10+ Silly Joke Gifts for Kids

The best kinds of gifts you can give are the extremely personal ones that show how much you love and pay attention to someone. Gifting something your kids really want will always bring joy, but it will never hold the same depth as getting something that they didn’t ask for, but are still guaranteed to get a kick out of. In my experience, joke gifts are one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to do this. While some say it’s impractical to give a gift that someone may never use, I say giving the gift of laughter is always worth the money.

When I was growing up, my family inadvertently created a tradition of giving each other hilarious joke gifts. It got a little more serious (and competitive) every year and is now a staple of our holiday season. Silly, fun-loving gifts can be a breath of fresh air this holiday season, and will bring an added layer of jolly to your Christmas morning. Here are some gag gift ideas you can use to make kids of all ages laugh (or groan).

There are lots of websites out there that do custom designs, which are perfect for creating personalized gifts with the inside jokes that only your family understands. You could find all of their most embarrassing childhood photos and make them into a calendar, or place an awkward photo of them on a shirt, hoodie, or hat. You can also take their silliest pictures and quotes and turn them into a book of postcards.

A surprisingly inexpensive way to prank kids of all ages is to make them their own customized trophy with awards like “world’s stinkiest farts” or “biggest bathroom hog.”

For the little ones, your best bet is to play up the gross factor. My nephew finds it obnoxious (yet amusing) that I always say his favorite food is “frog butt soup,” and I often threaten to make it for dinner. Make your gross threats come to life in a fun way. For instance, I found frog–shaped gummy candies and floated them in a pool of lemon-lime soda. From snakes to spiders to sharks, there is a candy to go along with almost any gross dish you can come up with. You can also get them to giggle with a Santa pillow that farts or wig them out with a snot-nose shower gel dispenser.

For tweens that have outgrown the latest boy band or heartthrob, get them a poster, notebook, or even T-shirt proclaiming their love for said artist. You can also do this with the corny bands from your day that make your childrens’ eyes roll, or even with a very childish cartoon or TV character.

For teens, you can put together a safe-driving kit: cover their car with pool noodles from the dollar store, get them the cheesiest hands-free device or dorkiest elbow and knee pads you can find, or simply take the battery out of the car and call that a “safe driving kit.”

And don’t forget the older teens and adult children! You can design your own gift of the month club dedicated to a corny niche that your child is interested in, if you’re dedicated enough to gift them throughout the year. We did a tacky scrunchie of the month club for my sister, which was mostly just dollar store finds. If you want to do less work, get them a membership to a club that is cheesy in more ways than one.

If they’re on the market, you can special order a shirt that says “SINGLE” in huge letters with their actual phone number underneath it, or make them a boyfriend pillow.

If all they want is a gift card or cash, teach them a lesson in delayed gratification by putting it in a puzzle box that they’ll have to solve. Or, get them several gift cards in smaller denominations. My dad did this once, and it was frustrating, but I couldn’t help but laugh every time I used them and had to hand card after card to the cashier. There are also some cute ways to disguise money as other gifts, and if you want to be extra corny, present them with a giant check.

Lastly, you can always consider giving them a simple household item that is sure to confuse the heck out of them:

I hope you enjoyed these ideas! I definitely urge you to try joke gifting this year, and maybe start a new family tradition that will last for generations.

About AJ Earley
AJ Earley is a personal chef, freelance writer, and root beer float enthusiast from Boise, Idaho. Find her on Twitter!