Choosing good gifts for the kids in your life

It’s that time of year when we rush around (or click around!) buying gifts for the children in our lives. In this edited extract from A Godparent’s Handbook, Alice Warren offers some great advice for choosing gifts for our godchildren, which could be just as applicable for buying gifts for our nieces, nephews, cousins etc.

Why give gifts?

Giving presents for occasions like birthdays and Christmas is a great way to connect with and show your interest in your godchild, as well as care for their spiritual growth through the gifts you choose.

Presents show that you care for your godchild in a really concrete way. They show you are interested in what they are interested in, whether you do that by buying a toy from their favourite show, finding a great book for a bookworm or chipping in for music lessons for a budding musician.

If you’re not sure what your godchild is interested in, ask them or their parents! Speaking from experience, it is so lovely when someone asks what your child would like or need. It saves everyone from items that go unused or get broken quite soon by your energetic toddler.

Remember that presents don’t need to be a financial burden. In my little family we try to buy each other second-hand items for Christmas, as part of our shift away from mindless consumerism while still enjoying giving gifts. Online marketplaces like Facebook, Gumtree and eBay definitely makes this easier for lots of kids’ toys! It might be good to flag that you’re doing this with your godchild’s parents, but I find most people are just thankful for thoughtful gifts as opposed to upset that there isn’t more plastic packaging attached to it.

Encourage their faith

Gifts can communicate your care for your godchild’s spiritual growth and support of their parents as they seek to encourage their faith. You can find board books that retell Bible stories well, give Colin Buchanan concert tickets (and maybe even go too!), get a new picture Bible they haven’t read before, buy their first full-text Bible, help them find devotional resources that encourage them to grow in Bible reading and prayer—the options here are endless! However, I think it’s important to give a mix of spiritual and personal interest presents over the years, so you communicate you care about who your godchild is and not just how they’re going spiritually.

Some examples of gifts that may engage your godchild in a way that points them to life with Christ are Christian biographies (for younger children I recommend The Church History ABCs, the Do Great Things for God series, Everyone a Child Should Know, and Game Changers, World Shakers and Real-Life Superheroes; for teenagers Bonhoeffer Student Edition by Eric Metaxas and Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton), art with Christian themes or Bible verses that can decorate their room or belongings, or jewellery with Christian symbols or that act as gospel message aids.

Show you know and care for them

Presents that show you know about and care for your godchild in their own right are wonderful. The following questions will help you not only choose a good gift for your godchild but also to know and love them more.    

These are also important questions to revisit in the years to come, as your godchild’s interests will change over time! Don’t be like the relative of someone I know, who continued to buy her Winnie-the-Pooh gifts well into her upper primary years. By that point they were no longer wanted and were, quite frankly, embarrassing to her. Annually update your list of things your godchild is interested in now, not what they used to like, with the help of their parents.

1. Does your godchild have any hobbies or interests?

•    Creating/building: Get them a new Lego kit, find a STEM kit for kids (there’s plenty of amazing projects, like making a working clock, that come as a kit online).
•    Gaming: You could get an online voucher so they can choose a new game to download, which you could watch them play when you see them.
•    Reading: Go to a bookstore or second-hand shop with them so they can choose a book and tell you what they like about it.
•    Gardening: Find them some seeds that are easy to grow for beginners, or pass on cuttings from your own garden with directions about how best to encourage their flourishing.
•    Baking: Get them some new measuring cups, or pass on a baking tray that you’ve loved to use.
•    Environmental conservation: You could buy an older godchild a reusable cup to cut down on plastic waste, or find a second-hand gift to give with a note that you chose a second-hand item intentionally to reduce waste.

2. What kinds of activities do they generally like?

•    Physical: Buy a pass to a trampoline park for them and a friend, or get a skipping rope so they can practise tricks in their yard.
•    Music: Take them to listen to the genre of music they like at a live performance, or buy them a ticket for themselves/a friend. You could chip in with their parents for some of their music lessons.
•    Craft/art: Find out what type of craft they’re doing lately and buy or source some second-hand materials to help contribute to it, e.g. wool for French knitting, some plates to break up for mosaics, watercolour pencils.

3. Would they like money or a gift voucher?

If it’s within your means to give money or a gift voucher, then that can be a great gift! Your godchild may love this option, as they might have a larger item they’re saving up to buy or prefer to pick out their own gift. It may also be easier than some other ideas to do if their family lives far away from you.

However, it’s also worth pausing to consider if it just communicates that you can’t be bothered going and thinking about what to buy them! It may be the case that asking the parents or godchild some of the above questions helps you to choose a gift that suits them instead of just giving money. It’s worth thinking about this option, but don’t just assume it’s a good one.

I hope that’s given you some inspiration to go out and choose just the right gifts for the children in your life—gifts that encourage their faith and show that you know and care for them. But gifts are only one way to grow your relationship with your godchild. You can read about the other important aspects of this special relationship in my book A Godparent’s Handbook.
---
Alice Warren is the author of A Godparent’s Handbook: Nurturing Your Godchild’s Faith for Life. She is also a children's minister and mum of three, living and working in the inner west of Sydney, Australia. Alice has an undergraduate degree in Science, a Master of Teaching (Primary), and is a graduate of Sydney Missionary & Bible College.
 

For more articles from Growing Faith, subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter.
To hear about the latest books and resources from Youthworks Media, subscribe here.