Big Ticket Gifts for Kids who have everything …if you are stumped on what to buy a child on your list who seems to have it all, here are some great BIG gift ideas kids and the best age to buy them.
At every gift-giving occasion with my first child, I remember being stumped at what was a good gift idea for the next stage. The end result was a lot of wrong purchases that my son only played with once or twice. With every kid, I feel like I got a little better with not only thinking ahead for gift ideas, but also choosing one great “big ticket” item over a bunch of useless trinket gifts. So five kids (three boys and two girls) and 16 years later, here is my expert gift guide on big-ticket gift ideas for kids who have everything (and the best age to buy them). I hope this helps you make amazing gift purchases for the child on your list whether it is your son or daughter, niece or nephew or grandchild.
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Don’t forget you can PIN this to your gift ideas Pinterest board to refer to later!
I also have an entire page filled with gift ideas specific to ages! Click here for Gift Ideas By Age
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The Best Toys for 6-month-old to 1-year-olds
Toys and gear for baby can be a bit overwhelming…especially when you are a new parent! After five babies of my own, these are the two bigger baby purchases that I recommend. The best toys for one year olds have multiple uses, are entertaining and safe. These are the baby toys that lasted the longest (babies played with them for longer) and I was so glad I had them!
Activity mat This is the same activity mat we had and my kids just loved it! The star on the top is motion-activated…so when babies kick the sides it sings a new song and the lights blinked. This one works from quite small infants to older babies who can sit up and grab the toys. It is lightweight and easy to move from room-to-room.
Next up is this Activity Center. I picked this one in particular (we had it!) because the chair on the outside swivels around as they walk and you can take the chair OFF and just have the activity table when they are walking around. It is a great one! And it is really funny to watch them do laps when they get the hang of walking. Haha!
These Climb and Crawl Activity Mats are an amazing gift for a 6 month-1 year-old (and older!) Your crawling baby will have fun and be safe as they learn to maneuver. PLUS this can be used for many years to roll on and build forts with!
A Push and Pull Walker will be appealing to your baby when they are sitting up and when they start to pull-up, stand and walk! This has lots of built-in activities including moving beads, a shape sorter and a xylophone.
Your baby will LOVE this 5-in-1 activity mat/ball pit. This toy is super versatile, and can be used as an activity mat, a ball pit, a combo or just a floor mat. It has music, lights, detachable toys and includes balls! It is washable (bonus!) and can fold up into a small carrying case.
Baby nightlight, sound machine, two way monitor: While not a toy, this machine will provide soothing lights, white noise or lullabies and the ability for you to soothe from another room through an app!
Get other great gift ideas by clicking here 57 of the Best Baby Toys for Gifts for 2022
Best Big Ticket Toys for 1-year-old
Now your baby is mobile and ready to take on the world! Here are some bigger toys for kids ages 1-2 that will be used for years.
A Piklar Triangle is an amazing gift idea for a 1 or 2-year-old child. Not only can they be folded up compactly, but they also provide hours of activity and open-ended play. This should last your child until around 4 (at least!).
Toddler Climbing Gym: This is a little fancier version of a climbing toy, but looks amazing! It is sized perfectly for a 1-year-old and includes a slide and swing. If you have the space to put it inside, it would be such a great toy!
One year olds and two year olds will enjoy this slide and swingset combo. If you have the space you could have this inside for hours of up and down fun! Of course it can always be outside as well. A pint-sized swingset will make it more fun for littles!
We bought a train table when my oldest was 3. Every child after him has LOVED our Train/Activity Table starting around 1 1/2. They are perfect because kids can hold onto the side of the train table and push the little wooden trains around. This table can be used for legos, puzzles, activities or trains and has a storage drawer. Melissa & Doug have the best customer service, they are always a good bet to buy from!
Ball Pit and Tunnel: A 1-year-old will have a blast crawling and balling in this toy! It can last for years of play, be used inside and outside, and can fold up fairly compactly.
Cozy Coupe Ice Cream Truck: My littles LOVED driving around their own foot powered little car. This one is especially adorable with play ice cream cones they can hand out, and guess what? It plays ice cream truck music!? SO much fun!
Get more great ideas for 1-year-olds from my other gift posts:
15 Amazing Climbing Toys for 1 year old (and Toddlers!) for 2022
The Best Toys for 2 year olds
This corner play kitchen set is AMAZING! When my kids are around 18 months they will play a bit with a kitchen, but right around 2 years old is when they start to love pretending and especially love play kitchens. This is true for my boys and my girls! Gifts like this encourage open ended play which means more independant playing!
Little Tykes Bounce HouseThis was one of our all-time best toy buys. Santa brought this for our kids as a group Christmas present one year. We kept it as an inside toy (it squeezes right in our family room) and it has lasted for four years of super bounce fun. These and are seriously a great thing to have at home. Sometimes we add some plastic balls, but most of the time we just turn it on and the kids have tons of inside fun (and exercise). My kids start bouncing on this at 2 and my 10 year old still gets on it sometimes! It is a good size…big but not too big.
