Gifting to Creators Under 18: What Brands Must Do

You can gift to creators under 18, but treat the parent or guardian as the person you're dealing with. The parent agrees to the terms, gives their own name, email and address, and receives the package. Minors can cancel contracts, children under 13 bring in federal privacy law, and some products should never go to a teen at all.

Most brands run into this by accident. A 15-year-old with a great skincare account fills in your gift form, and suddenly you have a minor's home address in Shopify and a "terms of gift" they can walk away from. Here is what actually matters and the cheapest way to handle it. This is a plain-English guide, not legal advice; the threshold for paying a lawyer is at the end.

Why the parent has to be the one who agrees

Under US law, a minor generally can cancel ("disaffirm") a contract. California's version is typical. Family Code 6710 says a minor's contract "may be disaffirmed by the minor before majority or within a reasonable time afterwards."

For gifting, that means any condition you attach is unenforceable against the teen: post within 30 days, give us usage rights, don't resell. Mostly that's fine, because you shouldn't be enforcing a gift against anyone (see whether you can require a gifted creator to post). It matters most for content usage rights. If you plan to run a teen's video as an ad, a permission from the teen alone is the weakest piece of paper you can hold. Get it from the parent, in writing. Better, skip paid usage of minors' content unless a lawyer drafts the release. Our guide to asking for UGC usage rights covers the wording for adults.

California lets a court approve certain contracts with minors so they can't be cancelled on grounds of age (Family Code 6751). Since AB 1880 (2024), that list includes contracts with minors who work as content creators on online platforms. Court approval makes sense for a real, paid, ongoing deal. It is overkill for a $40 gift.

The child-influencer laws: who they actually target

Several states now protect children who appear in monetized family content. These are the laws people mean when they say "child influencer law":

Read the "who has the duty" column twice. The Illinois and California vlogger laws, and Minnesota's, put the obligations on the parent or family running a monetized channel, and they are measured in money earned from content. A brand that mails a free product to a family channel is not the vlogger. The statutes don't say plainly whether free product alone counts as "compensation", and nobody has tested it. For a gift with no strings attached, the realistic exposure for your brand is close to zero.

The exception is paying a minor directly. Under California's Coogan law, as expanded by AB 1880, a contract for a minor to work as a content creator requires the employer to set aside 15% of the minor's gross earnings in a trust account. If you pay a California teen for posts, you are on the hook for that. The cheap way to stay out of it is simple: with minors, gift only, with no posting condition. Leave paid deals to a lawyer.

COPPA: never let a child under 13 fill in your form

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act applies when an online service knowingly collects personal information from a child under 13. A name, home address and email address all count. Collecting them requires verifiable parental consent first. The FTC's amended COPPA Rule took effect June 23, 2025, with a compliance deadline of April 22, 2026, and FTC civil penalties run up to $53,088 per violation.

You don't need a consent system. You need the child to never be the one typing. Most major platforms set 13 as the minimum age for an account, so accounts featuring younger kids are normally run by a parent. Deal with that parent:

• Send the gift link to the parent's email, not the child's DMs.
• The parent fills in the form with their name, email and address. The child's name doesn't need to be in your system at all.
• If you find out a child under 13 submitted the form themselves, delete the order details and restart with the parent.

For 13 to 17 year olds, COPPA doesn't apply, but the same rule is still the cheapest protection. The parent's name is on the order, the parent agreed to the terms, the parent received the box. For how long to keep creator addresses and what to do with deletion requests, see what you can legally do with creator addresses.

Products you should never gift to a minor

The test: if you would age-check it at checkout, don't send it to a teen.

• Alcohol, including alcohol-infused products. The legal purchase age is 21 in every state.
• Tobacco and nicotine, including vapes, pouches and e-liquids. Federal law has set the minimum sales age at 21 since December 2019.
• CBD and hemp products. State age limits vary, and many retailers sell only to 21 and over.
• Weight-loss and muscle-building supplements. New York bans selling them to under-18s (General Business Law 391-oo, in effect since April 2024). A gift isn't a sale, but it's the exact product a state has decided teens shouldn't buy.
• Anything else sold 18+ under your own store policy, such as sexual wellness products. Match your own checkout rules.

