How to be the Cool Tito Every Kid Adores This Christmas

Not every man is blessed with the innate charm that makes him a kid’s favorite tito—the uncle they want to be around, the only adult they want at any occasion from birthday parties to lunches out with the family. 

And that’s fine—there are many ways of getting kids to warm up to you. You can get into the same TV shows, wow them with your encyclopedic comic book knowledge, and listen to the same musicians. You can be the grown-up who knows how to listen. You can be the funny one.

But when Christmas rolls around, it’s all about the presents. If you want to put yourself in the running for the favorite, you’ll want to make sure your gifts are the best.

Need help figuring it all out? Here’s how you can win your nephews’ and nieces’ hearts this holiday season:

Help them explore their talents.

“Look what I can do!” is one of the most satisfying things a kid can say. If you really want a kid to like you, odds are you’ll get their attention with gifts that let them exercise their talents.

This light-up tracing pad is like an animator’s lightbox, but fun-sized. It helps artistic kids draw better with the help of LED lights that let base images pop up more clearly on tracing paper. You can also get them a set of washable dry-erase crayons to color their masterpieces with (and help Mom and Dad relax about any potential mess).

You could also give budding artists, writers, and scientists a good notebook where they can jot down their ideas, too. At the very least, it’s something cool they can show off to their classmates.

Give them an excuse to play outside.

We hear it time and again: Kids just don’t play outside anymore. Some parents try to curb this by limiting their children's screentime, but many forget to show them that exploring outside is fun.

That’s where you come in with something like a scooter that lets them cruise around the village in style—perfect for the little explorer looking for an adventure. Give them a snazzy backpack for all the essentials, and they’ll be heading out of the house a lot more often.

Get them clothes they can show off.

Gone are the days when clothes were the boring gifts shunned in favor of giant robots and playsets. Kids today are exploring the world of social media, and one interesting result has been an awareness of fashion.

Just make sure that, if you do decide to get them clothes, you exercise good taste. For girls, you can look into pieces like this two-toned patterned dress, which looks like it belongs on a KPop star, or this flowy boho number. There's no way that your niece won't be showing them off.

When in doubt, go with the classics.

Some toys are timeless, popular across generations, and hard to outgrow. Since it’s Christmas, you can make it special by giving your niece or nephew something that will never go out of style: the interlocking plastic bricks of a Lego set. You can get them a set from one of their favorite franchises, or you could also go for the sheer “wow” factor of just giving them a crazy amount of bricks—say like 900 pieces.

At the end of the day, it’s about getting to know the person your niece or nephew is growing up to be and celebrating them. It doesn’t hurt, though, to make sure your gifts come from places like Rustan’s Department Store, where all the best choices for kids are available.

Drop by a Rustan’s before the Christmas rush kicks in, or avoid it altogether by discovering even more gift ideas at the Rustan’s Department Store website.