Birthdays and Christmas can bring a mountain of gifts — and, if we’re honest, most of them are forgotten within a week. A subscription gift is a brilliant way to avoid that. Instead of one big present that gets a day of attention, your child gets something new to look forward to every month (or even every week), long after the wrapping paper is gone.
For a similar cost to a single big gift, you could give a subscription that runs for several months or even a full year — the gift that keeps on giving. And there’s something genuinely lovely about a child still getting a little surprise from their birthday or Christmas gift arriving through the letterbox months later.
From craft kits and science experiments to books, magazines and food adventures, here are 20+ brilliant subscription gifts for kids and teens to keep them engaged and excited, long after the gift has been given.
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Craft and STEM Subscription Gifts for Kids
Subscription boxes offer a range of hands-on activities aimed at particular age ranges and interests. They’re all about learning through doing and imagining, rather than just reading. How much supervision each one needs depends on your child, but some boxes require more adult involvement than others.
toucanBox
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Suitable for: Ages 3-8, sibling boxes available
Frequency: Monthly
Price: 1, 3, 6 and 12-month subscription packages from £5.95/€8.50 per month plus postage
This is a good all-rounder activity box that includes craft activities, a magazine featuring puzzles, games and recipes, and an assortment of stickers. Your child’s personalised box contains all the supplies needed to make that month’s craft.
toucanBox boasts Montessori-influenced STEAM learning and creativity. Children get some hands-on fun and learn a bit about science and artists along the way. Parental involvement will depend on your child’s age.
Mud & Bloom
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Suitable for: Ages 3-8, sibling boxes available
Frequency: Monthly
Price: £13.95/€16 per month
Getting muddy has always been popular with children, and Mud & Bloom channels that love of the outdoors into education and creativity.
Mud & Bloom boxes include seasonal activities such as nature crafts, seeds to plant, and games. Children will search for some of the materials outdoors, and there are small parts and things to read, so parents should supervise.
Geo Journey
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Suitable for: Ages 4-10
Frequency: Monthly
Price: £25/€30 for the initial shipment, then £12/€14 per month
Geo Journey is a fun way for children to learn about the world around them through facts, fun and even souvenirs.
The initial shipment includes a sturdy little suitcase, a personalised letter, a passport, a travel journal and more. After that, each month your child receives a personalised letter from Geo the owl and Atlas the puppy about their travels around the world, along with stickers, activities, booklets and a small souvenir from each destination (a boomerang from Australia, for example). Younger children will need help reading the letter, but older ones can manage independently.
Space Journey is a similar offering, this time focusing on the solar system, space and astronaut life.
Letterbox Lab
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Suitable for: Ages 6+
Frequency: Monthly
Price: From £11.25/€15 per box
If your child enjoys science and engineering, Letterbox Lab is just the thing. Everything needed for the experiments is provided, so there’s no prep time or hunting for extra materials.
There are two subscription options:
- Explore is for kids aged 6+ and includes 3-4 activities designed to occupy a few hours.
- Investigate is for ages 8+ and includes experiments and lab equipment (worth saving for future boxes) that can keep children busy for around six hours. The higher age recommendation is because it involves some reactive chemicals.
These boxes require supervision, but they include everything you’ll need except water.
The Rainy Day Box Co
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Suitable for: Ages 3+
Frequency: Monthly
Price: From £7.25 per month for 12 months
A fun-filled seasonal box arrives every month to combat any day, not just rainy ones. Each Rainy Day Box contains several fun activities, separately packaged within the box, along with simple instructions, a reward chart and reward stickers.
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Amazing Planet from World Wildlife Fund
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Suitable for: Ages 7-11
Frequency: Monthly
Price: €140 per year
A great gift for animal-loving children. First, a welcome pack arrives with an interactive world map, collectible animal cards and an exclusive Amazing Planet pin badge. Then each monthly Amazing Planet box focuses on a different part of the world and its animal population, letting your child get up close with local wildlife through themed booklets, interactive animal cards and gifts.
It won’t get the kids off screens entirely, as it pairs with the Amazing Planet app (available for iOS and Android) for photos, quizzes and games using augmented reality. Parental involvement depends on your child’s reading ability.
KiwiCo
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Suitable for: Babies to teens
Frequency: Monthly or bi-monthly, depending on the subscription
Price: Varies by crate
KiwiCo offers a range of boxes for different ages, from newborns to older teens, with plenty to appeal to all interests, from science and crafts to kitchen skills and art.
- The Panda Crate is for babies up to age 2, with contents that change as your baby develops. A good gift for an expectant parent, as you can order in advance for the due date.
- The Koala Crate for preschoolers includes 2-3 projects around a theme such as camping, rainbows or a visit to the doctor.
- The Kiwi Crate for ages 5 to 8 features STEM-focused crafts for interactive learning — a kite, a stomp rocket or an arcade claw game, for example.
- The Atlas Crate teaches 6-11 year olds about different countries through crafts, recipes and games.
- The Yummy Crate gets 6-14 year olds into the kitchen to explore the science of cooking and build confidence.
- The Tinker Crate is aimed at ages 9+ and steps up the STEM learning with projects such as a walking robot, a hydraulic claw or a trebuchet.
- The Doodle Crate is full of crafts for young artists aged 14+, such as felt succulent plants and homemade soap.
- The Maker Crate is a design-focused collection of crafts for ages 14+, such as a clay desk organiser and macrame plant hangers.
