A wishlist for a child, run by a grown-up
Children are the easiest people to buy for and the easiest to buy badly for. They want three specific things and are given eleven general ones, half of them the same.
Mila's list 🎄
6 gift ideas ·Christmas ·1 already reserved
Building bricks, the big box
She has the small set already and has run out of bricks.
A dinosaur, the roaring kind
T. rex specifically. She was very clear about this.
Proper paints and brushes
A bike, when she outgrows this one
Not yet — next spring. Here so nobody buys one twice.
A parent holds the list
The account belongs to you, not the child. You write down what they have asked for, in the words that make it findable — the exact set number, the right character, the size they are actually in now rather than last winter.
Relatives at a distance are the ones this helps most. They are the most likely to guess, the most likely to duplicate, and the least likely to be told.
Write it for their age
What a useful list looks like changes every couple of years. The constant is that the grown-up writes it and the child supplies the wanting.
- Under four. They cannot tell you, so the list is really yours: the next size of clothes, the puzzle after the one they have worn out, one thing that makes noise because a grandparent will buy one anyway. Sizes matter more than anything else here.
- Four to seven. They can tell you, at length, and change their mind by Friday. Write down the three things that survive a week, with the exact set or character, and add two open wishes such as "any book about dinosaurs".
- Eight to twelve. They know model numbers. Let them dictate, then edit for price and sense, and mark one thing as the top wish so the relative who asks "what does she actually want?" gets an answer.
- Teenagers. Fewer items, higher prices, and often one big thing several relatives could club together for. Say so in the wish itself. Most teenagers would rather write the list themselves; let them, and read it before you share.
Whatever the age, put the size, the colour and the "please only one of these" into the wish text. Relatives read that and act on it; they cannot act on what is only in your head.
The surprise survives, if the link stays with the grown-ups
Reservations are hidden from whoever owns the list. If that is you, you will not know what is coming either, which is the right default when the child is standing behind you at the screen.
The link itself is another matter. Anyone who opens it sees which gifts are taken and who is bringing them, because that is what stops the duplicates. So send it to the aunts, uncles and grandparents, and not to the child. When they want to look at their list, show it from your own account, where the server has already removed every reservation before the page is built.
What relatives see
A relative opens the link on a phone or a tablet and gets a normal web page. No app, no login, no password to remember.
- The list, with a photo and price for anything you linked and your own words for anything you typed.
- A "Top wish" marker on the one or two things that matter most.
- "Reserved" on gifts somebody has claimed, with the first name they typed, so nobody else buys the same thing.
- An "I’ll get this" button on everything else. Pressing it asks for a first name and nothing more.
Nobody needs an account for any of this, which matters when the list has to work for a grandparent on a tablet.
Privacy for children
A child’s list is the one case where being careful costs nothing and being careless is hard to undo. The defaults are set accordingly.
- Use a first name or a nickname. The name on the page is whatever you type when you sign up and when you name the list. "Leo" is enough; the family knows which Leo.
- Lists are hidden from search engines. Every list is marked not to be indexed unless its owner switches that on deliberately, and for a child’s list you never should. Only people you send the link to can find it.
- Relatives leave almost nothing behind. Reserving stores the first name they typed and a random token in their own browser so they can undo it. No email, no account, no tracking.
- No photos of the child are needed. The page shows a coloured initial, not a picture. Product photos come from the shops, not from you.
The privacy page lists everything the site stores, in plain words, and it is short.
Christmas, birthdays and the letter to Santa
Keep two lists per child: a birthday list that stays put all year and a Christmas list you start fresh each November. Both live under your one profile address, so the family never needs a new link, and each one hides its reservations from you separately.
For the letter to Santa, print the Christmas list from your browser. It comes out as a clean list of gifts, without buttons or menus, ready to go in the envelope, and the online version stays where the relatives can reserve from it.
It grows with them
Keep a birthday list running from year to year and edit it as they change. The link never changes, so the family never has to be sent a new one.
Does my child need an account?
No. The list belongs to your account and you manage it. Children never sign in and never need an email address.
Can I stop the list showing my child’s full name?
Yes. The name on the page is whatever you type when you create the account, so a first name or a nickname is fine.
Can relatives see what everyone else has bought?
They see which gifts are taken and who is bringing them, which is what prevents duplicates. You do not see any of it.
What about children who cannot read yet?
Write the list from what they have said out loud. Most of the value is in the specifics — sizes, set numbers, which character — and those come from you anyway.
Can I run lists for several children?
Yes. One account, one list per child, all under the same profile address. Each list hides its reservations from you separately, and relatives see all of them from one link.
Will my child’s name show up in Google?
No. Lists are hidden from search engines unless their owner turns that on for a specific list, and for a child’s list there is no reason to. Use a first name or nickname anyway.
What if my child opens the link?
They would see the same page the relatives see, reservations included, so keep the link with the grown-ups. Show them their list from your own account instead; there the reservations are removed before the page is built.