One of the best inventions ever, Water Tables provide HOURS of entertainment for my kids, and last for SO many years! SO MUCH FUN! And here is a mom tip…water tables work INDOORS in the winter! YES! When the winter blues hit particularly badly…I layer some beach towels on the floor of the kitchen and bring up the water table.
This Teeter Totter is durable, can hold up to 300 pounds and swivels 360 degrees. A two year old will get so much use out of a teeter totter over the years (especially if there are other siblings around!) .
Mini Quad Ride on Toy: A 2-year-old will love driving around his or her own vehicle! This one is especially cute and had an attached trailer for hauling things! It only goes 1.5 mph so you don’t have to worry about the speed with your little kid. (It also comes in two colors!).
Montessori Rocking Play Rainbow Toy: Not only is this colorful and made of gorgeous wood, this rocker toy is quite versatile! it can be flipped upside down and crawled over. You can throw a blanket on top and make a fort, or several friends can climb on and rock together! Such a fun toy for a 2-year-old (and older!)
Click here for more great gift ideas for 2-year-old boys and girls
The best toys for 3 year olds and 4 year olds
Our youngest has the Melissa and Doug Fresh Mart Grocery Stand and it is a dream! She loves the moving (crank) conveyor belt, the dinging scanner and working cash register. It is also has a credit card scanner, a refrigerated section, food labels and more. It does come with some food, but I would recommend grabbing the favorite condiments and grocery cans set to help fill up those shelves. Such a fun toy, I highly recommend it!
This ride on roller coaster track is an amazing big gift for kids who are age three and four! There are stairs along the middle of the track to walk up to the top on and then they ZOOM back down. This big ticket gift works inside or outside!
A mini trampoline was the big gift for my three youngest last year. We have a pretty big playroom and actually have this indoors. It has been tons of fun for my kids and gets jumped on at least daily. 3 and 4-year-olds will dig getting their wiggles out on this fun 60 inch trampoline, plus it has a basketball hoop attached! Ages 3 and four are great ages for pretend!
This Outdoor Playhouse has it all…realistic doorbell, play phone, and a kitchen sink, grill, table/counter space and seat. This would make an amazing gift for a three year old or a great gift for a four year old.
A Balance Bike makes a great gift for a three year old or four year old. Strider Brand are the OG for balance bikes. You can find them cheaper but these are durable and well made. They will last through several kids.
Three Wheeled Scooters are a great gift for three year olds and four year olds.This scooter can be adjusted so kids can sit and ride or stand like the big kids. Your 3 or 4 year old will totally dig their own BIG WHEEL bike. These are a classic toy that every kid needs, adjustable seat, giant wheels and just the right size for a 3 year old or 4 year old!
3 and four year olds LOVE to dig! This Big Dig Excavator Toy can be used for dirt, sand or even snow! There are two options, one with wheels and one that stays stationary.
Get more amazing gift ideas for 3 and 4-year-olds here
The Best Toys for 5-year-olds and the best toys for 6-year-olds
Pedal Go Cart– My six year old got one of these this year and it is FANTASTIC! She loves that she can steer and I love that she is getting exercise! There are different colors and styles (BATMAN!) available. I would say ages 3-7 could fit on these well.
A Deluxe Indoor Playground was another BIG Santa gift for our kids. We’ve had ours for four years and it is honestly used EVERY day at our house. I realize it is spendy, but it is worth every penny. We have our bar set up in our playroom doorway so we don’t have to move it, but it is really simple to move if needed. My kids mostly use the swing, but occasionally pull out the other attachments. I highly recommend this, especially if you live somewhere cold.
Around five or six years old is when a bicycle with training wheels makes a great gift for kids. If you plan on having more kids choosing a quality bike will save you money later (because this bike will last through several kiddos). Make sure to pick up a quality helmet!
My parents purchased Kindle Fire Devices for my kids a few Christmases ago. I wasn’t too excited about them then, but I RAVE about them now. Things I love about the Kindle Fire: 1) 2-year Replacement Guarantee-If it gets broken they will replace it no questions asked (this happened to us once). 2) Lots of parental control options…it would be hard for a kid to access bad things using their Fire. 3) Kindle FreeTime Unlimited free for one year…gives free access to books (really great ones, including picture books!), games and apps.4) My kids can watch their favorite shows on Amazon Prime. These are durable and great little devices. A Kindle Fire makes a great gift for a five year old or a six year old!
Tonibox Audio Player: I found this amazing gadget when I was looking for a story/music option for my youngest. This is SUCH an amazing gift for a 5 or 6 year old! It comes with figures that you place on top of the speaker, which then starts the stories and/or songs. It comes with kids’ favorite characters like Nemo, Lightning McQueen, Paw Patrol, Lion King and more! It also has headphones. I love that my daughter can start her own stories and music without any help.
Jumbo Construction Building Set: A building set that will hold your kids? And has a slide?! Ages 5 and up (with parental help) will have hours of fun building and playing on their own inventions.
The Best Toys for 7-year-olds and the best toys for 8-year-olds
An entry-level point and shoot camera makes a great gift for a 7-year-old or 8-year-old. Even if they don’t print a single picture, they will love capturing beautiful pictures with their very own camera.
