Childhood 101’s International Kids’ Gift Exchange

ByChristie Burnett

Registrations for the 2014 gift exchange have now closed. Thank you to all those who have joined us.
International kids gift exchange hosted at Childhood 101
The lovely Chantelle of Fat Mum Slim has hosted an international gift exchange for the past three years and when I saw the announcement for her exchange this year it occurred to me that it would be such a fun idea to do with children! So I asked Chantelle if she would mind me hosting a gift exchange similar to hers but for kids (hers is for adults) and she said, “Go for it!”

So what is the International Kids’ Gift Exchange? It’s really quite simple – each child registered for the exchange is matched with a new friend from somewhere around the world and they buy a gift to send to their buddy. Your child is also welcome to include some information about themselves, their family and where they live. Doesn’t it sound like an awesome idea?!! I would love your family to be involved.

If you would like to find out more about how this will work, PLEASE READ ALL DETAILS BELOW carefully. There is a lot of important and detailed information so please be sure to read all the way through.

JOINING THE KIDS GIFT EXCHANGE

Any child between the ages of 3 and 12 years of age can join. You can be located anywhere in the world as long as small parcels can be posted and received via regular mail at your destination. Please follow these FIVE simple steps to register and join in.

STEP ONE: To join, you will need to complete the Registration Form via the link below by October 17th.

What will it cost? The gift you send should be valued at $15 US equivalent. That means you need to spend a minimum of $15US (or equivalent) on the gift that you send. You will also need to provide gift wrap (kids artwork is totally awesome) and pay for postage. Please be clear, postage is NOT included in the $15US budget. So shop smart as heavy gifts can cost a lot to post.

You do have some choices when it comes to postage though – before joining you need to decide whether you want to send (and receive) a gift worldwide or whether you would prefer to stay within your own continent – the second choice will obviously save you money on postage costs but it may also mean that your child misses out on the opportunity to exchange gifts with someone from a different country.

For those choosing the MORE LOCAL OPTION, you will have the opportunity to choose from the following regions – Australia & New Zealand, USA & Canada, UK & Europe, South America, Africa or Asia.

You MUST register to join the kids gift exchange by Friday, 17th October 2014. That’s not far away!

STEP TWO: You will be emailed details of the child that your child has been matched with.

This email will include the name, address, age, gender and a little bit of information about the child your child will be selecting a gift for. You will receive this email on Friday, 24th October 2014.

Please ensure that the email address you use to register for the exchange with is one that is regularly checked as I will email you a little reminder prompt for each step of the process.

STEP THREE: Purchase your gift.

What should I send? Obviously this will depend upon the age and interests of your gift recipient and also the interests of your own child. Please involve them in this process as it will make the exchange more meaningful and help them to appreciate the joy of giving to others. Some gift-y guidelines;

  • Please put some thought into your gift. Please do NOT send something secondhand or an unwanted gift that your own child has received but didn’t like.
  • The gift should be something the child can actually use for play or creativity. It doesn’t have to be a mainstream commercial toy – a collection of your child’s favourite art materials or a game specific to the country that you live in are fabulous ideas – REMEMBER play and creativity are what this exchange is about.
  • Can my child make a gift? If you and your child enjoy being crafty or creative, please feel free to include an artwork or homemade card with your gift. If you like to make resources for your own children that you think your giftee would also like, this is fine but please make sure that the gift is around the same value as the $15US amount we have set for the exchange.
  • I would really encourage everyone to include a picture, letter or card from your child or family. A photo is fabulous too. As is a postcard or trinket representing the country or region that you live in.

STEP FOUR: Post your gift.

Please ensure all gifts are posted no later than Friday, November 7th, 2014.

gift exchange dates

What if my child doesn’t receive a gift?
Chantelle has found each year that there are people that join her exchange who actually have no intention of playing along – they’re just thinking ‘FREE GIFTS!’ I am confident that we will not have this problem as we all know how disappointed our own child would be if they did not receive a gift. However sometimes postal services fail, especially during the busy Christmas mail period. I have tried to avoid this by setting the postal deadline to allow plenty of lead time before mail services get too crazy with Christmas mail.

BUT

There are no guarantees. All I can suggest is that you, as I will with my daughter, focus on this being more about GIVING to others rather than receiving. This is an act of kindness and love, it’s meant to be meaningful and a little bit of fun.

I am so very sorry if your child does not receive a gift but as I said, there really are no guarantees.

STEP FIVE: Share the JOY!

