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A wish list for your kids that grandparents can actually buy from
Wishful Thinking is a free family wish list app. A parent keeps a list for each child, adds ideas from any store as they come up, and shares the list by link so grandparents, aunts and uncles can see what is wanted and what has already been bought.
Why parents end up needing a list
Relatives ask what the children want, usually a week before the birthday, and the honest answer is scattered across screenshots, open tabs and something mentioned at breakfast. Then two people buy the same thing. A list you add to all year, in the moment the idea comes up, fixes both.
Children do not need an account
Accounts on Wishful Thinking are for people 13 or older. Sign-up asks for a birth date once to confirm that, and does not save it. For a younger child, the parent keeps the list in the parent’s own account. Nothing about the child is collected beyond the name you choose to give the list.
Teenagers 13 and over can have their own account and their own lists, and share them with you the same way.
How to set it up
- Create your account and make one wishlist per child and occasion: “Ava’s birthday”, “Kids’ Christmas”.
- Give each list its date. Dates repeat yearly and appear on your gift calendar, so the birthday list is waiting for you next year.
- Add ideas when they happen. Paste a link, or on Android use Share → Wishful Thinking from the store’s app while you are looking at the thing.
- Mark what matters. “Really love this” for the one they keep talking about, “A little treat” for small things.
- Send the link when someone asks what to buy.
What relatives do
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Open the link | They see the list with pictures and prices where the store provided them. No account is needed to look. |
| Sign in or create a free account | Now they can see which items someone has already bought. |
| Tap “Mark as bought” | The item shows as bought to every other buyer. They can undo it if plans change. |
| Buy it | The link goes to the store’s own page. Wishful Thinking does not sell anything or take payment. |
A note for the parent holding the list
Because the list sits in your account, you are its owner, and owners never see bought marks. That is by design: it keeps a teenager’s own list a surprise. For a small child’s list it means you will not see what the grandparents have bought either. If you want to coordinate, have the other parent open the share link from their own account; as a family member they will see the marks.
Watching prices on bigger presents
For a bike or a console, add it early. Where the store’s page can be read, Wishful Thinking checks the price once a day, draws the history, and can alert your phone when it drops by more than an amount or percentage you set in Settings. Some large stores block automated reading; for those you enter the price by hand, and the daily check may not be able to read a new one.
What it costs
Wishful Thinking is free, for you and for every relative you share with. There are no paid plans and no ads.
More: running a whole-family Christmas list and how Wishful Thinking compares with other wish list tools.