1. Gifts
  2. Gifts for babies and kids

The 30 Best Gifts for Families

By Samantha Schoech
Updated
A selection of the best gifts for families, including a family board games, a cheese making kit, and more.
Photo: Michael Murtaugh

Whether your family is the nuclear unit you come home to every night, the far-flung loved ones you see only a few times a year, or a supportive chosen group, the right gift can spark fun and foster chances to connect. Child development and behavior specialist Betsy Brown Braun said the best gifts are “memory makers,” items that are a delight to open and that act as a catalyst for spending more time together. To help you create meaningful rituals for many years to come, we’ve found great gifts for every family, however you define it.

This fast-paced, family-friendly card game kick-starts raucous fun. The Party Edition adds six new decks and hundreds of categories, plus customizable blank cards.

Buying Options

For families that have nearly memorized the Anomia categories—or newcomers to the fast-paced word-recall game—the party version includes six fresh decks and blank cards for DIY clues, like “places we’ve vacationed” or “grandmas’ favorite TV shows.” One of our perennial favorite games, Anomia has intense energy, a short learning curve, and an all-ages appeal.

Requiring strategy and dexterity, this Swedish yard game involves tossing wooden dowels at larger blocks. It’s simple, satisfying, and terrific for groups.

Buying Options

Yes, this ancient outdoor game is about throwing things at other things—blocks of wood in this case—but it requires more than just strength and aim. The best players also use strategy to get ahead of opponents. The rubberwood set comes in a sturdy canvas bag, so it’s easy to take to the park, beach, or nearest frozen pond.

A personalized and handcrafted Hearts Four-Across Game, with blue and cream colored chips.
Photo: Uncommon Goods

This personalized, endlessly customizable four-in-a-row game is handcrafted in North Carolina.

A husband and wife duo in North Carolina handcraft classic games as wooden heirlooms, and this personalized twist on Connect 4 is one of our favorites. Before you add to cart, you can customize up to four lines on the board—with first names, last names, family in-jokes, or meaningful dates. Then pick the colors of your chips and board; the resulting easel ships within a week of placing your order. It’s a simple game for all ages and handsome enough to stay assembled even once all the chips have dropped.

The open-top L.L.Bean Boat and Tote
Photo: Sarah Kobos

This timeless structured bag is made from durable, long-lasting canvas, and it’s available in multiple colors, sizes, and handle lengths.

Staff writer Samantha Schoech still uses the extra-large monogrammed version of this indestructible canvas tote that she received when her now 17-year-old twins were babies. It has been with them to the park, the beach, camping, on overnights, picnics, and road trips. It’s been through the washer and dryer, and although it is far from pristine, it’s still in heavy rotation. It’s truly the gift that keeps on giving. For about $8 you can have your tote personalized; for another $10 you can get one with a zipper closure.

A glowing, orange GlowCity Light Up LED Soccer Ball.
Photo: GlowCity

This LED-lit soccer ball makes it easy to play in the dark.

Buying Options

We first lauded this light-up soccer ball as an ideal gift for an eight-year-old, but we’re confident it’s fun for strikers older and younger, too. The regulation-size LED ball is powered for up to 30 hours from six LR44 watch batteries—and that illumination is especially useful for dusky autumn games when the sun sets earlier or for long, late summer evenings. The ball turns on with a kick or a bounce and turns off automatically when play is over.

A person pulling a Shappell Jet Sled loaded with logs in a snowy setting.
Photo: Shappell

The Jet Sled is big, boxy, and capable of holding a lot of people. It’s not very fast, but it’s a load of fun for families or groups of friends.

This big, oblong sled is meant for hauling ice-fishing gear or schlepping snow-camping stuff through the backcountry, but we picked it as one of our best sleds because it fits an adult and up to four kids, and its bulky shape ensures it doesn’t go careening out of control. Anyone who’s ever gotten a fat lip sledding or snapped a toboggan will appreciate the safer family fun.

A loaf of bread in a silicone Lékué Bread Maker.
Photo: Michael Hession

This silicone contraption allows bakers to measure, mix, rise, and bake bread in a single container.

