Earlier this week we asked our friends on Facebook and Instagram: “What’s the most interesting present you’ve given one of your children?”

We got so many really great answers that we thought it would be fun to compile some of them here in case you’re looking for a last minute idea.

• “Little tree car air fresheners. My son has autism and is obsessed.”
• “Anatomy Flashcards (she asked for them).”
• “A baby brother.”
• “I don’t know if have given anything crazy, but one year my son asked santa for bacon and my daughter asked him for cheese. i guesse they were hungry (they are well fed children..)”
• “We got our kids some of the reusable bandage wraps for $1 each. They love them and have been so creative with them.”
• “Last year my 2 year old got Band-Aids! He was obsessed with them! When he just even bumped his finger he would get a Band-Aid. Granted I would not have let my first 3 get one unless there was blood but he’s the baby and whatever just take the Band-Aid and stop crying!”
• “Bandaids, my 6 year old son was obsessed with bandaids last year.”
• “Last year they got bb guns and sling shots.”
• “We got one of my sons bearings so he can take apart his Rubiks cube and make it a faster one – he’s trying to solve it in under 30 seconds.”
• “A bike frame, then her and my husband had the rest custom built out.”
• “Muck boots and work gloves to help in the barns. They weren’t too thrilled with that gift either.”
• “I’ve got a giant box of Borax under the tree for my 7 year old. He loves to make slime and he’s gonna love it!”
• “My daughter asked for a bowling pin so we gave her one. She was two.”
• “My answer would be smart empty box with a note that said it would be arriving any day.”
• “An empty box. Our 2-year-old was ecstatic! We solid give him other stuff but he enjoyed the boxes they came in the most!”
• “My oldest got a briefcase when she was 2.”
• “Broccoli! He put it on his Christmas list!”
• “We gave my 6 year old son a wig brush.”
• “Bubble Wrap. It was love at first pop.”
• “I gave a friend’s kid capers once because she was always stealing them out of the fridge.”
• “One year we gave my son homemade cassette tapes with each of us reading stories to him. He loved it so much that we’ve had my dad do one for him too.”
• “Cat litter, dog piddling pads and dog/cat food….. My son asked for items that he could then donate to the shelter and that’s what we bought him!”
• “Hmm…most interesting gift I’ve given one of my 5 children? Maybe peanut butter crunch cereal for their birthday!”
• “When my son was 5 he asked for a Christian chair. we got him a old antique and he still loves it”
• “A chalkboard painted wall”
• “My oldest daughter is in love with a French cartoon named Miraculous. There is a little pet that loves Camembert cheese on the show. My daughter has always wanted to try it, so I found it and ordered it for her to try! Ended up being a very strong stinky cheese!”
• “My daughter got a little coop and chickens one year as a gift!”
• “Most interesting gift for my 8 year old…hmm 5 baby chicks.”
• “Horse lessons and a cooking class.”
• “A toy cleaning set. my 2yo always takes my mop, broom and rags and pretends to clean, so I got him his own.”
• “Cleaning supplies. And she loved it!”
• “Clocks. My daughter just loves all things clocks!”
• “I gave my daughter coal in her stocking one year. I don’t think she found it as funny as we did.”
• “We gave my middle son an old coin (a cent piece from 1819) because he is into coin collecting. And to make it look a little more spectacular, we wrapped it in 7 boxes since he was turning 7 and got to open 7 presents instead of just one little tiny one. “
• “We gave one of our sons a package of colored pencils and a notebook. The squeal of delight, and tears, when he opened it was so unexpected, but so very sweet.”
• “Medical school anatomy coloring book.”
• “Bathtub crayons, pipes & gears.”
• “Skyline chili my kids love it and were super excited to see it under the tree”
• “The most interesting gift we’ve given our kids, happened on a random day. We bought curtain rods and curtains. Then all crafted them together into fantasy wizard type costumes. They loved them.”
• “A desk we bought at a yard sale for $3. We refinished it and glued painted wooden letters to the back of the chair to spell his name.”
• “A Russian kids’ dictionary!”
• “He asked for a dragon costume that had dragon knees on it. So that’s what he got.”
