<p>Finding a good gift takes longer than anyone admits. These are some of the coolest gifts of 2022, the ones that were most popular that year, from gadgets to more personal ideas that suit almost everyone on your list, with a few pointers on what to look for in each.</p>

<h2>Personalised jewellery</h2>
<p>Personalised jewellery is one of those gifts that never really go out of style. Look at engraved necklaces, bracelets and rings, and add a short message, a date that matters or their name. It suits anyone who likes to wear something with a story behind it.</p>

<h2>Wireless earbuds</h2>
<p>Wireless earbuds were everywhere that year, for music and for podcasts, and they were among the most practical gifts you could give. Look for noise cancelling, a waterproof rating and wireless charging. They suit friends who are always on the move and hate untangling cables.</p>

<h2>Smart home devices</h2>
<p>Smart home devices make daily life a little easier. Think of speakers that do much more than play music, or a thermostat you can adjust by voice. Gifts like these suit someone who likes to have the latest tech in the house.</p>

<h2>Custom wine glasses</h2>
<p>For a wine lover, custom glasses make a lovely gift. Choose stemless, monogrammed or hand-painted glasses and add a quote or a short message. They suit someone who likes to host, and they are also a popular <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/secret-santa/create">Secret Santa</a> gift.</p>

<h2>Fitness tracker</h2>
<p>For someone who trains a lot, a fitness tracker can change how they work out. Look for heart rate monitoring, GPS and sleep tracking. It helps them see their progress, which tends to keep people going.</p>

<h2>Personalised photo album</h2>
<p>A photo album is a gift that gets opened again and again. There are leather-bound, handmade and custom-designed albums, and you can fill them with photos and short messages. It suits people who like to keep their memories close and enjoy showing them to visitors.</p>

<h2>Portable projector</h2>
<p>For film fans and people who binge series, a portable projector is a fun upgrade. Look for a light, compact model with a battery. It turns any wall into a screen, at home or in the garden, and makes an ordinary film night feel like an event.</p>

<p>The coolest gift is still the one that fits the person, so pick that one and write the rest down for later. Keep the ideas for everyone <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/wishlist/create">on your list</a> in one place, so you are not starting from scratch at the next birthday.</p>


The coolest gifts of 2022 that people wanted most, from engraved jewellery and wireless earbuds to smart home devices, a fitness tracker and a projector.

The Coolest Gifts of 2022

<p>Easter lunch for eleven people goes like this: a leg of lamb, a good dessert, and then a slightly awkward hour before anyone can decently leave. Drawing names for a small gift, the way you do at Christmas, fills that hour better than the coffee does. Families that try it once tend to keep it.</p>

<h2>Easter suits a second draw better than you would think</h2>

<p>The Christmas draw comes with expectations. The Easter one has none, which is exactly why it works. The group is usually smaller, nobody expects a big present, and spring hands you the gift categories for free: chocolate, plants and small things for the garden. It also gives a holiday that is otherwise eggs and a long lunch something to build the afternoon around.</p>

<h2>Set it up two weeks ahead</h2>

<p>Tell the family at least two weeks before Easter so people have time to think and to shop. Once you know who is in, <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/draw-names/create">draw names online</a> instead of out of a bowl at the table. Everyone gets their name by email, only the organiser can look up who has whom, and you do not have to redo the draw because your aunt pulled her own name twice.</p>

<p>Agree the budget before anyone buys. Between 10 and 25 is the usual range for an Easter round, and the lower end is the better choice; a 15 limit forces people to be inventive, and a 25 one just produces bigger chocolate. Decide whether the group wants edible things, useful things or small keepsakes, and set a buying deadline a few days before the day. The person who is still in the supermarket on Easter morning is always the same person.</p>

<h2>Gifts that fit the season and the person</h2>

<ul>
<li>A box of eggs from a real chocolatier, which at 15 is the whole budget and nobody minds</li>
<li>A pot of basil, a hyacinth in bloom or a packet of sweet pea seeds for the gardener</li>
<li>A hand-painted egg or a small decoration for the Easter table</li>
<li>A wool scarf or a candle for the evenings, which are still cold in April</li>
<li>A paperback, a 500-piece puzzle or a card game for the long weekend</li>
<li>A tin of good tea, a bag of coffee beans or a jar of homemade rhubarb jam</li>
</ul>

<p>Buy for the person before you buy for the season. Your uncle who has never touched a plant does not want a hyacinth, however springlike it looks.</p>

<h2>Make the handover a game</h2>

<p>Handing over a wrapped parcel is fine. Hiding it is better. Write a clue or two that leads each person to their gift somewhere in the house or garden, and you have an egg hunt for adults. The five-year-old at the table will take it more seriously than anyone.</p>

