I have a niece and nephew who are 6 and 8 months old. I thought about starting some sort of college fund for Christmas but can't afford to do much, probably $50 each, and I probably wouldn't make monthly contributions. So then I thought about a savings bond. But how do you buy a savings bond? I have no idea. Alternatively I could just give the parents the money and ask them to open a savings account/529/whatever for their kid. I also don't want to commit to making a set contribution per kid, my sister's already talking about having more and I suspect my brother's family will be growing quickly as well, I could easily end up with 4-8 nieces and nephews. And who knows what my youngest brother will end up doing? I have no plans to have children of my own, although there is still time for that to change (I doubt it will unless I marry into a family).

Any suggestions?

I'd go with a savings bond.

Hmm, so to give a bond I'd have to have the parents set up an account for themselves and the kids, get the kids' SSNs, all that after I get my own account setup... They sure don't make it easy! I've never purchased any type of bond before, I'll have to do some reading.

Savings bonds are entirely online now, I believe.

Honestly, the online system is terrible. I tried to get one last year but I kept having trouble getting through after multiple attempts and went to one of the last banks to offer them before they stopped giving them out.

Maybe it's better now but it really put me off from purchasing any. Though, from your post, it doesn't sound any better.