I would love you to share a photo of your gift all wrapped and ready to go to the post office AND of the gift your child receives with a thank you to the sender! These can be shared via the Childhood 101 Facebook page and/or on Instagram. Include the hashtag #kidsgive101 so that we can all be sure to see them. International kids gift exchange hosted by Childhood 101

Remember, you MUST register to join the kids gift exchange by Friday 17th October 2014. REGISTRATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED.

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

37 Comments

  1. Will you do this again next year? My daughter is only 2 right now and I love the idea! 🙂

  3. OMGSH This is AWESOME! I will also share link to this on my blog and about! 😉 Yay! Were soo excited!!

  4. How fun! we’re taking part, my daughters are 4 and 6 and are excited about the idea 🙂

  5. Sarah whelan says:

    Lovely idea, but Wouldn’t this be better (and more humbling and less wasteful) if the child chose a toy they already have to give to one and other? “One mans trash is another’s treasure” idea!? They could maybe start up penpals too?

  6. My daughter has been looking for a pen pal so I know she will be so excited about this gift exchange! She’s actually in bed but I’m so excited that I already signed us up 🙂 Thanks so much for hosting – what an awesome idea!

  7. Nice idea, but are the gifts just sent to regular children around the world? Not to anyone in particular need? Don’t you think it would be a more worthy use of effort and money to encourage children to send a gift to a less priviledged child overseas? More in the spirit of Christmas anyway. And I agree with Sarah’s comment above, to say that children shouldn’t send second hand or unwanted gifts just seems to be buying into more of the same rampant consumerism and waste. It is a nice idea, and I know I might sound a bit worthy and preachy here… it’s a lovely idea, sorry to put a downer on things. Just saying.

    1. Thanks for your note, Steph. There are many opportunities for families to give to those less fortunate during the festive season, we have already contributed to one such cause for Christmas 2014 via my daughter’s school. This particular gift exchange is for children to exchange gifts for no other reason than to spread a little joy and hopefully develop a new, international friendship. I understand that it won’t be a good fit for every family and never thought that it would be 🙂

  8. I am a Brownie Troop leader and may ask the girls to participate…we are doing a project that invloves Girls Around The World so this fits in nicely….

      1. Vikki lare says:

        Is the international kids gift exchange going on this year? How do we sign up?

  9. Ooh this is right down my alley Christie – brilliant idea! Mr4 loves anything international (I may have brainwashed him in that regard … prerogative of a travel blogger!) and he loves anything involving mailboxes in either direction. Off to sign up right now and will share as well.

  10. Hope it’s Ok. My daughter is 3 just after Xmas! so I’ve put her down as 3 as I really want her to join in. It’s a great idea to spend the knowledge of other countries in the world and what sort of toys/gifts there is out there.

  11. My daughter is only 2 but this sounds like a really fun idea! Can we participate too?

    1. Hi Sybil, I am hoping this will become an annual event so please do look out for it in 2015 🙂

  12. What a unique opportunity and learning experience! My little one will be participating in this. Another exchange I do makes participants do a deposit to ensure that if one doesnt send a gift, the other one isnt left outbin the cold. It also encourages people to send a gift to get their deposit back. We are beyond excited!! I will also be sharing this with my daycare families 🙂

  13. This is just an awesome idea. my son is 5 years old and at this age, the proposition of making international friends seems quite exciting. I live in Pakistan and would love to share gifts with people from distant parts of the world

  14. Hi there – what a FABULOUS idea :). I just signed up my 8yr old twins, but the first one I made a mistake in the email address so I hope it is obvious and gets filtered out as i resubmitted it – sorry to be a hassle!

  15. lisa woodhead says:

    I registered, but didn’t receive a confirmation email.
    Is this a problem, or should I resubmit?
    Thanks,
    Lisa

    1. Hi Lisa, no need to resubmit, your registrations are there 🙂 More info coming soon.

  16. Christine DeNoon says:

    I think I accidentally put one kids name down twice when I registered my 3 boys. Do you send a confirmation email and will I be able to fix my name mix up…?

  17. Tamra Graham says:

    Hi, we were excited to sign up! Should I have received an email with matches for my kids yet or is that in process?
    Thanks!

  18. *pout* gosh! I missed it! I wish we had signed up!! Next year, right?

  19. Pingback: Sending gifts abroad to make international friendships for kids (and encourage that love of travel) - Not a Ballerina

  20. Hi!
    I couldn’t find any other way to contact you. I just remembered I signed up for this and never for an email back with a child info. My daughter got her gift today and that’s why reminded me about the whole thing. Please email me back so I know what to do. Thank you 🙂

  21. Laurie Watson says:

    We recieved our gift today and I do not remember getting an email for us to send to our kiddo.

  22. veronikahyte@msn.com says:

    Will you be hosting the Christmas exchange for 2015?

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