You don't know for sure what child likes. And you don't want to dictate what he or she should play with. Ultimately parents know better. But you need a present, right?
Every year children receive tons of toys on their birthdays. Toys are good for their development. But how many times you saw that after the excitement of opening a new toy it is getting forgiven and becomes useless in a matter of days?
If you wish that child to be successful throughout life -- a good education is hard to overvalue. Help parents save for their child's post-secondary education!
You want to make a present and you also want to make sure that it will go towards child's future post-secondary education. If parents already have it -- great, if not -- it is easy to open a new one. Just help them by asking, we'll provide all the information.
Also they need to have a "youth bank account" where funds will be transferred. Unfortunately we can't transfer directly to RESP but fortunately all major banks have free chequing accounts for kids.
Choose the amount of gift card. Remember that with every dollar put into RESP, government will add 20% on top, thanks to Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG).