Klutz gifts by age and budget

For a four- or five-year-old

The safe pick is Klutz Jr. My Simple Sewing: plastic needle, pre-punched felt, three food friends. The stretch pick is My Cat Mermaid & Friends, which adds stickers and glitter and a little more sewing.

For a six- or seven-year-old

Cat’s Cradle costs about as much as a birthday card with a gift card in it, and lasts longer. For something bigger, Watercolor Dreams or Paint & Peel Jelly Stickers give a child a new material to play with for weeks.

For an eight- or nine-year-old

Ask one question: do they build or do they decorate? Builders get LEGO Gear Bots or LEGO Chain Reactions. Decorators get a Mini Clay World kit or Make Clay Charms. If you do not know, Make Your Own Mini Erasers pleases both.

For ten and up

Sew Mini Treats is the kit older kids finish and then keep going with their own patterns. Friendship Bracelets is the classic for a reason. Juggling for the Complete Klutz works for a twelve-year-old and for their dad.

A note on wrapping

Our boxes are flat and rectangular, which is to say they wrap in a minute and post cheaply. Aunts and uncles have noticed.