What are some good gifts for kids ages 5-7, 8-12 and 15-17?

C

Every year, my husband and I, donate money to the couple of food pantry's and shelters that are in our city. This year, two of the more well known ones asked if instead of money we could buy gifts. They gave us age groups of 5-7, 8-12 and 15-17. We were also given a list of what the toys should / shouldn't be. Which was: anything that could be a unisex toy would be best, no small parts, no games or movies rated higher than E or PG and nothing where the parents would have to spend money in the future to keep going (like a pay-as-you-go cell phone). My children are still really young [still playing with the preschool toys], and I don't have any nieces or nephews who are in any of the age groups [well, I have one - but she's convinced that every kid no matter what age wants an iPod, so she's not much help]. Any suggestions? I'm sort of at a loss, and we wanted to have this done by this weekend. Thank you for any suggestions!

Answer
all ages:

sports stuff such as soccer balls, jump ropes, basketballs, mini skateboards, skates, scooters [they sell for cheap now]


ages 8-12:
books
card games
basketball stuff
baseball, baseball bat and glove
toy cars, trains
plush animals
floam
giant kickball
moonshoes
carebears
cartoon stuff


ages 5-7:

sports stuff
books
stuffed animals
magic kit
spongebob characters
fairly odd parents toys
magic drawing board
giant ball
puzzles
card games
trains
guess who? game
furreal friends puppies
things to play catch



ages 15-17:

books
sports stuff
video games
movies
art sets
clothing
board games
magazines
cd's and boombox

What are some good gifts for kids ages 5-7, 8-12 and 15-17?

C

Every year, my husband and I, donate money to the couple of food pantry's and shelters that are in our city. This year, two of the more well known ones asked if instead of money we could buy gifts. They gave us age groups of 5-7, 8-12 and 15-17. We were also given a list of what the toys should / shouldn't be. Which was: anything that could be a unisex toy would be best, no small parts, no games or movies rated higher than E or PG and nothing where the parents would have to spend money in the future to keep going (like a pay-as-you-go cell phone). My children are still really young [still playing with the preschool toys], and I don't have any nieces or nephews who are in any of the age groups [well, I have one - but she's convinced that every kid no matter what age wants an iPod, so she's not much help]. Any suggestions? I'm sort of at a loss, and we wanted to have this done by this weekend. I did ask this before, but got limited suggestions (it was helpful! but most were turned down by the shelter) Thank you for any suggestions!

Answer
f you're looking for movies, I suggest pixar films. Wall-E and Up! are really good. And those can be for any of those ages, but especially the first two groups. I think giant coloring books and a big box of crayons is good for the youngest group. Art sets, like jewelry-making sets (although they have small parts and aren't unisex) can be good for the middle age group. For 15-17 I think books could be good, but as to which ones you have to use your own judgment. Oh, and Apples to Apples is a board game even a 17-year-old would enjoy (I started playing when I was 14 and I'm almost 20 now and still love it). They offer an Apples to Apples junior edition that's pretty good, too. Balderdash is another good board game.

I also suggest browsing arts and crafts stores and actually going to a toy store. It's not that difficult to see what a kid might like playing with and which ones could be unisex, but there are so many new toys that weren't around when I was little that I don't know what's out.

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