When our (Exceptionally Intelligent and Advanced) godson was born, Mr Puff and I decided that every year, we would give him at least one book. It might not be a book he would immediately appreciate, but we figured, even if he never becomes a literature nut or a voracious reader, maybe when he grows up, if he decides to raise a child, that child might be - either way, he will have at least the beginnings of a nice little personal library.
So of course we did all the basic kid classics, Grimm and Anderson, etc, but also reference books, last year for instance, included a big ol encyclopedia of about 500 or so tribes of indigenous people of the Americas, a book about different religions, and whichever one of the Harry Potter books he was about to need at the time - like millions of children, he was devouring those, and we had to keep current on which one he was on, so we could make arrangements with
Amazon to insure that the next one would be there waiting.
We are even poorer than usual this year, thanks to my "health challenges," so he will only get a couple, one of which will be Roget's Thesaurus.
Anyway, in case anyone has new little family members, it's a cool tradition to start, not very expensive, but will be an accumulating gift that will be, in its own way, priceless.
But I still order a small one for Christmas. how silly is that.