Buying Options

Whether your loved ones are aspiring contestants of Junior Bake Off or dedicated bingers of The Great British Bake Off, this ingenious silicone vessel from Lékué yields a first-rate loaf of bread, every time. What’s more, because the whole process—mixing, rising, baking—happens in this single bowl, you don’t create a giant mess. Usually, we recommend a Dutch oven for making bread, but for the price, size, and weight, this is an excellent option for family kitchens. The included recipe book and its European conversions are a bit confounding, but we found Jim Lahey’s no-knead recipe worked just fine.

A person holds a baby in matching pajamas.
Photo: Hanna Andersson

Family can mix and match with these playful, colorful pajama sets available in unisex and various sizes.

Are matching pajamas a little corny? Absolutely. But you can’t deny that lounging about in matching pajamas is excellent for photo ops and morale. Hanna Andersson pajamas aren’t cheap, but they are some of our favorites from testing, year after year. The various cuts and styles—slim long johns, roomy nightgowns, footies for babies, button-ups—are constructed either from soft and durable cotton knit or flannel. Give a holiday-themed pair, or go with something evergreen, like stripes. Supervising editor Hannah Morrill said that her 6-year-old daughter was so delighted with their family’s holiday plaid set that they all wore them through April. And she shared that even after years of being washed and worn, they’ve held up fine, with no pilling, stretching, or discoloration. And they’ve been passed along to her toddler son now, too.

From the makers of Exploding Kittens comes this matching card game that involves chucking (plush) burritos. Suitable for anyone over about age 7.

Buying Options

Part card game, part low-stakes dodgeball tournament, Throw Throw Burrito is a quirky hybrid that our adult and child testers all love. The goal is to swap cards until one of two things happen: Cards match, or someone plays a burrito card. Of course, that’s the best outcome: The loaded tortilla bundles prompt duels, aka an all-out battle in which players pummel one another with squishy burrito toys. For rowdy, energetic families, the game is a slam dunk, and it’s a great way to work up an appetite for the real thing.

Four food face plates decorated with food.
Photo: Uncommon Goods

Encourage your family to play with their food with this silly set of ceramic plates.

You don’t need to be under 4 feet tall to get a real kick out of these face plates, which let creative people make 3D food portraits, fry by fry. Give one plate, and family members can trade off nights of artistry. Or you could nab each of the four Mr. and Miss Food designs. Since the plates are ceramic, they’re best for recipients who have graduated from the butterfingers stage. Buttered noodles, however, make fetching curls, and once the strands are devoured, the dishwasher-safe plates clean up nicely.

Two kids playing on a Nugget sofa.
Photo: Nugget

This rugged modular couch comes in 18 colors and patterns and adapts to a child’s mobility, from baby-crawling through teenage-lounging.

Editor Signe Brewster invested in this adaptable couch when her daughter was 11 months old, and she says it’s been indispensable through the crawling, cruising, climbing, and body-slamming-Mom-and-Dad phases. The couch is cleverly constructed from four foam pieces—two foldable rectangles and two triangles. And in the hands of an older child, it becomes a fort, a pirate ship, and a throne. As a bonus for the adults in the family, the microsuede covers can be stripped off and washed, and when the couch is laid out, it’s actually big enough for grown-up naps. As Signe will tell you from experience, though, she doesn’t recommend going in for a full night’s rest.

The contents of the Cultures for Health Mozzarella and Ricotta Cheese Making Kit, one of our best gifts for families.
Photo: Cultures for Health

Just add milk to this simple cheese-making kit to produce ricotta or mozzarella that’s tasty enough but mostly fun.

Cultures for Health’s Mozzarella and Ricotta Cheese Making Kit comes with salt, citric acid, rennet tablets, cheesecloth, a thermometer, and fairly easy-to-follow instructions. All you need to add is good milk. You’ll probably mess up the first time you make mozzarella, but failing together is its own kind of fun. And if you do wind up with a clumpy mess, you can almost always salvage your work by claiming you meant to make ricotta.

The Google Nest Hub Max, one of our best gifts for families, with the screen showing the weather and traffic reports.
Photo: Rozette Rago

This smart display will appeal to cooks in the kitchen and Google owners who want access to a screen via Google Assistant, and it’s well integrated with Google Calendar and Photos.

