I have frequently made clothes as gifts for family members that they absolutely loved.

I agree that cars are a good gift for little boys - I collected them myself. When I was about eight or nine (I think), I got a model set with interchangeable parts so that I could design my own cars, and I really loved that. I kept my model cars in pristine condition for many years, until my brother Mike was allowed to play with them, and he destroyed them.

When my nephew was four, I gave him an inflatable dinosaur (he loved dinosaurs) that was as tall as he was, and the arms of the dinosaur would reach out to hug him. He really loved being hugged by a dinosaur.

Plasma Cars! Great for kids 3+

My son bought abtoy dinosaur at a thrift shop. It had a handle you pulled to make the jaw snap. My grandnephew went crazy for it.

LOL.. @Sueb20

My SIL gave my daughter(also adopted @ 2yrs old) a white teddy bear that her daughter never played with. My dd loved this teddy bear, named fittingly Teddy. Slept with it every night, took it on all our vacations, college and still sleeps with it(and her husband).

Here is a pic of it in 2009.

He has to wear a newborn onesie now to keep him together!

My son loved his action figures so I ended up making new outfits for The Hulk and Superman. whne the original clothes were in tatters.

Boys love those cars. They usually love them to death--about three days. After that they will be trashed and the other toys suited better to their maturity will be appreciated over the long haul.

I bought my nephew an airplane that you pumped and the props spinned. His father wasn't happy, my gift was preferred to his.

You know who else loves RC cars? Little (and big) girls .

Isn't that fun! Good for you. Our 16 month old granddaughter still loves the box's LOL

I have a room upstairs that I have kept toys that the grandkids played with la lot. One of the favorites for the now-grands is a fisher-price airplane, which belonged originally to grandson who will be 50 in June!

We used to keep a Fisher-Price grill with some plastic dishes and plastic food in the front coat closet and would bring it out to entertain young visitors. Every child under about 8 would play with that for hours.

When my friend's twins were about three, I bought some truly inexpensive battery-operated cars that lit up and the associated track pieces. I ended up having to replace the cars every year for a few years because they loved playing with it.

Good job, @sushipup2, for finding a well-received gift. It's so gratifying when a recipient really loves something you've given them.

When you mentioned cars it immediately reminded me of probably the biggest hit of all the years I've been giving gifts.

Ten years ago I asked DIL what DGD would like for her birthday, & she said at a friends house DGD fell in love with a pedal car, and of course I bought it.

At the bday party full of kids and adults I waited until all the gifts were open then went out to the car and brought it inside.

Imagine this, which describes what happened before the picture below which was taken in the foyer. I bring it inside and DGD is about 20 feet away in the LR when she saw the car. She immediately stopped what she was doing and RAN to it.

Their house at the time had stained concrete flooring in two long hallways, kitchen and entryway. Lots of places to drive.

Our DS (52 this month) spent countless hours with a wooden train set. DGS, then DGD, also loved this -- originally from my DM. Another hit from her when DS was about 2 1/2 was a sturdy cardboard table and two little chairs. I was amazed when it lasted until he outgrew it. DS was furious when he learned I'd given his hot wheel cars to a neighbor's DGS!

I can't think of any gift that was a huge hit, nor one that was a flop either, but I have bought items for our playcamp program that have been big hits with all the kids. A wooden play kitchen and market stand with play food, dishes, and play money, a big bunch of brightly colored thrift store clothes for dressup, and a big wooden dollhouse and furniture, along with a huge bunch of LEGOs, and Duplo people instead of regular LEGO minifigures, since they're practically indestructible and don't come apart into teeny tiny pieces. I also bought a couple of soft vinyl baby dolls that are fully washable and have lasted many years.

Oh, and I bought a couple dozen Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars from a local charity shop that have been well-loved, along with a big set of LEGO wheels that the kids fight over. A number of those wheel sets seem to have disappeared, which is why - there were originally more than enough for everyone.

This is another toy I found years ago that the kids never get tired of. Ours has a lot more blocks...

They do keep losing the marbles tho 😄

My great nieces, 7 and 10 are usually very easy to please with gifts. They now have a little brother who just turned 2. I was at a loss at Christmas for what to give him, but recalled a story about him ’helping’ his Dad with outdoor chores, trying to use a toy blower, etc etc. So i went down the Big A rabbit hole of toys and came up with the Snappy Turtle toy lawn mower from Melissa & Doug, one of my favorite toy makers. He stopped what he was doing and immediately ran over to push all the buttons and play with it.

One year at a large family Thanksgiving I brought a collection of Victorian half-masks for a goof. It brought down the house. They're so weird because you can see real eyes, noses, and mouths. Everyone got into the act and it was a hoot.

