Not every great gift needs a big budget and some of the most-loved gifts on Wish Well cost less than a takeout dinner. This guide is specifically for the situations where spending big doesn't make sense: the classmate's birthday party where you didn't get much notice, the sibling gift so the older kid doesn't feel left out, or rounding out a pile of bigger presents with something the birthday kid specifically asked for.
$7.99
Ten cans of the original, which is the one that smells right and does not dry out in a week. It is the cheapest thing that reliably occupies a small child at a table, and it works from two to about seven.
View on Amazon
$9.99
Thirty small soft squishies, slow to return to shape. The quantity is the appeal — they get traded at school, given away, and lost, and there are always more left in the bag.
View on Amazon
Planning a birthday? Create a free Wish Well wishlist, share one link with family and friends, and skip the duplicate gifts.
Create your free wishlist
$9.95
Ten foam rockets and a hand-squeezed launcher, so they work indoors as well as out. No batteries, nothing sharp, and under ten dollars. The classroom-party gift that gets used rather than shelved.
View on Amazon
$7.99
Paint with water and the colours appear, then fade as it dries so it can be done again. It is the ideal restaurant and aeroplane toy, with nothing to spill and nothing to lose.
View on Amazon
$9.99
A small garden in a jar that they plant themselves and that glows in the dark once finished. The waiting for things to grow is part of it, and under ten dollars.
View on Amazon
$13.99
Black cards that reveal rainbow colours when scratched with a wooden stylus. Small enough for a party bag, and the effect never stops being satisfying at this age.
View on Amazon