balloons. my 2 year old grandson's favorite thing at his second birthday was a mylar balloon.

Emulate Ramona Quimby and give them a box of tissues of their very own. They can then pull them out one by one, just like Willa Jean.

Do not give a 2yo toothpicks, real tape that sticks, markers, or pebbles!

Kid can choke on the beans ffs.
You want to give the kid some random used item for your house as performative buy nothing act.
Well ffs don't wrap it unless it's in paper from your recycling bin.

A spatula. Not sure if it is the item or the name that makes them so appealing to a 2 year old.

Wooden spoon and plastic colander so he can help cook with mom and dad.

I remember my kid’s favorite gift at that age was a book that was shaped like a car and had wheels and a handle on top. So you could use the handle to “drive” the car on a surface, and then you can open the book and look at the pictures.

Pair that with “road tape” and it would be a good gift

WTF?
I get it wanting to buy more toys
But why purposely give them trash ?
You could do a meaningful gift like a pass to the children's museum or zoo.
Don't be an ahole.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Balloons! Filled balloons are commonly available at Dollar Tree and opening a box of helium balloons will bring joy and in the end leave no clutter.

Balloons are just wasteful and become more trash for the landfill. Unless they're let up in the sky and pop and an animal eats it. A hard no on balloons, especially helium balloons.

There is nothing OP is considering that won't ultimately just become landfill, including the box, the wrapping paper, and the post-its or whatever.

Anonymous wrote:Why get a toy from goodwill or something? If I were your friend, I would be a little weirded out that you gave my kids random junk from your house.

I guess if you’re really anti-toy, I’d suggest post-it notes. Or a giant box the kid can sit in and color on.

A notepad with markers/crayons/colored pencils is halfway btw a normal gift and whatever OP is going for here.

Anonymous wrote:Balloons! Filled balloons are commonly available at Dollar Tree and opening a box of helium balloons will bring joy and in the end leave no clutter.

Balloons are just wasteful and become more trash for the landfill. Unless they're let up in the sky and pop and an animal eats it. A hard no on balloons, especially helium balloons.

Anonymous wrote:Here is something my kid brought from preschool and loves:

Take a toilet paper tube, fill it with beans (not all the way). Shut the two ends with duct tape and you have your own homemade maraca.

Lol. Put beans in paper towel tubes - call it a rain stick !

When mine were little (2 year old and crawling baby) we got a new air conditioner and that box was the toy of the year. They were in there all the time. They called it their "house".

2 year olds love trying to hide themselves inside the box more than anything.

Anonymous wrote:Anything that sticks. Stickers, bandaids, tape, post it notes, you get the idea.

Yep, this! Make a “sticky box” with all of those things in fun colors then hide them in a huge box with tons of tissue paper.