• “Most interesting present I have give my kid was a 5 disc set of documentaries on the Titanic. He was 6 at the time and SQUEALED when he saw it. No other present mattered.”
• “My kids gave me doorknobs and screws one year! We are slowly remodeling our house and they had been asking me what I wanted for Christmas. I couldn’t think of anything so I responded, “doorknobs and screws” implying I wanted more remodeling done. No, they took it upon themselves to wrap up a bunch of the old screws and doorknobs we had already removed and give them to me. I laughed till I cried when I opened it.”
• “My two year old begged for a dust buster because he was pretty much born with a love of cleaning. He’s 7 now and still helps around the house more than anyone else, he begs for chores! It’s nice!”
• “An eraser that looked and felt exactly like a real ear. Hahaha. Our 3 yr old was obsessed with ears all last year. She LOVED IT!”
• “A box of 1000 envelopes. My daughter loved to pretend she was “paying bills” and would scribble pretend addresses on them and use a sticker for a stamp. Of course this required a follow up gift of a mailbox of her own, so all her “bills” wouldn’t confuse the real postman.”
• “Her own bottle of Lemon essential oil.”
• “Dino poop excavation kit!”
• “Right before our second child was born, we brought our two-year-old to a teppanyaki restaurant as an “experience” gift. She watched in awe as the chef threw spatulas, eggs, and noodles into the air. This resulted in her forks and spoons becoming vast (cheap!) entertainment for a long time afterward…”
• “We do favorites in their stockings. My daughter will get black olives, my middle son will get pickles, my oldest son will get flamin hot cheetos, and our youngest son will get crackers.”
• “One year for her birthday, everyone got our daughter her favorite foods and condiments. Cases of Macaroni and cheese, ketchup, and thousand island dressing.”
• “In the age of everything digital my 9 year old asked for black and white film for his camera so he will be getting some in his stocking.”
• “I think my son would say his most interesting gift was a day out fishing with his friends. Best kind of gift.”
• “We bought my oldest freeze dried food. We went with a camping theme that year, and one of the pieces of that was camping food.”
• “My 5 year old is getting frog legs this year by request!!”
• “I gave my son, Tony, a box of frosted flakes.”
• “This year my 3 year old is getting a fossil kit, he is super into dinos and pretends rocks from the yard are fossils and I find them all over the house”
• “Regular presents wrapped in gag gift boxes from Amazon (hubby’s idea!) He loves a good prank! The kids are going to be so miffed!”
• “A gardening tote/seat. The kind you would expect an old lady to like, but it was given to an 11 year old girl. What can I say, it’s what she wanted.”
• “A new 1 gallon gas can. Our 2 year old likes to be just like Daddy and fill up his toy chainsaw.”
• “My son is getting a hot glue gun this year.”
• “A guitar and amp. Our son has had to replace it, but he still plays today!”
• “I gave my son a round hairbrush in his stocking last year, because I got tired of him taking mine to use as a back scratcher!”
• “Hand sanitizer dispenser that attach to the wall for my 10 year old daughter.”
• “I’d have to say my son loved the hatchet and the book hatchet that he got lol”
• “When he was nine, our son developed a strong interest in beekeeping so we got him a hive for Christmas! Now we’re enjoying the honey from his bees.”
• “We built our children an entire indoor play structure out of gaylord cardboard boxes, which are sturdy enough we actually built slides and multiple stories!”
• “My son is getting a toy kitty that eats and poops this year.”
• “The most interesting gift I’ve given so far was a wrapped bottle of ketchup to my then 2 year old! The video is priceless. He was ecstatic.”
• “The most interesting gifts were Kindles for each of them They where not expecting them so it was a great surprise!”
• “We have given each child (as a baby/toddler) rubber kitchen utensils. They never tire of chewing on the spatula and then using it in their pretend kitchen as they get older. Dual purpose!”
• “This year, my daughter asked for a lemon zester as one of her gifts. She loves to bake!”
• “We gave our son’s a letter from mom and dad describing their year.”
• “Lint roller for my oldest was probably the strangest. He liked “cleaning” his stuffed animals with them.”
• “We gave my son a lizard.”
• “Lumber pieces, nails and a hammer. All in a trash bag. Lol”
• “A make your own crystals kit. My kids were so excited about setting everything up and waiting for the crystals to grow.”
