The Late-Romantic dot com Gift Guide – Your Friend’s Bilingual Kid

Let’s be real, your friend’s gift is less important than the one you’ll get their kid, and this is definitely the category I find most difficult to shop for. The child doesn’t have to be bilingual – this is a general guide to children of all ages who you may not know very well (my own friends with children generally live in other cities, hence ‘bilingual’ being the thing that connects them in my mind). I don’t want to simply buy the new vogueish toy or whatever their obsession was last year (not sure when they’ll outgrow Paw Patrol but I’m confident it will be the moment I buy them a big Paw Patrol gift set), so these are my ideas for what to get a child. I think they’ll work on any age… but I did get it wrong in 2022, so maybe check with their parent(s) first.

• Get a book you loved in translation. Matilda is in over 50 languages, and Elmer is in just as many. Think back to what you read as a child and get that so that you can honestly engage with the kid by sharing your own love of Narnia, Terry Pratchett or Meg Cabot. Kid’s not bilingual? Get a gorgeous illustrated edition instead.
• Go to a specialist bookshop and ask what’s good for this age bracket. I love Gay’s The Word for this as they encourage children not to be limited by their gender and remind them that they’ll be loved no matter who they are, but any independent bookseller will be full of advice of what kids that age are enjoying.
• A cute outfit that pertains to them or you. Your friend’s kid loves to play with cars or robots? Find a little boiler suit so they look like a baby mechanic. You’re from a different country? Get them a tiny version of your national dress. Kids are cutest in Halloween costumes, so why not let them explore the world or play act by sharing some clothes they might actually want to wear. Bonus points if it’s machine washable.
• Stationery. Kids love erasers, gel pens, diaries with locks on, stickers… I mean tbh so do adults, but you can get a lot of nice stuff and theme it to their interests. Literally just go to Flying Tiger and buy paint, pencils, canvases, fuzzy notebooks, whatever they’ve got. Throw in some novelty glasses or something too, it’s like £2. If the kid is older get the same stuff from Etsy, there’s plenty of Taylor Swift stickers and Billie Eilish notebooks that might make their schoolwork more interesting.
• THE BOOK: I struggle with knowing what’s appropriate for children and how good their reading levels are, so for a popular choice go for a classic kids’ hardback: Guinness World Records, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and annuals of things they’re into are solid choices because they’ll enjoy the process of flicking through it and can show it to any friends and relatives who come over. I’d suggest buying it from an independent bookstore if possible, because the expertise of their staff make it possible to buy for children of any age, even when you don’t know them well.