Are you in the market for a birthday gift for a 3-year-old in your life? Look no further! Here are some great birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds.
I can’t be the only mom who seriously struggles when birthdays come around. My kids seem to have everything, so the prospect of getting them something else can be daunting. When faced with this yearly eventuality, my mind draws a blank and it takes me ages to figure out a good birthday gift.
And don’t even get me started on gifts for my kids’ friends. I know exactly what my kids have and I struggle with birthday gift ideas for them. When I need to buy a birthday gift for a kid I barely know, my struggle increases exponentially.
Lucky for you, I just went through the excruciating process of buying birthday gifts for my newly 3-year-old daughter. I decided, as a public service, to share what we ended up getting her for her birthday so that you would have some birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds in your life. This process also refreshed my memory about what we got my son for his birthday when he was 3, so I included those items too. I sure hope these birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds help you make the gift buying process go smoothly!
Birthday Gift Ideas for 3-Year-Olds
Dress-up
My daughter’s main gift from us this year was a set of dress-up clothes. She is definitely in her Disney princess era, so I went with a set of look-alike princess outfits that she doesn’t have to be too precious with. These were an immediate hit. She and her 3-year-old girl cousin tore into them, and even the older boys (both 5 years old) even got in on the action. What a simple source of joy!
If you want to choose dress-up clothes from this list of birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds, don’t forget to have a storage plan. You can choose a simple hanging bar, an elaborate wardrobe, or go the route I chose and pick a simple seagrass bin. Just make sure you have a designated place for the dress-up clothes that can be accessed independently by a 3-year-old.
Backpack
One hallmark of 3-year-olds is that they’re really into asserting their independence. They want to do it all by themselves, and the more things they can do that feel grown-up to them, the better! That’s why I think great birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds are kid-sized items that look like grown-up things. One particularly good gift idea, especially if the 3-year-old in your life has an older sibling, is a backpack.
I love a backpack gift because it’s a useful item. Your 3-year-old can use it to go to school, pack it to go to Grandma’s house, or simple cart their favorite items around the house in it. It’s really a great gift. When buying for a 3-year-old, find one that’s an appropriate size and has a fun color or pattern. We’ve had two backpacks that have worked well for the preschool stage of life: The Crate & kids Dreamer backpack and the Pottery Barn Kids Mackenzie backpack. I would highly recommend either of these backpacks if you’re looking for birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds.
Pillow pet
If your kid loves stuffed animals, this next gift idea is for you. Let me introduce you to the Pillow pet. This thing is genius. It’s part stuffed animal, part pillow, and all-around fabulous road trip companion. I love that they make them in generic animal versions and in character versions, so you can find one that will appeal to any kid. In my house, we have one that looks like Iceburgh, the Pittsburgh Penguins mascot, and one that looks like Skye from Paw Patrol. Both are extremely well-loved. Don’t sleep on the Pillow pet (I pun!), add this to your list of birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds.
Clothes
Yes, you can give your kids boring gifts for their birthdays! I give my kids clothes for basically every gift-giving occasion and the reaction is always the same. They barely clock what they see, throw it out of the way, and move on to the next gift in the hope that it’s more exciting than clothes. If you go in expecting this reaction, go ahead and gift the clothes.
Because we are talking about birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds, I would suggest that you make it at least a little appealing to the birthday girl or boy. Gift an outfit in the child’s favorite color or representing his or her favorite character. My daughter is automatically onboard with any clothing item with Minnie Mouse on it. I’m sure your 3-year-old has a analogous favorite, so lean in.
Stickers
If you have read really any of my kid-related blog posts, you know that my 3-year-old daughter is obsessed with stickers. If I need to make her happy or keep her busy, stickers work every single time. Because of this obsession, we go through a lot of stickers around here. That means stickers were a no-brainer birthday gift for her.
If you have a 3-year-old who is similarly enthralled by stickers, a sticker birthday gift is a great option. Some of my favorite sticker birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds are:
Can you tell I love Melissa & Doug for stickers?
Outdoor games
If your 3-year-old is anything like mine, he or she loves to play outside. I can barely keep my kids inside, even when it’s freezing cold or storming. That means we need lots of outdoor games and activities to keep us from running into the street or straight up digging in the mulch (which happens, trust me). Here are some of our favorite outdoor games that make great birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds.
Sports equipment
My kids love all sports. We play everything in our yard or driveway – football to basketball to tennis to hockey. You name it, we play it. To play all these sports, you need the right equipment. Some of our most-used sports equipment is:
Street hockey
Balls
I’d suggest a variety of balls – basketballs, footballs, tennis balls, soccer balls, etc.
Tennis racquet
Tennis is a great sport to practice in the driveway. And as your 3-year-old gets a little older, he can even play by himself against the garage door. A tennis racquet is a great birthday gift idea for a 3-year-old.
Baseball tee
If your 3-year-old shows signs of coordination, she might want to try to swing a bat and play a little baseball. Start small with a tee and wiffle balls. After a little practice, they’ll graduate to pitches in no time!
Corn hole
Kids of all ages (even grown-up kids) love corn hole. There is nothing stopping kids as young as 3 from playing regular old corn hole, but this Little Tikes set aimed at young kids is a great starter set.
Croquet
Another great game for all ages is croquet. I remember playing croquet in my surrogate grandparents’ backyard when I was pretty little and I loved it. Again, there’s nothing really preventing 3-year-olds from playing regular croquet, but there are kid-specific croquet sets that are great birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds.
Velcro catch
Let’s face it, very few 3-year-olds can consistently catch a ball. That makes playing catch a pretty frustrating experience. Unless, of course, you are playing Velcro catch. Velcro catch not only is much more fun to play with littles than regular catch, it also gives kids the confidence they need to learn how to actually catch a ball.
Dollhouse
One of the best toys we have ever purchased is a simple wooden dollhouse. It has provided hours of imaginative play for our 3-year-old and our 5-year-old. They work together to make up stories about who the people who live in the house are and what they do. It’s not often I can sit them both down with an activity and have it not end in a spat of epic proportions, but they rarely fight when they’re playing with the dollhouse.
I think 3 is a great age to introduce a dollhouse, making it a great birthday gift idea for 3-year-olds. The dollhouse we have is no longer being sold, but this looks like a great alternative dollhouse.
Scooter
A scooter is a very strong contender to top the list of birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds. My 3-year-old loves to scoot around the driveway and around the cul-de-sac. Just be warned that if you go much farther from home, be prepared to carry it (and possibly your 3-year-old) back home. Don’t forget to bundle this gift with a helmet – safety first!
Yoto mini
3-year-olds are usually right on the cusp of dropping their naps for good. That means you need to be prepared with quiet time activities. One of my favorite quiet time activities for a 3-year-old that makes a great birthday gift is the Yoto mini. It works at home and when you’re traveling, and adds up to hours of entertainment thanks to the many audio card options and the card-free availability of a daily podcast and a kid-friendly radio station. This is such a good gift option for a 3-year-old!
Other posts
If you are the parent of a 3-year-old, here are some other posts that you might find helpful:
So, what birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds struck a chord with you? What birthday gift ideas for 3-year-olds would you add to this list? Let us know down in the comments or over on Instagram @sarainseason.