What should one do when you know the perfect birthday gift for someone but it is the wrong season? Either the gift is unavailable at that time of year or it becomes a storage issue for the next 6 months. With an young niece and nephew both having birthdays early in the year, they can have a winter gift at Christmas. Often the best gifts for them are things they would use in the summer (kid sized kayaks for example). Is it better to wait on these items until they are in season and can be used immediately or is it necessary to give these gifts on their birthdays?
Give them gift checks or gift cash so when the item that they like becomes available they would be able to have it. It's more preferable of course to give them gift checks because it ensures that it would really be gone for the item that they really like that they don't have a choice to use it for there unlike with the cash. When you give it to them, they might be too bored to wait and just give in to temptation of buying something else they like less, just because they can't wait any longer.
I suppose buying them anytime and giving them to the kids is OK. There's no point in waiting until the prices go up before buying the gift. Alternatively, you could give them to the kid's parents and tell them it's for the kid's birthday. That way the gifts can be given to the kids at the right time.