A Bat Mitzvah gift for a thirteen year old girl. I ordered a name necklace for her--Arabic letters but the name is Hebrew. Much later the Mom told me the girl put on the necklace and didn't remove it. 8~)

for my grandson's birthday a couple of years ago, i got him a battery operated police motorcycle. BEST. GIFT. EVER!!! he rode it all day, didn't even want to get off of it for the party. i think the most fun he had was writing tickets to everybody for driving too fast.

Somewhat off-topic, but why also a gift for the younger one? I promise that I'm not judging,, but doesn't that take away some of the "specialness" of the day for the birthday child? And it doesn't teach the younger one that it's not always about him?

Seriously just curious - I always just buy for the birthday child. Should I also buy for the other kid(s) in the family?

I used to hit a home run almost every Christmas on gifts for my nephews. I wasn't so great at selecting gifts for my nieces though.

My son slept with a Beanie Baby moose for years. I think a few of them got lost somewhere but we had several backups (yes, my DW collected BBs for a few years). He is 25 now and still keeps the moose on the dash of his car.

I love it when you manage to get the right gift. One year, I bought my daughter a pink winter hat (we call them touques), with matching scarf. Pink Minnie Mouse mittens and a doll for her birthday. No lie here, but my husbands cousin bought my daughter the exact same touque, scarf and mittens but in white and a doll! It was so weird!

Question for the OP though: if it was the 5 year olds birthday, why did you buy the younger child a gift too? Was it his birthday as well? I see a lot of people do this. Rather than teach the child each kid has their own special day (unless you're twins or your birthday is the same day) they don't want to hurt another childs feeling by making them feel left out.

I just did this automatically. I don't buy them Christmas presents, have never shared holidays with them, they don't live close by., and they really don't know us. We're just a couple of big people at a couple of adult events during the year. This party wasn't at their house, and I know that they play well together. They started racing their cars right off the bat.

Ever score a real home run with a gift?

Like you did....research pays off! When My husbands nephew was about 6 years old...I purchased a remote control dude on a motorcycle. From Target...I spent $10. He liked it sooooooooooooo much he took it to show 'n tell.

Then hubbys coworker, 20 years ago, said, "Ask Nicole what to get my brother as a wedding gift? She'll know. I can only spend $50 and he has everything. He's well off, I'm not...but I want him to like it. " Ok...that was a tough one. There's a Mikasa outlet store on the way to the wedding....I suggested a picture frame for the wedding photo. It was a hit! Less than $50, the store wrapped the gift...and he purchased a nice card. (The coworker had never heard of Mikasa....seemed to be thrilled to even be shopping in such a nice store...he got a kick out of it.)

Sushipup, I think in your case it was okay to buy gifts for both of the children, and I'm glad they were a huge hit. If this was something you did for every birthday, it might not be good thing. One year my oldest granddaughter's other grandparents gave her a bike for her birthday, which was great, but they also bought bikes for her older brother and their cousin. I was not happy with that situation and felt like it took the shine off my granddaughter's special day. Fortunately, my granddaughter was a loving and generous little soul then (and still is) and it didn't bother her at all.

FWIW, I have no problem with anyone bringing an extra gift for a younger sibling like that - especially when it's something the kids can play together. IMO, it can help prevent a tantrum/meltdown that might spoil the birthday kid's - and everybody else's - enjoyment of the event. It's unrealistic to expect a toddler to grasp the concept of restraint in that type of situation, and to have perfect behavior. Teaching tiny people about how to act when it's not their day is better done when it's one on one, not in the moment, amongst a large group of people.

Being the oldest of 3, all close in age, I well recall the conflicts we had and the sometimes fierce sibling rivalry that went on. Fortunately, our parents strove to be fair and fostered, encouraged us to respect and love one another, even if we still squabbled and bickered.

My take on giving a gift to the sibling is by the time the oldest gets birthday presents they actually play with, the youngest is either too young to understand or give a care, and later they understand what the gift is for. I think. :)

At least you don't have children whose birthdays are a day apart. One year they each had a sleepover. DH and I didn't sleep for two nights.

Well this was yesterday for my 3rd grandchild's 3rd birthday ( my covid baby as I think of it).... not a major purchase but so fantastically received

My daughter mentioned to my surprise that dolls are not so readily available and she thought N would love one. To my shock, my daughter was right.

I spent a lot of time looking both online and in stores. Anyway I got a nice doll, a bit "older" than I wanted but a nice doll.

The clincher was that while browsing on the river site A, I came upon a unicorn rainbow nightgown for a kid AND one to match an 18 " doll. Needless to say she immediately changed into it and dressed her doll to match. (We even then had to do her hair in matching pigtails). I also got her sunglasses that matched and this is what she wore for about 3 hours for her family party.

Yay. I mean, rainbows and unicorns- it doesn't get any better for a 3 year old.