Every year, it’s our joy to put together our guide to the best gifts for kids by age, from one-year-olds to those picky tweens and teens. To be sure, this is a (long, long) labor of love! Christina and I spend literally months combing the corners of the web to create truly thoughtful, creative gifts for kids, from to toys and clothes to books, sports gear, experience gifts, even charitable gift ideas.

While it’s an amazing gift guide to bookmark for birthdays, we’re pretty happy to update it in time for holiday shopping.

Click over and you’ll find lots of creative gift ideas for kids from indie brands and small businesses (that’s where our hearts are of course) and you’ll also find plenty of gift ideas for kids from the big sites and department stores, with gifts to suit any budget at all.

Oh here’s something you won’t find too many other places: There’s nothing sponsored in our gift guide at all. Just the stuff we really, truly love and feel good about recommending.

The best gifts for kids by age: 2023 | cool mom picks
Above: Baghera ride-on toys, Miniland dolls, Whitefang skateboards, Converse lugged platform Chucks

The best gifts for kids by age in 2023
The coolest first birthday gifts
The coolest birthday gifts for 2-year-olds
The coolest birthday gifts for 3-year-olds
The coolest birthday gifts for 4-year-olds
The coolest birthday gifts for 5-year-olds
The coolest birthday gifts for 6-year-olds
The coolest birthday gifts for 7-year-olds
The coolest birthday gifts for 8-year-olds
The coolest birthday gifts for tweens and big kids 9-12
The coolest birthday gifts for teens 

Our guide to the best gifts for kids does contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission on some purchases at no additional expense to you, and that helps support our own independent business. So, thank you.

Happy shopping! – Liz + Christina