our mates young'un turns one today. crazy to think that he's been here that long already and how much growing he's done in that time.

as i don't have kids or very much experience of them what can you suggest i (on behalf of the GF and I, but she's busy) buy for the little 'un?

the usual bottle of whisky and a porn mag wrapped up till he's 18 has been covered by others.

ideas please!

My little lad is nearly 4 months old – he's getting a bike for his first birthday!

bike is already covered too!

found a wooden push bike thing on the flea market. he was 6 weeks old.

he loves it when i baby sit as i sit him on it and push him around the flat. he then screams and sulks when uncle jamie (me) has had enough.

Early Learning Centre is a good place to start looking, and the toys are all labelled in age range.

The best presents always have really annoying noises, so the parents can thank you for the perpetual headaches for years to come.

no ELC here in germany.

Smartframe (beads on wires, basically) and Little Tykes (push along cars etc)stuff went well with my children from quite early on and were liked for years. Sorting, stacking and shape/texture toys all good at this time.

bubble blowing machine

baby bouncer that hangs from a door frame, never known a kid not to love them.

nothing, just open the cellar door slightly for a few minutes.

you're thinking of austria, mr nutt

He will have a million more things than he needs already so how about opening a savings account (which he can't access till he is 18) for him and committing to put in a set amount every year for the next 17 years?

Nothing, they don't remember it and never say thank you anyway.

Spare clothes or a a chocolate cake – although a bit cold for the kid to eat cake as the usual rule with chocolate cake at this age is strip them naked and sit them outside.

I wrote and drew a children's book for a kid's birthday recently (got it printed out by blurb.com). It took some time to do (actually probably about 10 hours drawing/layout time now I think about it) and to think up a story, but I think it was very much appreciated, and it's a fun thing to do. We did one for another kid at birth too, although that was hand made, which was quite an effort (probably well over 20 hours work in that one) – if you do a digital rather than hand-made one, they don't have to worry too much about kids messing up your lovely handiwork either, as it is easy enough to print off a replacement. Obviously a 1 year old won't be able to read text yet etc., so you'd need to make something very very basic, but if you make the pictures interesting, and text for parents to read out, you have something that can last a bit.

Have done similar for a few friends getting married too, although there are less rude jokes in the children's books than in the marriage books, and fewer octopuses and elephants in the marriage books.

I am a big fan of making stuff, particularly for people/kids that you know well, so you have a good chance of pitching it right.

Joe

Joe Marshall's idea is a lovely one but of course a bit out of many people's ability. Perhaps (semi-stealing that idea) you could get a photo album made into a book by someone like Snapfish (assuming you have lots of pictures of him that is).

Pair of cinema tickets for the parents and a couple of hours playing with Uncle Jamie? Not in the cellar, mind 😯

Or a push along trolley thing with wooden bricks.

wrapping paper because they will be more interested in that than the present.

Maybe something from Plan Toys?

Strong opiate based pain killers, so his parents can knock themselves out and have a quiet lie in

on my daughters first birthday my brother showed up with an ipod for me and the mrs. 😀

Geeky, but I bought my friend's son the domain name for his name (ie http://www.johnsmith.com or whatever) and set up a WordPress blog on it. His parents loved it and put pictures and videos on there nearly every day so his relatives can see how he's getting on.