Help with angel tree gift for 13 yo boy

[hj0519]

I agree about the ipod - I wouldn't. It would be hard for him to even load it up with music since you don't know if he has regular Internet access and even has a computer that he could hook it up to. I don't think he would be able to do it at school. No use in getting an expensive item that could either get stolen or that he wouldn't even be able to use.

 

[hambirg]

I work with children in foster care, who are placed in regular homes and shelters. As others have pointed out, electronics are not a good idea.
The gift card may not be such a good idea either, since you don't know if the child even has the means to get to a store. Plus, parents in desperate situations sometimes take the gift cards from the children to buy what they want/need, or they sell it for cash. I hate to be a downer, but I see these things happen all the time.

Something we like to suggest for the older kids, are tight-roll sleeping bags. This ensures they always have their own personal sleeping item instead of "icky" shelter sheets and pillows. The personal care items and socks are also good ideas.
Other things that are not too bulky and are good for shelter situations are: card games, drawing pads and pencils, a sturdy backpack, a watch, a baseball cap (whatever NFL or collegiate team is popular around you.)

Thanks for sharing your blessings this year.

I taught in an inner city school and had students that were living in shelters. The iPod is a bad idea. They are sold or stolen. . .they actually make the kid a kind of target. Sad but true. The gift cards are also not so good for the reasons that the PP mentioned.

What these kids usually need are things that feel like home. A good quality sleeping bag or a nice bedding set is really a great idea. Personal care items that feel like little luxuries. . .an Axe gift set, some good body wash and lotion. Small things like the baseball hat from the local sports teams are an excellent idea. . .it's special, but not so special that it becomes a target for others. Card games, comic books, sports trading cards, magic tricks. . .all good ideas.

Good luck. . it's really nice that you picked an older child.

 

[december]

I teach, and our schools are locked down tight when it comes to internet access. Having the controls in place is tied to federal money.

I understand the problems with giftcards. I still say a nice backpack full of personal care items, gloves, and a cap. I love the idea of a nice sleeping bag and some school supplies also. Wish you knew the sizes-a jacket would be good too. But with my son's 7th grade class, some kids look 25 and some look 10. No way to estimate a size.

 

[jen0610]

For the last 3 years, we here at work buy christmas gifts for the kids who are living at a local Christian home. We are lucky enough to get a list of things that the kids would like. But for as lucky as we are with a list, some of the items are heartbreaking. There is one boy, he is on the list for the 3rd year now, every year asks for chap stick. Breaks your heart that a teen boys wish is for some chap stick.


Some of the things the boys are asking for this year are:

Tools of any kind
Body pillow
Winter gloves
Dress shirt
Gas Card
Blue jeans
Winter hat
Sphere (disc) chair
AA Batteries
Gift Cards
Body towels and wash cloths
Drawing tablets and pencils
White ankle socks
Body wash

Black Friday sales were my friend. For the last 3 years I have taken a family of 3 sisters who live at the home (1st year, there was a 4th sister, but she is no longer in the home), as my kids to buy for. With the sales I got, they each will have 4 gifts to open. Of the 3 items they each had listed, they are getting each one, plus a gift card to go and pick themselves out something.

 

[golfgal]

Keep in mind for kids that are truly needy getting stylish clothing and personal grooming supplies is a BIG DEAL. When you are in a family that has all of that "stuff" already you don't see it as something that is "fun" getting for Christmas but having a new shirt from Aero or Axe spray to put in your gym locker at school like all of the rest of the boys is a big deal. In our old town I worked with a Christmas Charity and the older girls LOVED getting razors and especially razor blades.

 

[Tinkermommy]

I love the ideas you guys have given me.

When my husband first said he got a teenage boy I thought about what a teenage boy would want not a teenage boy in these difficult circumstances.

I wish I knew his sizes as I would love to get him a winter coat but there is just no telling.

Thanks for all of your perspectives on the situation. I have really changed my gift "strategy" for him.

Happy Holidays!

 

[golfgal]

I love the ideas you guys have given me.

When my husband first said he got a teenage boy I thought about what a teenage boy would want not a teenage boy in these difficult circumstances.

I wish I knew his sizes as I would love to get him a winter coat but there is just no telling.

