Gifting a child on his acheivement or plainly for his birthday can be quite tricky. This is because, as adults, it sometimes becomes difficult to read what the child will think of the gift that you present to him on an occassion. It is fine if that were your own kid where you can take him to the local toy shop and help him make a decision. But, when you go for your Boss' daughter's birthday party, you can hardly make a choice.
Simply getting a stereotypical plane or a rocket would not please the child as he wants to be looked up as more mature. But he might like it if he made that decision himself. Moreover, how could you possibly know what your friend's child would like. Not all children like all kinds of toys. Infact, people who study children psychology, themselves cannot make out any common line of enjoyment all children have.
In such cases, the best form of gifts can be what is called the gift certificates. These are kinds of gifts where you present the child a certificate for a prepaid amount of money. The child then has the option to choose a gift that he wants in the same budget in which you would want to get him something.
This is a kind of gift that is getting popular in US not just for birthdays,but also as a form of showing your appreciation to something that your child might have done.
Finally, with the help of the internet, most of these purchases can be made online. But, most times, you end up paying more than the price of what the toy costs due to shipment costs. In such cases, a gift certificate is the best option as you could simply get it printed at home or even if it is mailed, it doesn't cost a mountain.
Gifting a child is not a responsibility or a duty. It is simply an acknowledgement. Be careful in choosing what the child might like You might only end up making zero value out of your money. The child might simply throw away the toy it doesnt like.
Anand Srinivasan is the author of http://XooXonline.info; a website of varied themes and topics for the internet surfer who wants to surf but does not know what to!