Hottest Holiday Gifts

Chances are, if you’re a parent, shopping for your own child is easy since they’ll constantly let you know what they want, but gift shopping for your niece, nephew, or other youngster who isn’t your own child can be a difficult task – browsing the many aisles in stores, or clicking through different categories online at stores such as Toys R Us, Amazon, WalMart, etc. wondering whether they’ll like whatever you end up buying.

Sure, you can give a gift card or money, but it’s always a good feeling to see that a gift you’ve given careful thought into buying is a hit.

Here are some tips to hopefully help you find the right gift:

• Ask the kids themselves or their parents. The parents would know their child the best, so they could probably tell you exactly what to get. Just make sure you don’t end up buying the same gift as their parents.
• Pay attention to their favorite shows or movies – their favorite characters, or the songs they’re always singing from these shows or movies. If you don’t know what the song is or who the character is, ask them where it’s from. Ask if there are other characters that they like. Favorite shows and characters can change constantly depending on the current shows and movies that are out. They might be into Frozen one year and Minions the next, so try to keep up with current popular kids shows and movies.
• Look at what toys or video games they constantly play with.
• See what their room is decorated with.
• Listen to what they can’t stop talking or laughing about. This might not always help because it could be about the latest viral video on YouTube or something, but if there’s a hobby or activity they absolutely light up about when telling you about it, you might be able to find something related to it.
• Take them shopping with you and if you’re on a budget, give them a maximum of what you’re willing to spend. This might spoil the surprise, but they’ll still be excited to receive it since they’ll know exactly what they’re getting and had to wait to open it.

What if the thing they want is a really expensive item? When I was growing up, I’ve had aunts and uncles give a combined gift from all of them when something was really expensive, so that’s definitely still a viable option today.

Hopefully you’re able to use some of these tips to find a great gift. Happy shopping!