<p>The other option is to put all the gifts on one table and draw numbers for the opening order. Before each parcel is opened, the receiver guesses who bought it. A wrong guess is usually funnier than a right one. If your family likes talking, have the giver read out one line about why they chose the gift.</p>

<h2>Give every generation something to do</h2>

<p>Small children care about the mystery and the unwrapping, so keep their gifts simple. Teenagers like the challenge of choosing well for whoever they drew, and it is one of the few Easter jobs they will do without being asked. Grandparents often enjoy the choosing more than the receiving. Pairing the youngest with the oldest, so that they buy for each other, tends to get two people talking who otherwise would not.</p>

<p>Someone will not want to buy a gift, and that is fine. Let them contribute a homemade cake, a handwritten card or an hour of peeling potatoes instead. The point is that everyone takes part, and a cake counts.</p>

<h2>Get the draw done this week</h2>

<p>An Easter round needs a date, a budget and a list of names, nothing more. If you want it at this year's lunch, <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/secret-santa/create">organise a Secret Santa</a> now so everyone has their name before the shops get busy.</p>

How to run a small Secret Santa at Easter lunch: budget, timing, gifts that fit the season, and a hunt to hand them over.

Draw names at Easter, the family Secret Santa that works better

<p>The first wobbly steps across the living room are also the day the registry stops making sense. Bottles and newborn nappies are done. What you need now is gear for a child who climbs onto the sofa, reaches the second shelf and finds the one drawer you forgot to check.</p>

<h2>Childproofing moves to the top of the list</h2>

<p>A walking child reaches things a crawling one could not. Put a stair gate at the top and the bottom of the stairs (BabyDan or Reer, around 50 to 80 each for a pressure-mounted one), and anchor the bookcase and the chest of drawers to the wall. Furniture tipping over is the one item on this list that hurts children badly, and the anchor kit costs less than 10.</p>

<p>Cabinet locks belong on the cupboard with the cleaning products and the one with the pans. Magnetic locks are worth paying a bit more for than the plastic latches: an adult opens them with a key from outside, and a determined two-year-old cannot. Socket covers are cheap and quick.</p>

<p>Corner guards peel off within a fortnight and toilet locks are more annoying for the adults than for the child. Skip both and close the bathroom door.</p>

<h2>Feeding shifts from bottles to real meals</h2>

<p>Somewhere between twelve and eighteen months, the bottle disappears and the child wants to eat what you eat, with their own hands. Add a plate with dividers, a cup with two handles and short, chunky cutlery sized for a fist. Silicone bibs with a pocket catch most of what misses the mouth, and they go in the dishwasher.</p>

<p>If you already have a chair that grows with the child, such as the Stokke Tripp Trapp, you need nothing else. If you have a classic high chair with a tray, a booster that straps onto a normal dining chair (around 30) puts the child at the table with the rest of the family, which is where they learn to eat.</p>

<p>A small step stool for the kitchen, so they can watch you cook, gets more use than any snack container.</p>

<h2>Toys need to do more than entertain</h2>

<p>Toddler toys are for doing things: stacking, sorting, pushing, drawing. Wooden blocks, a shape sorter and a set of Lego Duplo cover most of the first year of walking. A first puzzle with big knobs (Goula or Djeco make good ones) and chunky Crayola crayons with a roll of paper take care of rainy afternoons.</p>

<p>For moving around, a push-along walker or a ride-on like the BIG Bobby Car (around 40) builds balance. Baby walkers, the ones the child sits in and scoots, are a different thing; most health services advise against them, so leave them off the list. Battery-powered keyboards that play twelve tunes on a loop are a gift to the child and a punishment for the parents.</p>

<h2>Sleep setups change once the cot no longer fits</h2>

<p>Most children move from a cot to a toddler bed somewhere between eighteen months and three years, usually the week they first climb out. Until then, keep the cot. When the time comes, a low bed with a rail, or a mattress on the floor for the first weeks, is enough. Bedding for the bigger mattress goes on the registry, along with a flat toddler pillow, which most health services say is fine after the first birthday.</p>

<p>A dim night light helps once the imagination arrives and the dark becomes a problem. If your child wakes at five because the sun does, a portable blackout blind (around 35) does more than any sleep routine.</p>

<h2>Clothes and other everyday practicalities</h2>

<p>Toddler clothes take a beating. Elastic waists, slip-on shoes and jumpers without fiddly buttons mean the child can start dressing themselves, which they will insist on doing at exactly the moment you are late.</p>

<p>Add outdoor gear in the right size. A rain suit with rubber boots (Didriksons or Reima, around 60 for the suit) means the playground stays open all year, and a sun hat with a strap survives the summer. For toilet training, a simple potty like the BabyBjörn one, around 25, does the job. Skip the musical potty.</p>

<p>Go through the list before the next round of birthdays and family visits, so the grandparents buy the stair gate and the Duplo and nothing in size newborn. You can <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/baby-registry/create">create a baby registry</a> and add the toddler items the same evening.</p>

Once your baby walks, the registry needs new things: stair gates, a booster seat, blocks, a bed rail and rain gear. What to add and what to skip.

