to build their primary understanding of the surrounding world
Montessori learning wooden toys are helpful in developing the sensory learning, gross and fine motor skills of the one-year-olds (4)
Talking toys are one of the best gifts for language development in one-year-olds (5). As during this time onwards they will start pronouncing monosyllabic words, a talking and voice-imitating toy will be a great companion for them
As mentioned above, shape-fitting toys are great gifts for one-year-olds
A big teddy bear is actually a great gift for any age! Besides the teddy, there are many other soft toy friends waiting on the shelves of the toy store
Coloring books may not be an appropriate idea because kids so young naturally find it difficult to fill colors in assigned spaces
You can always gift story books. Beautiful 3D pop-up books are available, where each page opens like a magical show!
Clothes are great gifts for kids of any age
You can also give some practical gifts to parents. For example, a bag of fancy towels can be very helpful in this age. Caring for little ones does require a lot of towels!
You can give a musical gift. Find a toy that plays a beautiful melody whenever you set it. The melody can have a calming effect when the little one is crying for some reason

Gift Ideas For Two-Year-Old Toddler

By the age of two, toddlers are now strong and steady enough to handle more explorative and challenging toys like tricycles, and swing cars. They can now also differentiate between different shapes, sizes, and colors. Your gift for toddler should be according to these developmental demands:

A swing car is a perfect gift for a two-year-old. The toddler is now capable enough to lift one leg to ride on the swing car and push it to move while sitting on it
Push tricycles with parental control are another excellent gift option for two-year-old kids. It will surely encourage their inward tendency to explore their surroundings independently
A balance bike is also a good gift idea for a two-year-old toddler. These pedal free bikes are good for building strength and coordination in toddlers (6)
Shape-sorting toys are something you can gift to challenge the little brains to become smarter. A two-year-old can get their first idea of geometric shapes through your gift. Maybe they will become a mathematical genius in the near future and give you credit for that. You never know!
Board books with names and colorful illustrations of birds, animals, fruits, flowers, letters, and numbers are another great gifting option for a two-year-old
In this tech-savvy era, you can gift a two-year-old their first laptop. Of course not the real one though. Toy laptops with number and alphabetic songs, different words and letter-recognizing audio support will boost their speaking and learning abilities
The xylophone is a sweet melodious musical toy that toddlers will surely love
Free and independent play has several benefits for the self-regulation abilities in toddlers (7). A theme-based tent house or cottage can be therefore great for toddlers on their second birthday
Coloring books and fairytale books are again great ideas for this age. Fantasy stories encourage the natural imaginative skills in your toddler. Nurturing the imagination is a very crucial aspect of bringing up a kid
The rocking horse is a wonderful traditional gift that you can also choose for a two-year-old toddler

Gift Ideas For Three-Year-Old Toddler

By three years, the toddlers are preschool ready now. So, you may want to buy an alphabet book with poems, rhymes, and bright images for them. Painting books and coloring sets are great for them as well. Here are some other gift ideas for a three-year-old toddler:

A foldable electric scooter can be a fine shift from the push tricycles for three-year-old kids. These cute and handy scooters will let your kid explore the nearby playground or become the main mode of transportation to reach the playschool
Rechargeable hover football for indoor games is a trendy gift option for a three-year-old. This will not only develop a genuine love for sports in the kid but also increase their ability to balance and coordinate which are essential for their physical development (8)
You can gift walkie-talkie toys to three-year-old toddlers. This gift will heighten their linguistic and social development by encouraging them to talk and communicate over the talkie-talkie
Puzzles are also a great gifting option for a three-year-old as now they are smart enough to arrange shapes side by side
An interactive children’s book with phonetic learning is another excellent educational gift perfect for a three-year-old
A sensory activity book with everyday life skills is another trendy gifting option for three-year-old kid. They will get to practice and learn life skills such as using buttons or zips, buckling shoes, and tying laces through this book
Soft toys, superhero toys, cartoon figure toys, dolls, railway track toys, etc. all are great gifts for three-year-old toddlers
Clothing items are gifts that are always in trend. You can give a beautiful frock or a shirt as a birthday gift to a three-year-old

Find a gift that will help the toddlers to be happy as well as engage them in playful learning. Your gift can help them to learn a life skill, develop physical abilities, or improve their logical thinking. Gifting a toddler is special because you have the opportunity to make a little one happy! Make the best of it and find a great gift for toddler with these tips!

FAQ’s

1. What is The Best Gift For Kids on Their Birthday?

It is very hard to say which gift is the best gift for kids. Soft toys, cars, barbie dolls, shape fitting toys, and robots all of them can be great to give to kids on their birthdays. Just keep in mind that the toy should be safe and age-appropriate for the kid.

2. What Toys do Kids Like Most?

Kids usually like to play with toys such as balls, cards, rattles, and soft toys. Kids have a natural eye for toys that are bright, colorful, and appealing. So, whatever toy you are buying for the kid it should be attractive to them.

References

CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT – https://www.cseindia.org/the-trouble-with-toys–935#
NYC Health – https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/toy-safety.page#
Tierney AL, Nelson CA 3rd. Brain Development and the Role of Experience in the Early Years. Zero Three. 2009 Nov 1;30(2):9-13. PMID: 23894221; PMCID: PMC3722610. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3722610/
Ariro – https://arirotoys.com/blogs/useful-tips/how-to-spot-a-montessori-toy
College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – https://ahs.illinois.edu/blog/toy-talk-promotes-language-development#
Cadel Evans, former Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France – https://www.medibank.com.au/livebetter/be-magazine/exercise/6-reasons-why-balance-bikes-are-great-for-kids/
Yeshe Colliver, Linda J. Harrison, Judith E. Brown, Peter Humburg, Free play predicts self-regulation years later: Longitudinal evidence from a large Australian sample of toddlers and preschoolers, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Volume 59, 2022, Pages 148-161, ISSN 0885-2006, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.11.011. – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200621001411#
Miracle Recreation – https://www.miracle-recreation.com/blog/improving-balance-and-coordination-in-children/?lang=can#

Top Gift Ideas For Toddler Birthday Party