For those who already use Alexa or are new to Amazon devices, this smart screen offers excellent sound, a crisp screen, access to video services, convenient smart-home control, and more.

Buying Options

For some people, it’s not always simple to download an app, join a group chat, or answer a video call. Smart displays like the Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) and the Google Nest Hub Max can help streamline the process somewhat. With easy-to-use remote setup (for loved ones who may be less comfortable with electronics), these smart displays allow for quick and intuitive video calling with multiple family members. Of course, these smart displays can also do a whole lot more, such as manage your calendars, read out recipe instructions, play the radio, and control smart devices in your home.

Our pick for best portable mini projector, the Xgimi MoGo 2.
Photo: Michael Hession

This easy-to-set-up portable mini projector is terrific for everyday use, and it offers above average sound and good image quality. It lacks a built-in battery, but you can run it off a USB-C power bank.

Buying Options

$400 $250 from Amazon

You save $150 (38%)

Most projectors are over $1,000. And though the portable Xgimi MoGo 2 isn’t cheap, it has great value. At just 2.4 pounds, the MoGo 2 is about the size of three paperbacks sitting together on a bookshelf. And its internal speaker system provides a decently balanced, clear sound. The projector doesn’t have an internal battery, but it can be plugged into an external USB power bank for off-grid family film fests. To take your home-theater experience to the next level, we also have recommendations for projector screens.

A Gemmy Airblown Inflatable Deluxe Movie Screen set up in a yard next to a swimming pool.
Photo: Gemmy

This screen inflates itself in seconds for easy setup and delivers solid picture quality. Drawbacks include fan noise and a less-taut screen surface.

Few family affairs are more enjoyable than an outdoor movie night. We recommend this blow-up screen for that purpose because it inflates easily when you plug it in (like a bouncy castle), and it’s so easy to store or transport when it’s deflated. The screen is pleasingly large (144 inches diagonally) but the whole thing is sensitive to wind and must be staked down to keep from blowing away. Even a small breeze will shake the screen, but unless spectators are serious cinephiles, the less than pristine viewing shouldn’t interfere with the fun.

The Aura Carver, our pick for best digital photo frame.
Photo: Michael Murtaugh

It’s easy to set up, instantly share, and show off photos using this digital frame, which has a vivid display and pleasing, minimalist design.

A digital frame like the Aura Carver, our top pick, lets you easily and instantly share your favorite photos with family members anywhere in the world. The Aura Carver is easy to set up and operate, even if some of your relatives aren’t tech-savvy. To upload photos, just download the app, pair the phone to the frame, and connect to a Wi-Fi network. This digital frame also has a gift option that allows you to preload it with images for the recipient using the free and easy-to-navigate Aura app.

A silly romp of a card game that’s just edgy enough to interest easily distractible patrons.

Buying Options

Exploding Kittens, a card game that’s kind of a cross between Apples to Apples and Russian roulette, treads lightly between being fun for the family and just short of inappropriate. Pick up an “exploding kitten” card from the deck and you’re out—unless you have a “defuse” card (such as catnip or a laser pointer), which will keep your kitten safe from harm. It’s a silly romp, great for kids between the ages of 8 and 14. In short, Exploding Kittens is the perfect game to fill the little moments before and after meals and other family traditions.

This digital podcast service records interviews with families, couples, and friends, delivering professional-sounding, timeless episodes.

Buying Options

When loved ones are far away, it can be soothing to hear their voices. Artifact is a self-described personal podcast service that interviews your family members about a topic and edits their stories into a cohesive episode. For instance, an Artifact editor could interview a grandparent to save a favorite memory for young grandchildren. Or it could edit together your parents’ love story from separate interviews (or interview them together). It’s up to you, depending on what you find meaningful. For the interview, you or your loved one needs a phone or a computer that accepts calls. The cost of the service varies; the price above includes one podcast episode, with one interview and up to two guests.

The cards for the game Codenames, one of our best gifts for families, arrayed in a grid on a table.
Photo: Michael Hession

This thrilling wordplay game is interactive and fun for families large or small.