Updating your baby registry once your baby starts toddling

<p>February is an odd month to think about Christmas, which is why it works. The shops are clearing stock, so you can see what things really cost. And you have just been through a Christmas, so you remember exactly which gift you hoped for and did not get. Ten months of noticing beats ten minutes of guessing on the sofa in December.</p>

<p>A list kept over a year also shows how your interests move. The thing you try in February might be a settled hobby by November, and by then you will know precisely which kit to <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/christmas-wish-list/create">put on your Christmas list</a>, rather than writing "something for the bike" and hoping.</p>

<h2>Decide on a few groups before you add anything</h2>

<p>Keep the list in sections from the start: house, hobbies, small treats, books and music, things to do. Five headings is plenty. Buyers find their way round a structured list far faster than a jumble of forty items, and you notice the gaps. A list with twelve books and nothing for the kitchen is telling you something.</p>

<p>Mix precise entries with looser ones. "Sony WH-1000XM5 in black" is useful to a buyer. "Anything that makes the 7.40 train less grim" gives a buyer room to surprise you inside a subject you actually care about. Spread the prices too, from a cheap bar of chocolate to the headphones, so your colleague and your parents both find something.</p>

<h2>Add things the moment you notice them</h2>

<p>The list grows in small moments. You use a friend's Japanese kitchen knife and cannot stop thinking about it. You try a hand cream in a shop. Someone mentions a novel on the radio. Add it there and then, while the wanting is fresh. Ideas caught this way make better gifts than anything you can invent under pressure in December.</p>

<p>Write down the consumables you keep running out of as well. The particular loose-leaf tea, the face serum, the tin of smoked paprika you use in everything. These are dull to give and wonderful to receive. A few newsletters from the brands you like will tell you when something new or seasonal is worth adding, and cost nothing but an unsubscribe in January.</p>

<h2>Write it so a stranger could shop from it</h2>

<p>Give sizes, colours and model numbers wherever they matter. Then say why you want it. "A beginner's pottery kit, because I want to try throwing this winter" tells a buyer far more than "pottery tools", and it might prompt them to add the apron or a book. The reason turns a line on a list into a gift someone can feel good about choosing.</p>

<p>Every three months, go through the whole thing and cut. Remove what you bought yourself, what you went off, what no longer fits your life. Unwrapping something you bought yourself in June is a small letdown, and it is entirely avoidable.</p>

<h2>What you get for starting early</h2>

<p>A list built over months turns December from a scramble into something closer to a slow hunt. You have had time to work out what you actually want, so the gifts are better and fewer of them disappoint. Share it with the four or five people who usually buy for you when they ask, and return the favour: keep an eye on their hints through the year in the same way.</p>

<p>Take ten minutes this week to <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/christmas-wish-list/create">create a Christmas list</a>, give it your five headings, and put the first two things on it. The rest will arrive on its own between now and December.</p>

How to build a Christmas list slowly over the year: sort it into groups, add things the moment you notice them, and write it so someone else can shop.

Keep a Christmas ideas list from February onwards

<p>A birthday party, the holidays or just a visit to a favourite niece: buying for a child sounds easy until you are standing in the toy shop. The best gifts for children are fun and quietly teach them something at the same time, and nothing beats the look on their face when the paper comes off. Toys, books, puzzles, board games and musical instruments all do that, if you pick the right one for the child's age.</p>

<h2>Toys</h2>
<p>Toys are the obvious choice, and there is a huge range: dolls, action figures, building blocks and clever toys that make learning fun. Good toys help kids think and invent their own games. Check the age on the box, and pick something one step ahead of what they can do now. With this much choice for every age, there is always something that makes them jump up and down.</p>

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<h2>Books</h2>
<p>A child who falls in love with stories keeps reading for life. Let their current obsession decide between a fairy tale, a book full of facts or an adventure series. Reading also builds language skills and concentration, and a good book lasts far longer than the birthday it was bought for.</p>

<p><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=books+for+children&language=en_US&crid=1AOOZBXF1NPVC&linkCode=sl2&linkId=9f8e13c71c5d0ad282a85583d98ef54c&sprefix=books+for+children%2Caps%2C191&tag=giftlist0b-20&ref=as_li_ss_tl">Find the best books for children at Amazon.com</a></p>
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<h2>Puzzles</h2>
<p>Puzzles are good for the brain. They train problem-solving, hand-eye coordination and logical thinking. There is a puzzle for every age, from big, simple ones for toddlers to tricky 3D puzzles for older children. A puzzle with a few more pieces than they are used to keeps them busy for days and works like a small workout for the brain.</p>