• “A box full of aluminum foil, Brad’s, paperclips and tape….my son loves to use his makey makey board and make things.”
• “A trip to the mall and order any food they wanted to eat:) (no limit or restriction)”
• “I hand made a marshmallow gun one time…It was a real hit!”
• “One year, I made my daughter her own medical kit with real supplies. Cheaper but it came with everything she actually wanted to play to play with (bandaids, cheap stethoscope, gauze, stickers, thermomether) , instead of all those plastic pieces.”
• “Memberships! Interesting year round!”
• “I believe our most interesting gift this year will be the microscope set.”
• “My daughter is getting a microscope for Christmas! That is top on her list. I am sure it will be very interesting! We bought a box of slides too.”
• “Probably a microscope. Homeschool kids get functional gifts.”
• “The most interesting gift is probably owl pellets.”
• “I gave my daughters the gift of mom time with tickets they can use whenever they want. For example a trip to the park, no electronics day, picnic with mom, cuddles, etc…) Yhey are always asking for more time with me, so I figured they would love having the chance to direct when that happens.”
• “A Mortar and Pestal…it’s all she wanted!!! Lol!!!”
• “My daughter asked for a can of black olives one year. One that she didn’t have to share with anyone. She got it and ate the entire can.”
• “Well, my parents gave it to my kids, but it was definitely the most interesting gift…packing peanuts and a sponge…so they could build things by sticking the packing peanuts together.”
• “One year, we got each of our kids his/her own pack of copy paper. I was tired of them using all of mine to draw pictures on. They actually were really thrilled to have their own paper, and over the next two years, our house had drawings galore all over the place.”
•  “Paprika. My son has autism and that is all he asked for one year.”
• “We got our kids passports for Christmas and took them on a trip out of the country! It was wonderful for the whole family.”
• “One of the interesting gifts I gave to one of my children was a photo of the gift I’d ordered for him (it was my oldest son who has special needs). The order got held up & didn’t make it in time. I took a chance at wrapping the photo so the gifts were “fair” (I have 6 kids) & also then he could be excited waiting on the item to come. The best part was his reaction…instead of being confused or upset that it was just a picture of something he really wanted, he got so excited as if the item itself was there!! He didn’t even care about my attempt at explaining it to him, he just wanted a frame for the picture of said item & hung it on his wall. When the item finally came, he was confused but then I think it finally “clicked” that this was my intention…but he still has the picture of it too. It was pretty cool.”
• “A couple of years ago I gave my oldest daughter a huge jar of whole dill pickles (those giant jars you get a Sam’s Club)! She loves pickles so she was thrilled with this gift! lol”
• “Mer-unicorn pillow cases! I thought she was asking for something impossible last minute but I actually found some!”
• “A pillow case that says right side. My son was really concerned that he kept waking up on the wrong side of the bed so asked for a pillowcase so he knew which side to be on when he woke up”
• “Our six year old cowboy asked for fencing pliers for Christmas so he can put up a fence for the 5 calves he is hoping to buy at the sale barn with his $1.25!”
• “A bunch of pistachios. My middle one really, really likes them.”
• “My daughter got my husbands childhood pony!”
• “The most interesting thing I gave my son was a set of popsicle makers. One year he was obsessed with making popsicles.”
• “We played a trick on our kids and gave them Potatoes and told them it’s a mr. potatoe head and to just color the face!”
• “We gave our daughter a Shakespeare boxing puppet as one of her gifts. Definitely one of our most interesting gifts to give!”
• “I built a puppet stage one year out of a clothing rack. They love it”
• “Most interesting gift is a goldendoodles puppy!!! Lol”
• “A puzzle box, filled with folded $1 bills. He had to learn how to open the puzzle box to find a bunch of money to have to unfold it and count how much was in there. It took well over 4 hours but so much fun!”
• “My girl got rabbits this year for her birthday.”
• “One year, I gave my son a rat.”
• “Probably regifting things that they totally forgot about or was being handed down to a younger sibling.”
• “A huge stuffed rhino for the rhino obsessed child. A train ride for the train obsessed child.”
