Christmas Gift Guide
What to buy a circus kid — chosen by the people who teach them
Every December we get the same question, usually in the car park: "what should I get them for Christmas?" So here is our answer. We are a circus school on the Gold Coast, we get around 75 children a week through the door, and we have watched a great deal of gear either survive that or fall apart. This is what we would buy.
Paid links: some of the links on this page are paid links. If you follow one and buy something, the shop pays Big Star Circus a small commission. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not decide what goes on this page. Anything described as ours is our own — no commission involved, we just made it.
How we picked these
It has to survive a whole class
Gear at home is used by one child. Ours is handed down a line of them, dropped on a hard floor, stood on, and thrown in a tub at the end. Most of what we buy was not built for that, and it shows.
We steer away from button batteries
Small button and coin batteries are the thing that genuinely worries us, so given two similar options we take the one without one. We cannot test or certify anybody else’s product — we are telling you what we look at, and asking you to read the packaging on whatever you buy.
Something they can show someone
The best circus present is one that produces a trick by Boxing Day. A child who can do three throws in front of their grandparents comes back to class in February.
We say what the downside is
Every one of these has one. A gift guide where everything is wonderful is a gift guide that is selling you something.
Stocking fillers
Juggling scarves
The thing we reach for first with anyone who has never juggled. They fall slowly, which gives a child time to think instead of time to panic. A set of three fits in a stocking.
Hot Wheels
Small, cheap, and they survive being trodden on — which in our experience is the real test of a toy in a house with children. (Paid link.)
Spinning plates
A plate on a stick. Endlessly harder than it looks, and the first circus skill most of our kids get to show off at a family Christmas.
A Big Star gift card
For the relative who has no idea what to buy. Arrives by email, so it still works on Christmas Eve. (Ours.)
For the child who has caught the circus bug
Circus Starter Kit
Three juggling balls, three scarves, a spinning plate and an instruction card, in a Big Star bag. What we would put together ourselves for a child who has just started. (Ours.)
Big Star tee
Ours, printed here in Queensland. Kids and adult sizes — plenty of parents end up in one too. (Ours.)
Drawstring bag
Fits juggling balls, a water bottle and a jumper. Everything a circus kid carries, in one bag they can carry themselves. (Ours.)
Drink bottle
Gold Coast summer, a hall full of children, and one bottle that does not leak in a bag. (Ours.)
For getting them outside
Giant lawn games
Oversized versions of games everyone already knows, which means the adults join in without being asked twice.
Scooters, bikes and ride-ons
The present that gets used every day of the holidays rather than the first three.
Trampolines
The big one. Worth reading up properly before you commit — it is a lot of money and a lot of backyard.
Mega building blocks
Chunky blocks for smaller hands, from the brand that makes them rather than a reseller. (Paid link.)
The ones they ask for by name
Barbie
Direct from Mattel's own Australian shop, which is usually where the full range actually is. (Paid link.)
Fisher-Price
For the younger sibling who is watching their big brother or sister go to circus and waiting their turn. (Paid link.)
Matchbox
The other die-cast one. Worth a look alongside Hot Wheels rather than instead of it. (Paid link.)
What's on sale
Where we start when the list is long and the budget is not. (Paid link.)
Before you order
Two things worth knowing. Prices and stock belong to the shops, not to us, so check them on the day — ours go out of date the moment we type them. And order earlier than feels necessary. Australia Post publishes its last posting dates for Christmas each year at auspost.com.au, and the window for anything coming from overseas is longer again. If you need it under the tree, the safe answer is always "this week".
Why we tell you about the commission
Because you are trusting us with your children every week, and that is worth considerably more to us than a referral fee. So: we tell you when a link pays us, we do not take money to put something on this page, and if something stops being worth recommending it comes off. If you would rather not use the links at all, search for the thing by name instead — genuinely, no hard feelings. The recommendation is the same.
Something made by us, not recommended by us
Big Star tees, caps, bags and the Circus Starter Kit — plus gift cards, which arrive by email if you have left it late. All ours, printed in Queensland.
See our own gear →