One Year Old (Inexpensive) Birthday Gifts

Board books and puzzles are excellent gifts for that age -- that was my staple for the round of first birthday parties.

When I was in a play group with my first born the entire play grouped decided not to do gifts for everyone. It was just going to be too expensive. Even at $10 per person you are looking at $100. We all celebrated together and enjoyed the day and the kids got more than enough stuff from other people.

It might be a little early, but even when my kids were that little, I appreciated books. Kohl's has usually three or four books per calendar quarter with a matching stuffed animal. Even though my kids are 3 and 5, I've been gifting a book and it's corresponding animal, usually with a little age appropriate toy (2-5 bucks)... the parents who've received sets have been really appreciative... who doesn't need books?... and all kids love getting stuffed animals! Plus, all the money from those sets go to Kohl's kids charity. The books are good quality hardbacks and both the book and animal are $5 each, so I've been spending about $15/kid. Hope that gives you some ideas!

What about asking your firends if they would like to have a book party for each birthday party? Reading is the best thing you can do with your child to start them down the path of life and reading will help them learn new words to say by seeing the picture of it.
F.

Our first birthday gift for close friends and family has always been a name embroidered bath towel. For those not so expensive present needs, I buy a hardback book to start their library and [hopefully] a lifetime love of reading.

Hi there
yes, def keep it inexpensive b/c at that age, they won't remember what they recd. For the Summer parties, you could get them one of those beach pails that has the shovel and stuff in it, add one of those beach towels (nowadays, they aren't expensive) and have many cute characters on them.
this way, the child will have their own special towel, which could also make bath time more fun for them..
even add those little flip flop shoes or not..
best of luck to you!!

Look for deals..at this age, you can keep it sweet and simple...

-give a little craft kit with an invite to come make it at your house...
give their mom a break for an hour....forge relationships with the kids even during the parallel play years...

-Books! and if you have anyone who does scholastic, they have dollar books every month! Or hardcover for sentiment...

-Fat washable crayons, finger paint, watercolor kits and scratch paper

-Chalk

-Start a good grip cookie cutters collection! encourage baking..

-Balls!! grippy balls, footballs, toss and roll balls..all kids love balls

-Swim, beach and park gear...dollar store buckets and shovels, molds..Target and Michaels have a great dollar section.. a small beach towel rolled up, a hat..

Playdough kits..or homemade recipe with ingredients..gluten free too for the sensitive ones

-Bubbles with fun wands

Last but not least, Party City discounts some games..I bought winnie the pooh ball toss, normally 24.00 for .75cents..giving them away at Christmas!
They had a tinkerbell skee ball for 5.00 discounted from 25..keep a box of gifts in your closet as you will be going to many a party..the days of custom catering what everyone wants are on hold and just being able to give a gift is a luxury

Hi Y.,

One year olds don't require anything expensive. They still don't know much yet. My son had alot of expensive gifts for his first birthday and he doesn't know the difference between a expensive gift and a cheap, but fun gift.

I suggest giving books. I love it from my son get books as a gift. You can't go wrong with that. Good luck.

Books! Everyone in your group will be in the same boat so one should be fine. Books are always a good gift for babies/children of ANY age. My Daughter has been read too pretty much since the day she was born and they will start pretending to read. You can get board books or cloth books for a child of this age. Maybe wait for a coupon for an online or local store and buy as many as you can at once. They could all even get the same book, which would make it special in a way and help you if a specific book is on sale. My daughter still has a few of her favorites and she will be 7 tomorrow.

I think anything with pictures is great. I did a small album with "You've got a friend" lyrics. You could do something simplier since you have so many to do. I also have made placemats with pictures and had them hard laminated at Kinkos (they need to be around 10x16 or small I believe for them to have an edge). You even make one with all the kids and color copy it. Copies work better with lamination.

Are you close with most of them? Maybe a framed photo of a cute moment that you captured?

Books! If you belong to Costco, you might be able to find a box set of board books. You can give one or two to each child.

Books are a safe bet.