• “Well, us homeschooling parents generally have some rather interesting and potentially questionable gifts. This year, I got my daughter a rocket launcher (physics and chemistry together!). When I got home and was telling someone about it, I realized that maybe that wasn’t so smart…”
• “A rocks and Minerals kit with a trip to the museum too.”
• “Most interesting gift I’d say was rootbeer. I’m quite strict on not giving my kids pop, except for at parties. So my son decided all he wanted for Christmas from Santa was rootbeer, I had to give in”
• “a Sewing machine for my 7 yr old. Your never to young to start sewing, or too old lol”
• “School supplies of all kinds for my 6 year old is what she asked for.”
• “A homemade science experiment kit.”
• “Hmmm I guess the most different gift would be styrofoam shields and swords so the can do battle.”
• “Last year we told our kids that they were getting a new sibling!”
• “Silly string, not sure if it is as interesting as it is fun. But we all got silly string and then had a big fight.”
• “Giving my 15 year old a skillet this year. (She picked it out.)”
• “Soap dish with a dolphin on it. That’s what my son wanted when he was 6.”
• “All of my gifts have been practical and ordinary. My mother in law put a dirty sock she found at her house in my son’s gift. He got as excited over a dirty sock, that wasn’t his, as he did over his first bike.”
• “A year’s supply of split peas for pea soup. He asked Santa for it. He likes pea soup and wanted to be sure he knew we couldn’t run out.”
• “A stuffed squid that came apart into 3 pieces.”
• “I hand cross stitched a stocking. Took 167+ hrs of stitching.”
• “A hand crocheted stocking cap? We don’t give a lot of gifts since everyone else gives her stuff.”
• “Last year our big kids got a stop-motion-animation camera & it has been a huge hit . . .so many different ways to play with it!”
• “Our youngest asked for a package of straws when he was 3 or 4. He loved building things with them.”
• “”Strings, springs, and things” – a homemade invention kit.”
• “One year my son only asked for a stocking full of Scotch tape and a box of cardboard. He was really into “tinkering” that year.”
• “I’m putting tape in one of our kids stockings this year.”
• “Tape… they’re always taking mine!”
• “I’d have to say the most interesting gift I’ve given one of my children was tape. This particular child was constantly using up my regular tape, mavalus tape and any other tape he could find. He was thrilled to find his stocking full of tape that year!”
• “Lots and lots of Scotch tape of his own. He loved it.”
• “Scotch tape for my crafty girl who uses all of mine up!”
• “Duct tape and a ream of copy paper.”
• “Another one here for tape. Tons of scotch and duck tape.”
• “The most interesting gift for Santa was when my son asked for a toaster. He had meant a pretend play toaster but Santa thought that he really liked toasted bread.”
• “A midwife text book to a fourteen year old.”
• “This year we are giving our five year old tickets to see The Magic School Bus live.”
• “Disney on Ice Tickets with Mickey shirts for all 3 boys to match.”
• “A new toilet brush. My toddler was always taking the dirty one and couldn’t leave it alone. We got him his own and he was so happy!!”
• “A trampoline for my severe adhd child”
• “My 3yr old asked for a tree, no details other than a real tree, for her birthday. So we planted an evergreen and a box elder maple in our front yard.”
• “Their very own Christmas Tree.”
• “We gave my son a tree. He wanted it so bad and was so upset when we went to the home improvement store and he thought he wasn’t going to get a tree.”
• “This year my child asked for a typewriter!!”
• “A volcano excavation kit (where you chip away at a volcano to unearth Little Rock’s and fossils). My middle son loves fossils and rocks. He’s getting a metal detector this year!”
• “A vegitable sprilizer for our five-year- old. She comes up with something to spirilize virtually every meal and begs for veggies at the store.”
• “My sons got a visit from a fire truck one year for their birthday. Seriously the coolest, most interesting gift I’ll ever pull off”
• “A wall hanging that contained all the words of Napolean Dynamite.”
• “My daughter asked for a weighted blanket… She absolutely loves that thing!!”
• “An old wheelchair. They pushed each other around for years in that thing.”
• “Wish cards that he could write special wishes on during the year that could then redeem.”
• “A zip line and crash pad.”
• “A zip line for the back yard.”
• “A zoo membership for the animal loving toddler!”