A Y-Flickr Scooter looks crazy but is so much fun! It takes a little coordination so it is recommended for ages 7 and up, but my kids do fairly well on it around 6ish. It is powered by quickly pushing your legs back and forth horizontally and it spins in circles as you go. This is always a big hit for kids who haven’t seen one before and this newer version has light-up LED wheels.
Another amazing and fun toy for 7-year-olds is a Razor RipRider This is like the sitting variation of the Y Flicker. It has caster wheels so as you pedal it spins round and round. My bigger kids usually ride with a sibling standing on the back. Way fun!
The Razor Crazy Cart Go Cart would be an epic big ticket gift for a 7 or 8 year old. These can be set to a low or high speed setting. The low speed goes a max speed of 2.5 mph. The high speed goes a max speed of 8 mph.
My kids LOVE slip-n-slides. We have the cheaper version when they are younger, but if you are looking for a great upgrade this is an AWESOME gift idea for a 7-year-old or 8-year-old! This is 31’ long and 5′ wide and is much more durable than the cheap versions.
Kids are playing on gaming systems a lot younger than 7-8 years old, but in my experience with my five kids, this is the age where their hand/eye coordination and their attention level is at an optimal level for video games. The Nintendo Switch is a great system that kids love! This set includes Super Smash Bros which is one of my boys’ favorite games.
Check out even more gift ideas for 7 year olds in these posts
Best Toys for 9 year olds and 10 year olds
A fancier camera is a great gift for 9 year olds and 10 year olds. This carries a much higher price tag than the camera above, but it LOOKS like a grown-up camera and is a wonderful gift for a kid interested in photography
Rollerblades You can start kids earlier on rollerblades, but around 9 years old they are able to pick it up fairly quickly. Definitely purchase a helmet and pads!
If you have a kid who loves to read, a Kindle e-reader is a great gift idea…it also saves us a TON of money. My kids read a TON and amazingly fast…and free ebooks borrowed from the library are absolutely the best. It takes just a few minutes to look up and send a book directly to the Kindle. This is Kindle for Kids version, that comes with a cover and a year of Amazon Kids which includes lots of great books. Once you have a kid who can read chapter books well, this is a GREAT gift!
Starter Telescope: The starry sky is as thrilling for big kids as it is for adults! Help your 9 and 10 year old explore space with a great telescope! (You can see other star gazing gift ideas on my Astronomy Gift Basket Post!
Ninja Warrior Ropes Obstacle Course: I love gifts that help my kids stay active! If you have two trees relatively close at your house, this obstacle course using slack lines would be so much fun!
Action Video Camera This video camera is durable, and can go underwater! It also comes with a wireless remote control. Your 9 and 10 year old kids will have lots of fun making their own action movies.
Get more amazing gifts ideas here:
Best Gifts for 11 year olds or 12 year olds
The end of elementary school/beginning of middle school is a great time to get kids an entry level laptop. This Lenovo Chromebook is affordable and would make a great gift for an 11 year old or 12 year old. It doesn’t have a ton of memory or speed (so isn’t good for video gaming) but it would work great for school work and web browsing. Your 11 or 12 year old will love the touch screen and how the computer can convert to a tablet with a simple twist of the screen.
A Slackline is a great toy for 11 year old or 12 year old. Hook these up in between two trees and kids can have tons of fun (and strengthen their core) balancing on what is essentially a tightrope. If you don’t have good trees at your house, I’ve seen kids using these at parks!
This big ticket gift for kids who have everything works for all kids, not just basketball players. A Basketball Arcade Game is a great gift for an 11-year-old. We have this arcade game and I love that it gives my kids something fun and physical to do when they have buddies over. A super fun gift for your kids, tweens and teens!
Mini Arcade Game: I love to give gifts that will help my kids have fun with friends. This “Counter Cade” arcade game can go on top of a desk or in a game room! It has four different arcade games built-in.
Hoverboard with LED Lights and Bluetooth Speakers! Big kids will be ecstatic to get their own hoverboard! This comes in lots of colors and kids will love zooming around to music.
Electric Skateboard: This skateboard is perfect for beginners to electric skateboards, it has a max speed of 12.4 mph. Make sure they have a quality helmet!
Toybox 3d Printer Using an app, 11 and 12 year olds can print their own toys! This 3D printer includes many colors of filaments and would be such a great big ticket gift for older kids.
Mini Projector: Many 11 and 12-year-olds have their own phones that they can use to project. They can also project video games to play with their friends! This would be a fun gift for this age to have movie parties or gaming parties with their friends.
Get more Gift Ideas from these posts:
Do you still need more great toys and gift ideas? Check out these other posts!
Happy Gifting!
Steph
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Lorin
Monday 23rd of March 2020
Loving this and all your lists! Very creative yet useful as you stated. Thank you.
Melinda
Friday 20th of December 2019
You list is fab but my kids (2 and 4) have 14 things on this list already and the rest are to old for them... kill me!!! Struggling mama!!