- Budding engineers aged 14+ will enjoy the Eureka Crate projects, including an articulated desk lamp and a wooden ukulele.
Craftiosity
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Suitable for: Teens
Frequency: Monthly
Price: £24.95 per month
Each month brings a limited-edition craft kit to make beautiful things and learn new skills — book-binding, ceramics, macrame, paper-making, cyanotype printing, or something else entirely.
All Craftiosity kits come with the essential tools and materials included, plus step-by-step instructions and video tutorials to help complete the project.
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Other Subscription Gifts for Kids
Eat2Explore
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Suitable for: Ages 2+
Frequency: Monthly
Price: 1, 3, 6 and 12-month subscriptions available; from $87 for 3 months
Each month your budding chef can look forward to a new culinary adventure with award-winning educational food and culture kits from Eat2Explore. They’ll explore a new country from a different continent group each month, and there are gluten-free and vegetarian options too.
The Willoughby Book Club
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Suitable for: Babies to teens
Frequency: Monthly
Price: From £34.99 for 3 months
The Willoughby Book Club offers several book subscription gifts to choose from, including:
- Baby Book Club — a great introduction for children aged 0-12 months
- Toddler Book Club — helps foster a lifelong love of books and reading for 1-3 year olds
- Children’s Book Club — perfect for budding readers aged 4-12, chosen around their reading interests
- Young Adult Book Club — for ages 13+, introducing new fiction titles and keeping teens engaged with reading
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Banjo Robinson
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Suitable for: Ages 5+
Frequency: Monthly
Price: 1, 3, 6 and 12-month subscriptions available; from £2.00 per month
Make reading and writing the highlight of your child’s week with this highly personalised subscription, which includes real letters from a magical cat.
With his first letters, Banjo sends a big, beautiful world map poster so your child can track his travels and add stickers for every country he visits. Twice a month, Banjo visits a new country and sends a personalised letter along with a recipe, stickers, a colouring-in sheet, reply stationery and a travel guide. Better still — Banjo writes back.
Little Bakers Club
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Suitable for: Varies
Frequency: Monthly
Price: From £9 per month
The Little Bakers Club delivers a monthly box so your little baker can learn to make something new, from monster cupcakes to flapjacks to cake pops. Each box includes pre-weighed dry ingredients, a step-by-step recipe card and a little activity.
For younger children, baking is a great way to build hand-eye coordination and creativity, though parents will need to help with reading and supervision. Older children can develop their baking skills and boost their confidence in the kitchen.
‘A Young Reader’s Year’ Book Subscription from Dubray
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Suitable for: Ages 0-14
Frequency: Monthly
Price: €150
Imagine the excitement of a new book arriving in the post every month. This book subscription gift from Dubray is ideal for the young booklover in your life — a new, gift-wrapped book is delivered each month, chosen to suit their tastes and encourage a love of reading.
This service is offered to delivery addresses on the island of Ireland — check with Dubray directly for current details before buying.
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Magazine Subscription Gifts for Kids
Magazine subscriptions are a tried-and-true staple for all ages, and most titles offer some form of subscription, with frequency varying by publication. They’re a great idea both for avid readers and for kids who need a little encouragement to pick up something to read.
National Geographic Kids
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Suitable for: Ages 6-11
Frequency: 13 issues per year
Price: €45 per year
Each issue of Nat Geo Kids is packed with fascinating facts, puzzles and breathtaking imagery about the environment, animals, history and culture.
The Phoenix
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Suitable for: Ages 7-14
Frequency: Weekly
Price: £84.99/€100 for 6 months
If you’ve ever hidden vegetables in other foods, you’ll appreciate the logic of this comic. The Phoenix includes fun and silly comic stories, but it also sneaks in some history and encourages children to draw their own comics.
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Aquila Magazine
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Suitable for: Ages 8-13
Frequency: Monthly
Price: €76 per year
Aimed at curious and confident readers, Aquila makes science, history and general knowledge accessible to children, combining articles with puzzles and beautiful illustrations. Each issue focuses on a theme such as dinosaurs or coding.
Beano
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Suitable for: Babies to teens
Frequency: Weekly
Price: Intro offer of first 3 months for £10; £49 for 6 months
Join Dennis, Gnasher, Minnie and all their friends in this classic comic favourite that generations have enjoyed. With a Beano subscription, you’re guaranteed a weekly helping of mischief, mayhem and comic fun delivered straight to your door, before it’s in the shops.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What age is a subscription box best suited to?
There’s a subscription option for every age, from newborn to teen. Craft and STEM boxes tend to be grouped by age range (such as 3-8 or 9+), while book and magazine subscriptions often let you pick titles to match a child’s reading level and interests.
Do subscription gifts work out cheaper than buying separate presents?
A subscription spreads the cost of a gift across several months rather than one big spend, so it can feel more manageable — and it means a child gets something new to enjoy several times a year instead of one item that’s quickly forgotten.
Can I buy a subscription for just a few months rather than a full year?
Many of the subscriptions above offer flexible terms, including 1, 3, 6 and 12-month options, so you can choose a length that suits your budget and the occasion.
Are subscription boxes good for siblings to share?
Some providers, such as toucanBox and Mud & Bloom, offer sibling boxes specifically designed so more than one child can take part. For others, it’s worth checking directly with the provider before buying if you’d like siblings to share.
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Save These Ideas for Later
Not ready to choose just yet? Bookmark this page or save it to your gift-planning list so you can come back to it before the next birthday or Christmas rolls around.
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