Buying Options

Codenames is among the best board games we’ve found for groups of adults (with or without young children). It’s an interactive word-guessing game played in teams, so you can pair parents with kids of different abilities (to introduce younger family members to new vocabulary words). This game is also easy to learn, so your group can spend less time reviewing the rules and more time actually playing. Signe said it’s a perfect cross-generation game—just as entertaining for grandparents as it is for kids (it’s rated for ages 14 and up, but even 10-year-olds will enjoy it).

Hire a celebrity or sorta-celebrity from the worlds of music, film, TV, comedy, sports, or business to record a personalized video message.

Buying Options

If your loved ones could use a laugh, give them a video from Cameo, the platform that sends personalized messages from celebs and celebs-adjacent. Get their favorite B- or C-list star (remember the guy who played Flavio on The Sopranos?) to record them a greeting for about $50 to $100. Or you could splurge on heartfelt words from country singer LeAnn Rimes (about $333) or cheery well-wishes from Lance Bass (about $299). Many Wirecutter staffers have received Cameos ranging from meaningful to absurd. They’re always a hit.

The app-enabled telescope, the An app-enabled option: Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 80AZ, shown outside.
Photo: Signe Brewster

This inexpensive telescope integrates smartphone app connectivity in a clever way, opening up the skies for beginners. It’s best for viewing celestial objects located closer to Earth.

Buying Options

Few things in life are as awe-inspiring for kids or adults as peering up at the night sky, and a good telescope can make that experience even more powerful. For beginner astronomers, we recommend the Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 80AZ, which is fast, cheap, and easy to operate via the Celestron StarSense Explorer app. The telescope isn’t computerized, and instead directs you to the night’s most notable stars and planets within the app—a fun, interactive benefit for groups viewing together. Because of its relatively small aperture, the Celestron Starsense can’t reveal deep space, but closer objects, like our solar system’s planets and moon, are well within reach.

An acrylic bird feeder with colorful birds and birdseed shot against a green backdrop.
Photo: Marki Williams

Strong suction cups and a roomy acrylic structure readily accommodate multiple avian visitors. It’s squirrel-proof, and it can get messy, but it’s easy to clean.

Buying Options

You’re buying the birds dinner, but you get the show. With strong suction cups, the Jarkyfine Window Bird Feeder mounts to the outside of a window, giving family members a close-up view of any hungry bird who stops by for a snack. It provides hours of entertainment for kids—and wouldn’t you rather have them glued to this real-life nature show than to the TV? It’s surprisingly enjoyable for cats and adults, too. Add a bag of birdseed, and you have an inexpensive gift that nearly anyone will enjoy.

A person with a blanket on their lap sits in front of a flaming stainless Solo Stove, one of our best gifts for families.
Photo: Solo Stove

No fire pit is completely smoke free. But with its signature airflow system, this stainless steel model comes pretty darn close.

Sitting together around a fire is one of life’s simple pleasures. The Solo Stove Bonfire 2.0 is a great device for one of those nights. It’s easy to light, thanks to a base plate that draws oxygen directly up to the embers, so the person tasked with lighting the fire can join in the revelry sooner, rather than fussing over sparks or using noxious fire starters. That same vented plate also dispels spent ash and helps avoid messes. Plus, the Bonfire 2.0’s double-wall structure intensifies the heat of the fire, so it’s more efficient and far less smoky—and hopefully this encourages your family to stay out a while longer.

A black, three tiered IKEA Råskog Utility Cart, one of our best gifts for families, loaded with craft supplies.
Photo: IKEA

This cart’s smooth-rolling wheels and size make it ideal for closet, bathroom, playroom or art-supply storage.

Buying Options

Don’t overthink it! Child development and behavior specialist Betsy Brown Braun reminded us that some family gifts can simply be a collection of things you may already have around your house. She recommends making a creation station, which is a basket full of stationery supplies, hole punches, markers, and ribbon. “[Kids] love stationery,” Brown Braun said. “Their store of choice is not Toys “R” Us, it’s Staples.” Many Wirecutter staffers love using IKEA’s Råskog cart to keep supplies organized. (And we particularly like the look of this art station setup from @nadiatayob on Instagram.) A gift like this also provides an opportunity to teach kids about responsibility. Brown Braun suggested that they be the ones in charge of maintaining the creation station—putting the tops back on pens and packing up the supplies when playtime is over.