Health and beauty claims need extra care with teen audiences. The claim rules in what creators can't say about gifted supplements and skincare apply fully.

Disclosure still applies

A teen's post about your gift needs the same clear disclosure as an adult's. The FTC's material-connection standard doesn't change with age (see the FTC gifted-product guide). Put the ask in writing to the parent, and make it plain: "gifted by [brand]" at the start of the caption. Young audiences are the least able to spot an undisclosed ad, so an obvious label protects you most here.

The copy-paste kit

First message, once you learn the creator is under 18:

Thanks so much, we'd love to send you something! Because you're under 18, we work with a parent or guardian for gifts. Could you share a parent's email? We'll send them the link to pick the product and fill in the shipping details. No obligation to post, and if you do, please mark it as gifted.

Line for your gift form or terms:

If the creator is under 18, this form must be completed by their parent or legal guardian, using the parent's or guardian's own name, email and shipping address. By submitting, the parent or guardian confirms they agree to these terms on the creator's behalf.

Brief clause for minors:

This is a gift with no posting requirement. If you choose to post, please label it "gifted by [brand]" at the start of the caption. We won't use your content in paid ads without separate written permission from your parent or guardian.

If your gift form requires creators to tick your terms before submitting, put the parent line there. On Seed, a required terms checkbox is re-checked on the server and recorded against the order, which gives you a record that a parent agreed.

Checklist

1. Ask age up front in outreach when a creator looks young. "Are you 18 or over?" is a normal question.
2. Under 18: switch to the parent. Parent's email, parent's name, parent's address.
3. Under 13: the child never touches your form. Parent only.
4. Gift only, no posting condition, no paid deal without a lawyer.
5. Check the product against the never-gift list.
6. Send the disclosure ask to the parent in writing.
7. No paid-ad use of a minor's content without a parent-signed release.

What this costs, and when to pay a lawyer

Gifting to teens the way this post describes costs nothing extra: one extra email to a parent and one line on your form. Pay a lawyer before you pay a minor anything, sign an ambassador or content deal with one, or run a minor's content as a paid ad. A California deal may need a Coogan account and possibly court approval, and the release wording matters. Below that line, the parent-first process is the whole compliance program. For adult creators, the influencer agreement guide has the standard clauses.

FAQ

Can brands send free products to creators under 18?

Yes. Gifting a product to a minor is legal as long as the product itself is legal for them to have. The risk is in everything around the gift: any terms or contract, the personal data you collect, and the product category. Run the whole thing through a parent or guardian: they agree to the terms, give the shipping address and receive the package.

Is a contract with a minor influencer enforceable?

Usually not against the minor. In most US states a minor can disaffirm (cancel) a contract before turning 18 or within a reasonable time afterwards. California Family Code 6710 is one example. Some states, including California, let a court approve an entertainment or content-creator contract so it can't be cancelled on grounds of age, but that is for real paid deals, not gifts.

Do child influencer laws apply to brands that gift products?

Mostly no. Illinois, California and Minnesota put the duties on the parent or family running the channel, and they are triggered by money earned from content that features the child. A no-strings gift doesn't make you the vlogger. A paid deal is different: in California, a direct contract with a minor content creator falls under the Coogan law, which requires the employer to set aside 15% of the minor's gross earnings.

Does COPPA apply if I collect a child creator's address?

It can. COPPA applies when an online service knowingly collects personal information, such as a name, address or email, from a child under 13. You would need verifiable parental consent first. The simple fix is to never let the child fill in your form: the parent completes it with their own name, email and address.

What products should brands never gift to minors?

Anything age-restricted at the point of sale: alcohol, tobacco and nicotine products including vapes (federal minimum age 21), and CBD or hemp products, where state rules vary. Also avoid weight-loss and muscle-building supplements; New York bans selling them to under-18s. If you would age-check it at checkout, don't gift it to a teen.