Holiday Toy Safety Guide

The holidays are here, ready or not! If you're looking for tips on how to choose a safe and appropriate toy for the kids on your gift-giving list (from toddlers to teens), this 2025 guide is here to help. We'll also address some common concerns about gift-giving and your potential liability for injuries.

Choosing Safe Toys for Young Kids

Whether you're picking out a toy in the store aisles or online, here's what to keep in mind when narrowing down your options. (Some of these tips are common sense, of course; others might not be so obvious).

• Be vigilant for any toy or toy part that has sharp edges or presents a choking hazard. Especially for very young children, look for toys with a sturdy design and few (if any) parts that can be removed or that might break off.
• Any cord, string, or strap on a toy shouldn't be more than seven inches long if the gift is intended for a young child. You can always cut off an unnecessary strap or cord that doesn't affect how the toy itself works, just to be on the safe side.
• Avoid toys that include button batteries or powerful magnets that can be swallowed, posing a real risk of internal injury.
• Watch out for toys that might contain lead (including vintage, antique, or older toys, and any item with paint that might chip off). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises against giving kids toys that were made before 2009, since the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 significantly lowered the acceptable lead limits for children's products (toys made before then might contain more lead).
• Look for toys that are labeled "BPA-free" or "phthalate-free", and avoid plastic toys with recycling codes #3, #6, and #7, Seattle Children's Hospital advises.

Make Sure Toys Are Age/Grade Guideline-Appropriate

When you're choosing a present for a child of any age, it's important to follow the age/grade guidelines that should be prominently displayed on the packaging. These guidelines consider things like physical coordination, ability to reason, and sensory awareness.

From a safety standpoint, it might not matter much if you give an "Age 12 and Over" board game to a seven-year-old, but this kind of disparity becomes crucial with certain kinds of toys (remote control drones are a good example).

Check out this guide to Good Toys for Young Children by Age and Stage, from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

A Word of Caution on AI-Enabled Toys

It wouldn't be a 2025 safety guide without a warning on artificial intelligence (AI). A growing number of robots, teddy bears and other toys aimed at kids are now AI-enabled, meaning they can be used in interactive (and unpredictable) ways, much like chatbots.

Soon after these products hit the market came numerous reports of their AI components offering wildly inappropriate information and instructions to kids, and engaging in data collection. For more details, check out this Advisory on AI Toys (from fairplayforkids.org).

Beyond Toys: Kids' Clothes and Pajamas

Beyond the realm of toys, another popular option for kids' gifts is clothing, including pajamas and other cozy cold-weather items. Let's answer two common safety-related questions that come up here.

What's the Difference Between "Flame-Resistant" and "Flame-Retardant" Clothing?

Something that's labeled as "flame-resistant" is typically made with or made of materials that naturally resist igniting or burning. Silk and wool are examples of fabrics that are usually considered flame-resistant.

A "flame-retardant" product or fabric is usually something that's been manufactured or treated with a chemical that makes it more fire-resistant than it might otherwise be. One thing to keep in mind here is that the flame-retardant chemical will wear off over time, especially in fabrics that are washed on a regular basis.

Why Do Kids' Pajamas Say "This Garment Is Not Flame-Resistant"?

You'll typically see this warning on kids' pajamas that are made of cotton, which isn't a naturally flame-resistant fabric, so in some ways the manufacturer is stating the obvious. But the warning is also there to try to limit the company's liability. That's also why tags on kids' pajamas often advise that the item should "fit snugly," to help ensure that no loose fabric can get too close to that open fire at the chestnut-roasting party.

Check out the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's flammability standards for children's sleepwear.

Am I Liable If I Give Someone a Gift That Injures Them?

If you give a child (or anyone) a gift that ends up injuring them, a valid personal injury case might come out of that situation, but you're almost certainly not going to be the one getting sued. The most common scenario is one in which the gift ends up being somehow defective or unreasonably dangerous, and the product's manufacturer or seller might be held responsible for any resulting injuries under a legal theory known as "product liability."

If you put the gift together, and you didn't follow the instructions, that's likely going to complicate any product liability case, but it's probably not going to absolve the manufacturer or seller of liability, as long as the product is still considered defective.

What if you purposefully disregarded the instructions or modified the toy in a way that made it more dangerous? Maybe you even did something the instructions specifically warned against? Here, if your own negligence was the main cause of any resulting injuries (not any preexisting defect with the product), you could face liability under personal injury law.

What Is a Toy Product Liability Lawsuit?

When a child or anyone else is injured by a toy, and there's reason to believe that the toy had some sort of defect that made it dangerous, there might be a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer, the seller, and perhaps others in the market pipeline. These cases turn on proving that the toy had a design defect or a manufacturing defect, or that the toy didn't come with adequate warnings about the risks of using it. Learn more about proving a product liability claim.

Can a Gift-Giver Get Into Legal Trouble?

Not usually, no. You don't typically assume any kind of additional legal responsibility or risk through the act of giving someone a gift. But this is the law we're talking about, so there are always exceptions. Let's look at two of the most common:

If the gift you gave is illegal to possess or use—either because the recipient is under 18, or because the item is unlawful in general—you could face liability. Examples here include drugs, firearms, explosives, fireworks, and even exotic animals (the spirit of giving has been known to take some unusual forms).

Here, you could face liability (and prosecution) under your state's criminal laws as they relate to providing a minor with an illegal item, or even just based on the fact that you obtained and possessed an illegal item. This kind of violation of the law can also be used to help find you negligent in a civil lawsuit if any injuries result from the situation.

If you give your own child a potentially-dangerous item, like a firearm or a vehicle (anything from an electric scooter to a car), there are situations that could leave you on the legal hook for injuries to others, depending on the specifics of the situation and the law in your state.

A personal injury law concept called "negligent entrustment" can be used to hold a parent or guardian liable if their child uses a dangerous item to injure someone. The keys here are usually:

• whether the parent had reason to know that their child posed a special danger to others
• whether the parent failed to take reasonable steps to control the child's behavior (including access to or use of the item) and limit or minimize the dangers they might pose, and/or
• whether the child was "unfit" to possess or use the item that was given. (Sometimes age can be enough to make a child "unfit" in the eyes of the law, but a history of dangerous behavior and other red flags can also come into play).

Learn more about when parents can be sued for something their child did.

What Should I Do If an Injury Happens?

If there's a mishap or injury involving a holiday gift at your home this year, the incident might be covered by your homeowners' insurance policy, so you might want to start by letting your claims agent know about what happened.

If you think something was wrong with a toy or other product (maybe you believe it was defective when it came from the manufacturer), it's important to preserve the product (in whatever state it's in) and take pictures of everything that might tell the story of what happened.

In some situations, it might make sense to discuss things with an experienced personal injury lawyer.