Are you struggling to figure out what to get your kids this Christmas? If you have young kids, I might be able to help. I’m sharing what I’m getting my kids for Christmas this year below.
I wrote one of these posts last year (in 2023) with the hope that someone else might find it helpful to know what I had decided to get my kids. I know I find it so helpful to know what other people are getting their kids who are around the same age as my kids. These are my favorite YouTube videos to watch this time of year. So, I’m back again in 2024 to let you in on what I’m getting my kids for Christmas to help other stressed out, exhausted parents.
My Kids
I have a 5-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter.
The 5-year-old is super obsessed with all things sports and is starting to be influenced by his peers as to what he wants for Christmas. He also has a December birthday, so he gets lots of gifts this time of the year. I’m also going to include some of what he’s getting for his birthday because why not share more gift ideas? That means there are more gift ideas for a 5-year-old boy on this list. I don’t love him more, I just timed his birth poorly.
The 2-year-old is much harder to buy gifts for at this stage. Because she’s the second kid, we have most (all?) of the big-ticket items that would normally be on gift lists for 2-year-olds. I’ve leaned more heavily into her specific interests for Christmas this year, which include all things purple and Minnie Mouse.
Both kids still believe in the magic of Santa Claus, so one gift per kid on this list will be from St. Nick.
My Criteria
I am in the middle of a full-on crusade against the junk in my house. We have entirely too much stuff, so the thought of bringing more into my house makes my skin crawl. That means I’m being extremely picky this year about what I’m getting my kids for Christmas. I’ve also committed to sticking to a budget this year as my financial home stretch goal, so that’s another reason I’m not caving to buying my kids a bunch of junk for Christmas. Quality over quantity!
What I’m Getting My Kids for Christmas
5-Year-Old Boy
The hockey obsession continues this year. He doesn’t discriminate, though. If there is any sport that gets him moving his body, he’s into it.
Pedal bike
My son has gotten really into his balance bike lately, and asked for a pedal bike to level up his neighborhood biking game. That’s a good thing, because I bought him a pedal bike (with training wheels) back in July during Prime Day. I liked the reviews on the JOYSTAR bike we bought him, and I also liked that it came in a ton of colors, including a neutral silver that will also be acceptable for his little sister once this bike gets passed down to her.
Room makeover
5 seems big, guys. I’m having a bit of a mental breakdown about his birthday this year because he just seems so old. Like, he’s not a toddler anymore. He’s a real kid! And a real kid doesn’t want to live in a baby room. My real kid wants to live in a sports arena. So, for his birthday, we gave him the opportunity to re-do his room. It’s out with the elephants and in with the sports. Even though we made this a birthday gift, this can be a great Christmas gift if you have a kid who’s moving from one stage of childhood to another.
Hockey game
We all now know that my son is obsessed with hockey. Last year, his birthday was entirely hockey themed, and now he has started actually playing ice hockey as a mini mite. It just makes sense to gift him tickets to a hockey game this year. We are lucky in that we live fairly close to many hockey game opportunities. We have a Division I university nearby, we have an ECHL team within driving distance, and we also have an NHL team. My husband is in charge of this gift and hasn’t yet decided which level of hockey game to go with yet, but my son will enjoy any of them!
Hockey jersey
Over the last year or two, my son has worn his Pittsburgh Penguins hockey jersey literally everywhere. He even wore it to Christmas Eve last year (much to mom’s chagrin). Unfortunately, my son has had a growth spurt or two lately and now looks like a giant trying to fit in a baby’s hockey jersey when he wears his prized jersey. This is definitely the #1 priority gift for him this year.
Ball caps
Ball caps have been another obsession lately. He doesn’t leave the house without one. Similar to the jersey, though, many of his hats are getting to be too small for him. He put a cap from the local baseball team on the other day and said, “Mom, I need a new hat!” That lead me to have him try on several of his other ball caps, and they were pretty tight too. New hats for Christmas!
Transformers
If you ask my son and my nephew (who is in the same class as my son) what they want for Christmas, they will both tell you that they want Transformers. It must be the “it” gift for 4- and 5-year-old boys this year. I am totally uneducated on Transformers, but I landed on a set of 3 to start his foray into Transformers.
Found It!
