I need to buy a birthday gift for a 2-year-old boy. I want something really unusual, costing between $15 and $20. It can cost even less, if it involves some (or a lot of) creativity on my part.
His parents have money, so can afford to buy him all the usual clothes, toys, games, etc.
A big furry hat that looks like his favorite animal.
At that age, my daughter liked to play with:
– big, chunky magnets (please note, to be on the safe side, I would only ever give a set of magnets that was specifically designed for this age group because the magnets are inside the toy and can’t fall off and be eaten)
– it’s a good age for toy foods, and they have ones like fruits and vegetables, and also funkier fun ones like sushi.
– picture books are an old standby, and if you have time, a creative thing might be to collect photos of him and use one of the internet services that makes books out of content you supply. It doesn’t even have to have any words, just pictures of him, and maybe mixed up with pictures of dinosaurs, trucks, planets, whatever. This is the age where most kids like photos of themselves and people they know. (I have no idea how much those cost, though). I would NOT, however, recommend the children’s book services where you pick a book and the company sticks the kid’s name into them – we received several as gifts, and they’re not done very well, and were duds as far as my kid’s interest went.
– my kid was just getting into basic dress up stuff, like pirate or doctor or firefighter, at 2 years old. I mean very basic, like a cape. This is also the kind of thing that I think starts to work really well at about 2.5 years, so this gift might be nice for the parents to have things that is kid is about to arc into, as opposed to already at peak interest.
– we had a fishing set like this one, and she LOVED it. Like, she wasn’t even any good at it, but it was literally her favorite thing and she wanted to sleep with it at night.
– a non-toy suggestion is for a beach/bath towel with a character that he likes – kids don’t need THAT many toys, and they like fun towels. Summer’s coming up, you always need more towels.
I don’t know if any of these are that unusual. Two is kind of a hard age for unusual gifts, unless you know the kid and the parents (and their parenting style) especially well. My daughter, for example, was not a “mouther” – she rarely put things in her mouth, and even though I tried not to directly hand her things she could choke on, I was pretty cool with letting her play with things that weren’t really toys, like a cheap pair of real binoculars (another one of her favorites). But it did have parts that, in theory, could break off, and a lot of kids would put tiny parts right in their mouths. Or non-toy things that have paint – can it chip off? I wouldn’t give those things as gifts, even though I gave them to my own kid.
It’s a good age for toys that are termed “pretend play” which is an entire category on Amazon, so you might even want to look at that just to see if it gives you any ideas – maybe combine some things for a creative gift, like play food and a kid’s chef hat.
My brother’s children are now 22 years old and 17 1/2 years old, but when they were about that age, I bought them a toy called Stomp Rocket. The packaging says “choking hazard” and for ages six and up. But when my brother’s kids were about that age, they did enjoy watching the rockets go flying up into the air. (They had wonderful smiles on their faces.)
Not in that price range but awesome: Magnatiles. Highest value as per hour used for my kids.
Duplos are great. Books are awesome.
Second for Magnatiles. My 2 year old and my 4 year old love those things.
Outside of that, it’s kind of a crap shoot. 2 year olds are kind of unpredictable in what they’ll like. For example, mine had his birthday about a month ago, and he got the same cartoon truck (“Blaze” from “Blaze and the Monster Machines”) in 3 different sizes- one large talking one from grandparents, one medium-sized one from the other grandparents, and one relatively small, unexciting $5 one from my wife and I in conjunction with the other smallish toys we got him.
Guess which one he LOVES? The smaller one. Our guess is because it’s actually scaled for kids his size.
My 4 year old is insane about the stomp rockets, FWIW, and the 2 year old loves chasing the rockets.
My boys have gotten a huge amount of mileage out of the wooden railway stuff- both the Thomas and Friends branded stuff and the more generic $3 engines from Wal-Mart and Target.