A stack of brightly colored Sushi Go playing cards, one of our best gifts for families.
Photo: Michael Hession

This fast-paced card game is simple enough for kids to master yet tricky enough for adults to enjoy.

Buying Options

Easy to learn but hard to master, this fast-paced, two- to five-person card game is one of our favorites for kids and adults to enjoy, even together. It involves a pass-and-play dynamic, which means you need to keep track of your own cards as well as those of opponents. This makes the game maddeningly fun. Each card features adorable sushi art. And if you find yourself growing tired of the cards or you have more than five people you want to play with, the expanded-deck Sushi Go Party accommodates up to eight players.

A yellow and white Presto Poplite popcorn maker, one of our best gifts for families, shown with a full bowl of popcorn.
Photo: Michael Murtaugh

This is the best machine for making a big quantity of popcorn fast, with minimal supervision or cleanup. But the resulting popcorn is less crunchy, and the device takes up kitchen space.

The easiest way to make popcorn from scratch for a crowd is with an air popper like this Presto PopLite. Unlike the stovetop methods that tether the cook to the kitchen or the microwave options that produce small quantities, the Presto PopLite pops up a big bowl in less than three minutes. Package it alongside a bag of kernels and some seasoning, and the snacking portion of movie night is settled. Agreeing on something to watch, well, that’s their business.

This monthly book box has enough genre- and age-specific subscription options to please most readers. The picks tend to be titles you might not land on without guidance.

For literary surprises appropriate for everyone in your family, The Book Drop offers monthly book deliveries for adult, YA, or middle-school-age reads, plus genre-specific and large-print options. The picks are chosen by the staff at Delaware’s Bethany Beach Books, with help from booksellers, publisher reps, book-club members, and an in-store curator. And they usually include titles from indie publishers rather than the big names that tend to dominate the best seller lists. Plus, to ensure diversity among the titles chosen, The Book Drop has announced it will include more diverse voices, with a focus on Black, brown, and LGBTQIA+ authors.

A Eufy RoboVac 11S Max robot vacuum, next to its remote control.
Photo: Michael Murtaugh

This quiet robot vacuum has a large bin and excellent cleaning power, especially along baseboards. It can be scheduled to clean, but it can’t be controlled with an app.

Buying Options

Vacuuming is often the most annoying chore in the house (loud! strenuous! disruptive!), yet it’s also one of the most needed (kids!). A robot vacuum that can adeptly zip around the home without knocking into furniture is a big help. We recommend the Eufy RoboVac 11S Max as our budget pick because its three cleaning modes suck up debris better than most. It also comes with a battery-powered remote control, which lets you schedule cleaning cycles and direct the vac to certain spots. Like a charming new pet that follows orders, this little gizmo will delight the entire family as it performs its task.

Close-up of some pieces of a customized Your Hometown Puzzle.
Photo: Map Marketing

Enter any address and this company will create a 400-piece jigsaw puzzle map with the address at its center.

Buying Options

The family can piece together their hometown with this personalized 400-piece jigsaw puzzle that puts their home address (or any address you choose) at the center of a US Geological Survey map. The puzzle captures an area of 7.5 by 5 miles; if the giftees happen to live near a body of water, it will include a lot of challenging blue space. It comes with a printed map for reference and is only available for US addresses.

We love finding gifts that are unusual, thoughtful, and well vetted. See even more gift ideas we recommend.

Dorie Chevlen contributed reporting. This article was edited by Hannah Morrill and Jennifer Hunter.

Meet your guide

Samantha Schoech

Except for the time she gave a boyfriend her mother’s old toaster for Christmas, staff writer Samantha Schoech has a reputation as an excellent gift giver. She lives in San Francisco with two teens, two cats, a geriatric betta fish, and a bookseller husband. Her first book of short stories, My Mother’s Boyfriends, is coming out in 2024.

Further reading

Edit
Dismiss