Thanks for all of your perspectives on the situation. I have really changed my gift "strategy" for him.

Happy Holidays!

If you get him clothing, attach a gift receipt to a tag inside one of the articles of clothing. If they are in a shelter there might be someone there that can exchange for size that way.

 

[NotUrsula]

Tools of any kind

Now that one is interesting -- for a shelter kid. Tools are heavy to carry and usually rather bulky, too; I wouldn't think it would be easy to keep them in a shelter. (Now if the family were prone to living in a car, then it would make perfect sense.) Of course, if the boy was over 16 and trying to make a bit of money as a day-laborer or by doing fix-it jobs, then tools would be an obviously useful thing.

Something I'd toss into a backpack would be a really simple thing that is so useful: a rubber door wedge (and if it were a homeless shelter, perhaps a small PacSafe for the backpack itself.) When you are living in a group situation, things that can help guard your privacy (on those few occasions when you get any privacy) probably make the situation feel just a little more bearable.

 

[browneyes106]

Another small suggestion might be card game sets like UNO, Skip-Bo, Scrabble Slam or maybe some small hand held electric games of Tetris or something.

 

[Cindy B]

Playing cards
dominoes
drawing pad/colored pencils
razor/razor items


mini flashlight
hair items. (however, if you know the recipient is African American- there are different products/combs/brushes than what I- as a Caucasian would use)

Maybe some small amount of candy-- my students love gum/hard candy!


Sleeping bag is a great idea.

If you aren't sure of clothes, most of my students are wearing a M/L in the teen stores. The style is still big all the time.

I'm happy to hear you are rethinking the strategy. Electronics while nice, does cause problems. Gift cards, while also thoughtful, creates issues.

 

[jen0610]

Now that one is interesting -- for a shelter kid. Tools are heavy to carry and usually rather bulky, too; I wouldn't think it would be easy to keep them in a shelter. (Now if the family were prone to living in a car, then it would make perfect sense.) Of course, if the boy was over 16 and trying to make a bit of money as a day-laborer or by doing fix-it jobs, then tools would be an obviously useful thing.

Something I'd toss into a backpack would be a really simple thing that is so useful: a rubber door wedge (and if it were a homeless shelter, perhaps a small PacSafe for the backpack itself.) When you are living in a group situation, things that can help guard your privacy (on those few occasions when you get any privacy) probably make the situation feel just a little more bearable.

The tools came from one of our kids, that while it's not a homeless shelter, it's a home just for kids that for whatever reason can not live with their parents or extended family members. These kids have an assigned room with storage available to them.

Relooked at the list and the boy actually asking for the tools is 16. The last 2 years, one of the kids who was 18 or soon to be 18, would ask for tools, pots and pans, dishes as they knew as soon as they graduated high school in the spring, they would be having to leave the home and find a way to make it on their own. Yes, they got some assistance, but they knew actually living in the childrens home was quickly coming to an end.

Some of the stories these kids could tell are heart breaking. This is my 3rd year buying for a family of 3 sisters - 16, 14, 11. The youngest, 10, was only in the home 1 year, but due to anger issues and acting out on those issues, she had to go back to the family home. The girls are living at the childrens home, due to the death of their mother and dad not being able to care for the girls. The whys of his not being unable to care for the girls is not something we know, just that they had lost their mom and dad couldn't have them in the home.

There are 3 other set of siblings in the home. The youngest kid in the home this year is a 7 year old girl, with no siblings. Her 3 wish items are dress socks for church, tights, and coloring books. We have already asked the home what else she has a need of, as with the money we have to spend on each kid, she would get a couple dozen pair of socks and tights and a dozen or so coloring books.

 

[vicb]

I think you are getting good advice on the electronics issue (don't buy) and the gift card issue (buy) along with other great suggestions.

I just wanted to add that when my DS was around 12 he became addicted to comic strip books... still loves them. Good ones are:
Simpsons
Zits
Get Fuzzy
Pearls Before Swine

Also along those lines are teenage paperback book series, my son has enjoyed The Gate Keepers and Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz.

You could get a cool pair of sunglasses and my son loves those disposable spin toothbrushes so he gets one every year is his stocking, they run around $7.