My son does not sit still very often. When the weather is nice, we are most often found outside, cycling between all the sports. It gets a little challenging to satisfy my son’s need to move around and do when the weather isn’t so nice. I’m constantly looking for things to keep him busy and active when we are stuck inside. This year, I found an indoor scavenger hunt game called Found It! that will hopefully keep him occupied (and maybe can even be something his sister might be able to do too!).
Spooner board
Another gift that should keep my son occupied indoors is the Spooner board. It’s meant to be a training device for balance sports like skateboarding and snowboarding, but it also just looks like a lot of fun for a 5-year-old. It also comes in orange, my son’s favorite color, so it’s an immediate yes.
Soft frisbee
My 5-year-old is crazy athletic, which is a good thing given how obsessed he is with sports. We have most of the sports equipment at this point, so I was looking for something else that he might like that would give the sports vibe. I settled on a soft frisbee. I think he’s going to love going out in the yard and throwing it back and forth with us. I went with the soft one at this point to save my 2-year-old and my dog. I can see a hard frisbee smacking them in the eye and we’ve been in the emergency room with both of them recently, so I don’t want another excuse to return.
2-Year-Old Girl
My daughter is much harder. She hasn’t shown herself to be super into any one thing yet, other than the color purple. We are going to try some things this Christmas.
Tablet
For summer vacation this year, we drove to a city that was about 5 hours away from home. We have a rule in our house that tablets only come out when we travel, so this was a nice opportunity for my son to get some screen time. We didn’t think our then brand-new 2-year-old would be old enough for a tablet, so we had plenty of non-screen activities for her to do during the drive. What a mistake! She spent much of the car ride screaming about wanting her brother’s tablet.
Before we go on another trip, we have to get her a tablet of her own. Our next travel opportunity is in February, so Christmas is a great time to gift her a tablet. We have the Fire Kids tablet from Amazon and will go the same route again. Thank goodness it comes in purple!
Dollhouse
I think it’s time to upgrade my daughter’s dollhouse. For the last year and a half or so, she has loved playing with her Little People dollhouse. It was perfect for her for this time, but she’s starting to want more out of her dollhouse experience. The Little People set up just doesn’t give her the room she wants to move a ton of stuff around. I found a cute farmhouse dollhouse at Sam’s Club a few weeks ago that looks like a good size. It’s bigger than the Little People version, but it won’t take over my house.
Skye plush
I think every kid these days goes through a Paw Patrol stage. In this stage, they all pick one of the pups and become obsessed. My daughter doesn’t even watch the cartoon very often, but she is firmly in her Paw Patrol stage. And the pup she has set her sights on is Skye. She demands only the Skye pull-ups, will color only the Skye pages in the coloring book. You get the picture. She does not have a Skye plush, and I think she’s going to flip her lid when a 3D Skye enters her life. In a good way. A very good way.
Minnie Mouse gifts
In addition to Skye, my daughter also loves Minnie Mouse. She sleeps with three Minnie Mouse plushes and throws an almighty fit when her Minnie Mouse sweatshirt is in the wash. So, clearly, we need to get her some Minnie Mouse gifts for Christmas. Luckily, you can get basically anything with Minnie Mouse on it. I’ve settled on a set of magnetic dress-up dolls, a night light, and some adorable slippers that I found at TJ Maxx. She will be in Minnie Mouse heaven!
Sticker pads
It’s amazing how much kids love stickers. It almost doesn’t matter what is on the stickers or what the kids are doing with the stickers. They love them all. My daughter is no exception. She’s very into all things stickers. She loves the reusable sticker books, the seek and find sticker pads, and even just Dollar Tree stickers that she can stick in a notebook. I’ve been stockpiling Dollar Tree stickers for her stocking, and will also gift her this seek and find sticker pad this Christmas. I just need to watch her so stickers don’t end up on every surface in my house.
Family gift
We play outside a lot. And we have a ton of outdoor toys that are literally covering the perimeter of our garage. We have to introduce some organization, especially as the kids get older and can get what they want to play with by themselves. Enter the garage sports organizer. I’m weirdly excited about this. If you have a similar problem in your garage, I urge you to get one of these things too!
Other posts
Feeling Christmassy? Check out these posts:
I hope I’ve given you some inspiration for what to get your kids for Christmas this year. Please feel free to share what you’re getting your kids for Christmas this year in the comments or over on Instagram @sarainseason. We can use all the crowd-sourced help we can get!