<p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=puzzles+for+children&language=en_US&crid=2DGPGS60GL19F&linkCode=sl2&linkId=5a4a6143a86a010bae5048f0f817f948&sprefix=puzzle+for+children%2Caps%2C203&tag=giftlist0b-20&ref=as_li_ss_tl">Find the best puzzles for children at Amazon.com</a></p>
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<h2>Board games</h2>
<p>Board games make good gifts because they get the whole family playing together. Children learn to plan ahead and solve problems while they are busy having fun. There are games for every age, from classics like Monopoly to newer ones. The real gift is the evening spent round the table.</p>

<h2>Instruments</h2>
<p>Instruments are gifts that can start a love of music lasting for years. There is something for every young musician, from a piano or a guitar to drums or a xylophone. Playing music gives kids confidence and a way to express themselves, and it shows a creative side you may not have seen before.</p>

<p>Pick a gift that matches what the child already loves, and it will not end up at the back of the cupboard. If you buy for several children every year, <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/wishlist/create">start a wishlist for them</a> and let them help fill it.</p>


The best gifts for children get played with for more than a week. Think toys, books, puzzles, board games and a first musical instrument.

Best Gifts for Children

<p>A new baby has arrived and you want to bring something. The baby shop has a thousand options, and half of them end up unused. This list of the best presents for a newborn keeps to things parents actually use. A <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/wishlist/create">wishlist maker</a> helps you keep track of the ideas you like.</p>

<h2>Baby clothes</h2>
<p>Clothes are always needed and always welcome. Think soft bodysuits, warm sleepsuits and cute rompers. Choose clothes that suit the season, and go for natural fibres like cotton, which are gentle on a baby's skin.</p>

<h2>Swaddle blankets</h2>
<p>Swaddle blankets are soft and light, and many babies feel snug in them, as they did in the womb. That can help them sleep without being woken by their own startle reflex.</p>

<h2>Baby books</h2>
<p>Books are good even for newborns. Choose board books with bright pictures and a few simple words. Reading to a baby helps their development and gives parents a quiet moment together with them. A book is also a safe <a href="https://happygiftlist.com/secret-santa/create">Secret Santa</a> pick when a baby is in the draw.</p>

<h2>Nursery decor</h2>
<p>If the parents are still decorating, think of some wall art, a musical mobile or a soft toy. Match the parents' style and the theme of the nursery. Neutral, classic pieces are the safest choice.</p>

<h2>Nappy bags</h2>
<p>A good nappy bag makes every trip out easier. It holds everything from nappies to bottles and keeps it organised. Pick one with plenty of pockets.</p>

<h2>Baby carriers</h2>
<p>A carrier lets parents keep the baby close and still have their hands free. A wrap, a sling or a structured carrier all work, so choose the one that fits how the parents live.</p>

<h2>Teething toys</h2>
<p>Teething is hard on little ones. Teething toys soothe sore gums and are safe to chew. Look for ones with interesting textures or a gentle rattle.</p>

<h2>Bath products</h2>
<p>Baby shampoo and soap need to be gentle on delicate skin. Choose natural products without harsh chemicals.</p>

<h2>Baby monitor</h2>
<p>A baby monitor lets parents rest in another room while keeping an eye on the baby. Two-way talk and night vision make it more useful.</p>

<h2>Personalised gifts</h2>
<p>For something special, give a blanket or a soft toy with the baby's name on it. Parents often keep these long after the baby has outgrown them.</p>

<h2>Baby toys</h2>
<p>Toys help babies learn. Choose ones that are colourful, make sounds and are safe to grab and chew.</p>

<h2>Breastfeeding supplies</h2>
<p>For a mother who is breastfeeding, a nursing pillow or a breast pump can really help. Look for things that make feeding more comfortable.</p>

<h2>Car seat</h2>
<p>A baby needs a good car seat for every car trip. Make sure it meets the safety standards and is easy to fit and use.</p>

<h2>Baby shoes</h2>
<p>Babies do not walk yet, but soft-soled shoes keep their feet warm. Choose breathable materials and an adjustable fit.</p>

<h2>Feeding supplies</h2>
<p>As babies grow, they need their own things to eat from. Look for bowls, spoons and sippy cups that are easy to clean and easy for small hands to hold.</p>

<p>Think about what the baby needs now and what the parents will be glad of in three months. If you are unsure, ask the parents whether they have a list, and pick the gift from it that nobody has claimed yet.</p>


The best presents for a newborn, from soft clothes and swaddle blankets to a nappy bag, a baby carrier and a monitor the parents will use every night.