When did your DC start giving gifts?

[Smarshian]

My DC are 5&6. They choose gifts with me for friends birthdays/ DH at the moment, but I thought it might be nice this year for them to gift something to wider family themselves (GPs etc). Perhaps just a craft they made/ picture/ baking.
what have you all done? Interested to know what has worked well, both from a receiver POV and not giving myself too much extra work supervising!

We've done gifts for grandparents and aunties/uncles from being a couple of months old, usually things like a nice picture of them together on a day out in a frame, 1st Christmas we did some handprint baubles, mug with a picture saying best auntie, that sort of thing

She also last year picked a couple of things in shops, they were a bit naff but I think they appreciated she chose then with then in mind and explained why she thought they'd like them

I’ve done this with mine since they were about 4. Maybe not every year but reasonably often.
Hobby craft is your friend. Things we’ve done -
plant pots, photo frames, decorating plates/mugs/bowls. Hobby craft has a good range of things your can buy to paint or découpage that are quite cheap. Invest in a set of acrylic pens and some decent paint, brushes and varnish. Jewellry making and tie die socks also been good.

Mine get £10 each to spend on each other. They exchange their gifts on Xmas eve. I have to give them some prompting though because otherwise they’d probably choose something totally random for the other but on the whole they do love their gift giving tradition.

they don’t do wider family as yet- their crafts would probably not be appreciated 🙈

Yeah my worry is the time that might go into helping craft things that wouldn’t be appreciated!
maybe baking is the way to go. Everyone likes biscuits right?!

Give them £5 for each person and see what ideas they have! I love doing this and so do grandparents they like how it’s chosen by them and it’s hilarious! Last year they bought their 70year old grandad some Percy Pig shower gel “coz he likes a shower after swimming” and Nanna wine “coz she’s always drinking it” honestly it cheers up Christmas Day no end!

We did hand and footprint baubles for his first Christmas, robin handprint canvases for his second and this year I’m thinking of doing something with snowman feet and I also make a photo calendar with a photo of ds from each month of the previous year for grandparents and great grandparents. From next year I’m planning to take ds to Poundland and let him pick a gift for everyone from there (I was going to start this year but he’s not talking yet and he wouldn’t understand what to do) and the photo calendar will probably continue until he stops letting me take photos of him 😂

We’ve had cards with finger painting etc. since about 6 months.
There are some lovely resources online.

Mine was stuff like photo mugs, etc when they were that sort of age. When they were a bit older I went for the expensive option of pottery painting - they get to paint presents, I get nice food and coffee while they do it

We used to take ours to charity shops from around the age of 5 or 6 so that they could buy presents out of their pocket money for each other, DH, and me.

They could get a book or a DVD (or a pig-ugly ornament or necklace 😬) for pennies and they were dead chuffed with their power of choosing.

(Their pocket money was well enough to allow for this, and they actually liked feeling that they did it all themselves with their own money.)

From birth for grandparents, parents and siblings. Wider family they don't buy separately for.

Pre school it was gifts with their photos/artwork on - calendar, mugs etc

From school age took them out shopping individually with some cash in a purse and let them choose something.

Once they started getting an allowance/working they were expected to buy themselves. Thoughtful gifts rather than expensive.

I think it's really good for children to be involved in gift choosing and buying from as young as possible. Even if it is choosing a packet of jelly babies for dad from Asda as they know he likes them.

We’ve done chocolate gifts for years. As toddlers we used silicone moulds and sprinkles so the results were always gift worthy once they were popped out of the moulds.

They’ve got more ambitious over the years but they’re always well received.

Would the wider family appreciate the gifts, especially year on year? (Only so many ornaments/mugs/photos most people want..) And do you really want to commit the time, effort and cash to this every year (eg biscuits would need to be done quite last minute to be fresh and edible, when you may be busy with other prep)? I would give DC a small budget to chose a present for you, DH and sibling and leave it at that; that’s what we do. Choose somewhere like Tiger or the Poundshop and set them lose with the money. But I wouldn’t do it for the wider family.

From about that age, the DC have been given pretty much free rein in the supermarket chocolates aisle and chosen something for each of their grandparents, uncles, the childminder and anyone else like that. It can be quite funny listening to them earnestly discuss whether they should get celebrations for both uncles or if they should get one heroes instead.

Mine are 16 and 11 and they don't get gifts for others.

Once they have a job I'd expect them to buy for whoever they want out of their own money.

Previous years I have always bought a gift from my daughter for the grandparents but she is 4 this year and asked to choose things herself when we were out this week. She has picked a couple of small things and they are a bit random but I think they will be appreciated as she has picked them.