It’s not creative or original, but two is the perfect age for Thomas. Thomas can be a very creative toy, because the child can set up the tracks any way he wants. And you will always have a gifts idea, because you can always buy more Thomas stuff. My son is nine. From 2-4, he loved the wooden push sets, and he had a few take and carry sets for going on trips, going to the doctor, etc. He graduated to the Trackmaster sets around five, and then around 7 was really into the remote control sets. Now he likes to go to train shows, and asked for an electric Thomas set. By the time he’s in double digits, I suspect he will graduate to things like Lionel sets. He may become a real model train enthusiast.
He used to watch the videos and read the books. He set those aside a long time ago, but he builds some pretty complex stuff with his many Trackmaster sets put together, and he even built a few Rube Goldberg machines with trains, erector sets, hot wheels, and dominos, and marble runs.
You can start off with a basic train for about $7, or a starter set that makes a oval for about $25. For a little more, there’s a starter set that makes a figure 8.
Unless his parents don’t let him watch TV, he has probably already seen Thomas.
ETA: There’s also the option of buying generic track for cheap, and then buying a Thomas engine. The engines have faces that kids really respond to, and if he’s seen the show, he’ll be especially happy to have the real thing, but no sense in buying the official track. It’s all interchangeable.
Third, fourth whatever for magnatiles. Or, you can give a big packet of corn starch and instructions for making ooblek. Or my kids loved playing with water beads. You can get them in a range of colours. That plus a cat litter tray and some spoons and cups is hours of fun. Not recommended if the kid is still putting things in their mouth though (mostly over that by 2).
Or kinetic sand? I also have a chrysalis on my list as a gift, but 2 might be a little young for this.
(Sorry for all the Australian links, but I bet you can find the same thing in the US).
Sort of a longshot, but if you have access to a laser cutter/engraver, you can make a custom set of wood blocks. Blank blocks are cheap on eBay or wherever. Then, come up with a cool pattern. One side can be a picture of the family when arranged in a 4x5 rectangle. Another can spell out his name or other people. Others can be cool animals that he likes, etc. Go crazy. Once designed, you can etch the pattern right into the wood. Re-sand the outside to remove the scorch marks and you have a nice set of totally custom blocks.
One of those Scanimation board books, where it looks like an animal is moving. Rufus Butler Seder wrote a few. Gallop! features animals.
A Hohner Silver Star or similar harmonica, a real one not some kid’s toy. They have been my default gift for little kids for decades now. You only have to be able to breathe to get a sound out of one and they are hard to make sound awful. Which makes them better than nearly any other instrument you can give a kid. Without much care they last for ever.
Toddlers like (1.) Stuff sized for them, and (2.) “Grownup stuff” that they can use. A good fit for both categories is miniature drinking vessels. A four-ounce espresso mug is great for serving hot chocolate in for example. Or a small aperitif glass; note the relatively spill-proof heavy bottom- drunks and toddlers have approximately equal coordination.
Also, there are books you can order which are personalised to the kid - I got my daughter one of the ‘lost my name’ books where the story is all about the search for their name.
I like the idea of a photo book of pictures of the kid. I made one of these for my nieces when they were 2 and 4 and they love it. It just stays at my moms house and they look at it all the time.
I took about half of the photos from my phone and half from their parents’ accounts on Facebook. I printed them at Walgreens and slid them in to a traditional photo holder book. You could also have Walgreens print right in a book so it’s more durable.
I like that block puzzle idea that is pretty cool, especially since you are an artist.
The Take-and-Play series is pretty cool too- it’s all geared to be portable and relatively small. We’ve had awesome results taking the Sodor Lumberyard track setand a handful of engines/cars with us to restaurants and other places like waiting rooms, etc…
Some really big cardboard boxes.
Believe me, they’ll be well received.
I came in to say that whatever you get make sure you wrap it in a huge box because, regardless of what the child thinks of the present, he will love the box.
A 2-year-old girl? For that price range, I could possibly get you something in a Cambodian.
Yeah, if you can get hold of a dryer box or something similarly huge, they’ll LOVE that, especially if you cut a door and some windows in it.