Gifts and occasions

The gifts that survive past the following week are almost never the ones with a name printed on the outside. These guides cover the difference, occasion by occasion: birthdays, Christmas, and the harder problem of buying for grandparents, who have had sixty years to acquire every object they want and are usually short of only one thing.

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  Gifts

  Grandparents Day Gifts: What to Give, and When It Actually Is

  Grandparents Day gifts that get kept, the date most people get wrong, and what to give from a child too small to make anything themselves.

  24 min read

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  Gifts

  Gifts for Grandpa From the Grandkids, Beyond the Novelty Socks

  Gifts for grandpa from grandkids that actually get kept: why grandfather gifts go so much worse than grandmother ones, and the four kinds that last.

  21 min read

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  Gifts

  Gifts for Grandma From the Grandchildren, Including the One Who Has Everything

  Gifts for grandma from grandchildren that she keeps: why most personalized gifts miss, and what to give when she says she does not want anything.

  22 min read

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  Gifts

  Personalized Birthday Gifts for Kids: What Survives Past the Following Week

  Personalized birthday gifts for kids that get kept instead of shelved, how the four gift rule works, and what to give a child who has plenty.

  22 min read

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  Gifts

  Christmas Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything (Without Adding to the Pile)

  Christmas gifts for kids who have everything: how the four gift rule fixes the pile, and the presents that are still around next Christmas.

  23 min read

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  Gifts

  Mother's Day Gifts From a Toddler, When the Toddler Has No Money

  Mother's Day gifts from a small child with no money: what a two or three year old can give, what mothers want, and how to make it come from the child.

  23 min read

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  Gifts

  Father's Day Gifts From the Kids, Beyond the Mug and the Tie

  Father's Day gifts from kids that are not a mug: what a small child can really give, and the one thing fathers say they want and never ask for.

  20 min read

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  Gifts

  Big Sister and Big Brother Gifts: What to Give the Child Nobody Is Visiting

  A big sister gift, or a big brother one, for the day the baby arrives: why the timing matters more than the gift, what to bring and what to avoid.

  20 min read

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  Gifts

  Christening and Baptism Gifts: What Is Appropriate, and What Survives

  Christening gift ideas that get kept: how much to spend, whether money is acceptable, and why the traditional silver gift almost never gets used.

  22 min read

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  Gifts

  Kindergarten Graduation Gifts: What to Give a Five Year Old Who Just Finished

  A kindergarten graduation gift a five year old wants and parents keep, plus the honest answer for teachers buying twenty-five of something.

  23 min read

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  Gifts

  Disney Gifts for Grandma, From the Grandkids: What a Disney-Loving Grandmother Actually Keeps

  Disney gifts for grandma that she keeps: the four kinds that last, ideas from toddlers to teens, for a grandma who can't travel, and the dates.

  20 min read