You could make a journal jar to go along with the rest of the gift. I did this for my neice and a neighbor when they were 11 or 12.
A journal jar is just a canning jar filled with journal starters, like hmmm... "What have you learned about being a friend?" or "What is your favorite season and why?" I got lots of ideas from organizedhome.com where they have a journal jar for both adults and children. If you print off their slips, they say 'organized home' on the bottom. At another board I go to, Hearts at Home, someone posted a huge compilation of journal starters, both adult and children. I'll put a link to those.
http://p217.ezboard.com/fheartsboard...picID=95.topic
I just print the starters off on slips of paper, fold them in half and place in jar. I put a tag around the jar telling them to pull a slip out, adhere it in their journal, and then write their answer.