Maybe make an ABC coloring book about the children and give each one a copy on their birthday. Any of the children's names should be a letter. If you meet at a park, name park things...grass, swing/sand/slide, bench, boy, girl, toys, ball, coffee (in a mom's hand?), etc.

You can take photos and drop them into PhotoShop, change to black and white, change the threshold, and outline. (I think that's how I did it a few years ago.) Then drop the picture in a word doc. Add text at the top (The letter of the alphabet) and then put the word at the bottom. We did this as thank yous for my daughter's 4th b-day. P was present and it was a picture of her opening the gift from that friend.Each book was different because of the P page.

If you want more info, contact me.
Stephanie

stacking cups, rings, or some of those paperback books for $3-4 (thomas, little critter, etc.)

some of those toys are fairly inexpensive (less than $10).

books are always good. :o)

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this is only if you have time:
if you have a particular gift (scrapbooking, crafts, etc.), you can offer to capture the birthday party as a gift to the parents and child. via photos, a video, etc.

I like girlie stuff like pretty little hair accessories for girls and sticker books or anything educational for boy or girl. I am always up for anything educational. Veggie tales dvds are cute.

I also think books area a great idea. If you don't belong to Costoc (who have a great book selection) Kohl's always has 3 or 4 nice books for $5 each.
Another idea is to get together with your mom friends and agree not to buy gifts for the kids this year or next. I was watching a TV show and this mom's pre-school have a great agreement. No one buys other kids gifts but the mom and dad of that child who's birthday it is spends $20 on a gift that is from the class. You could do something like that to save some money the next couple years. My daughter just turned 2 and she still didn't get the whole gift thing, although she has enjoyed what she received.
Best of luck and enjoy your baby!
C.

I don't have time to read what others have suggested, but my vote goes for an age appropriate book--the thick cardboard kind the kids can handle. Our children are never too young to get the feel of a good book! A toy?--how about a squirting toy for the bathtub! N.

Greetings Y.: You have recieved many great ideas and I can only add a few things.
1. Bubbles - they are always a hit. Sand toys- buckets,things that rotate.
2. Frame. That can have a picture of their 1st party to enjoy.
3. This gift will come after the party. Take several pictures during the party of things going on that the family picture taker may miss aand then give it to the family as a gift. I generally get shots of the children that come, guests, the food table, people doing the food, and shots of things going on when opening gifts. hen have someone take a picture of you and your child as apart of the gift. This is a gift that is always popular.
Hopes this helps. Nana G

- used toys (a lot of times they look brand new at 2nd hand kids stores)
- color books!!! (1 is a little young, but they'll grow quickly)
- animal crackers
- $1 store
- buy packs of white t- shirts and decorate them with fabric pens (I'm going to do this for a friend's shower and write "little monkey" with a tiny, simple monkey head for the o. Then, I'm going to combine it with other stuff. Some of the gift will be used because I'll be going to 2 showers for her I think. Monkeys is her nursery theme. My son had a yellow monkey sweater, which is cute and still new looking.)

My sister has 9 kids. I did gifts up until this year.:( They live far unfortunately so the shipping is costly too.
My son is 1 and one of his favorite toys is a cheap little, tiny, orange water gun my husband got at a bachelor party.

My sister had the best idea when I was thinking about getting a cheap 3 year old gift. She said bake cookies and it'll be her favorite gift.

Hi Y.-
I am a huge fan of baby tee shirts. They are simple, cheap, and affordable, and it looks like you spent a little time choosing one for each child. WalMart is good, Target is good, Costco is great, and usually you can get shirts for $5-$8 each. Another fun and cheap idea is a craft kit- like homemade drums (you will probably have to buy markers and paper and glue) out of oat containers. Purchase a cheap pair of drum sticks and ta-dah! Musical present.
I hope this helps!

The best gifts for one year olds are often the least expensive: a whirly-gig, for example, or a bottle of bubbles. They have some lollipops at Toys-R-Us with a whirling cartoon character for a handle that little ones just love. You can find good second hand stuff, too, like second hand board books. Toy-Go-Round on Solano Avenue in Berkeley has lots of nice used things.