Tween/teen boys Xmas list?

[jalapeno_pretzel]

What do your tweens & teens want for Christmas? Mine has no idea what he wants and can't even list anything.

No books, stuffed animals, legos, board games, sports equipment. He does like puzzles and will get a couple of those, but I'm stuck trying to figure what else.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

My DS13 is asking for a Nerf gel blaster. I'll probably get him a new Adidas track suit and some Old Bay/Marylander gear like a bucket hat or running shorts. Possibly a set of Shrek crocs.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

and some Old Bay

Old Bay? As in the savory spice?

 

[Lord Manhammer]

My 13 year old wants an xbox game, some sheet music, and a Poe compilation.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Old Bay? As in the savory spice?View attachment 804792

Yes, we are Marylanders.

People in Maryland wear Old Bay themed and Maryland flag themed clothes on the street all the time. Crab stuff too.

This sums it up:

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Yes, we are Marylanders.

People in Maryland wear Old Bay themed and Maryland flag themed clothes on the street all the time. Crab stuff too.

This sums it up:

I learn so much about people from around the country on these boards! I didn't realise Old Bay was a Maryland thing. I think it's a tasty spice. I applaud you for all of your pride in your state.

I don't live there anymore, but just about every time I go home, this song is is playing when I cross the city line:

 

[Schneewittchen37]

I learn so much about people from around the country on these boards! I didn't realise Old Bay was a Maryland thing. I think it's a tasty spice. I applaud you for all of your pride in your state.

I don't live there anymore, but just about every time I go home, this song is is playing when I cross the city line:

Nice. Solid track.

Was just driving home from practice, telling the kids the other day how KISS is so talented and underappreciated - and then turned up the volume for Lick It Up. LOL

 

[Skippy918]

Mine has no idea either. He hasn’t even spent his birthday money yet.

 

[PollyannaMom]

You could always get kids who don't really have wish list a couple of shares of stock in a company they'd recognize. It's fun for them to track it, teaches them a little about investing, and if they need the money for something big later, they can always sell it.

 

[LuvOrlando]

When my son hit that age he was very into skate boarding and just starting to vibe his own style so I took him shopping at a few places like Zumiez for a few high end pieces & he lit up.

This age also can get a little stinky and I found he was more compliant when he picked his own fragrance and deodorant. The colognes and all that sometimes have a matching deodorant. Old spice has lots of nice good smelling options that match other colognes nicely or even smell good by themselves. Good smelling tween and teen boys is a bonus.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

At that age mine wanted clothes, video games and experience tickets - movies, bowling etc. and fast food gift cards.

 

[MrsPete]

Ideas:
- Hoodie -- plain, school mascot or favorite sports teams
- College tee shirt
- Tools -- every man needs tools; get him one tool each year, and by the time he moves out he'll be well prepared
- An outfit suitable for office work -- yes, seriously. Once my girls hit high school I started buying them a nice, adult outfit (in addition to other gifts) for their birthdays and for Christmas. Things like pencil skirts, nice trousers, dressy blouses, classic sweaters, office-appropriate shoes. All simple, classic styles. They didn't appreciate them much -- until they got to college and needed clothes for jobs, internships, various university events. I started doing this because I had too many student teachers come in wearing all they had -- mini-skirts and leggings.
- 3D printer and filaments
- PJ /lounge pants
- Cute boxer shorts
- Simple cookbook + ingredients
- Science experiment materials
- Tickets for sporting event, concert or other experience -- tickets to a college sporting event could spur conversations about post-high school life
- Portable charger for cell phone
- Command hook's wall-mounted cell phone holder -- my girls love these
- Duffel bag sized for overnight trips
- Fast food gift cards -- for going out with friends
- Sunglasses
- Class ring
- Nice water bottle
- Pack of nice ink pens
- Subscription box
- Subscription to a streaming service -- my youngest was thrilled when we got her a subscription to a horror movie site
- Archery equipment
- Nice alarm clock
- Electric shaving razor
- Fishing rod + tackle box
- Lessons: canoeing, karate, a musical instrument -- we gave our kids private driving lessons (instead of going through school driver's ed), and they were beyond thrilled
- Beef jerky and sunflower seeds in the stocking
- What's something he has but could use an upgrade? Bicycle? Backpack? Belt? Boots?
- Subway sized poster of his favorite musical group -- buy from ebay
- Big tin of popcorn -- or packs of Cracker Jacks -- my kids always loved this
- Packets of fancy hot chocolate
- Polaroid camera + film
- Framed picture of you together
- Vintage concert tee shirts
- Flashlight (or head lamp)
- Gift card for hair cut at Sports Clips
- I know you said no sports equipment, but what about a gym membership?
- Lanyard
- Fancy flash drive

 

[barkley]

mine is in his 20's but due to his autism has more teen interests-

video games
d&d EVERYTHING (books, clothing, dice...)
anime (manga, videos figurines)

gift cards-amazon, gamestop

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I learn so much about people from around the country on these boards! I didn't realise Old Bay was a Maryland thing. I think it's a tasty spice. I applaud you for all of your pride in your state.

I don't live there anymore, but just about every time I go home, this song is is playing when I cross the city line:

Okay, so I’m Maryland born-and-bred and lived the first 38 years of my life there. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone wearing seasoning/flag gear. #NotAllMarylanders HOWEVER, you’ll have to pry the Old Bay out of my cold, dead hands. It runs in my blood.

https://www.myrecipes.com/ingredients/ways-to-use-old-bay

First and second comment say it all:

 

[greeneyedchick]

I'm in the same boat with my kid. Ramen-themed stuff and squishy/ stress toys are popular. My son appreciated getting a Leatherman and Roblox stock. My kids are getting their own battery testers and some boost AAA and AA batteries this year. They are always borrowing the battery tester and then everyone else can't find it.

If you kid is into video games and doesn't already have it, the Oculus is super cool. An Apple watch may be useful. If you have a tween who likes science, my 12 year old loves the Crunch Labs engineering box subscription. It's created by famous YouTuber/ rocket scientist Mark Rober. Each month you get a kit that links to a 20 minutes video by Mark explaining the science principles behind that kit. The videos are informative and entertaining. I wish my physics teacher would have explained things the way that Mark does.

 

[unrequited23]

If your kid is into anime a subscription to crunchyroll might be a hit. DS11's big present this year is an apple pencil. He fell in love with Pro-Create in his last art class. He might get some mid-priced bluetooth earbuds and the assortment of giftcards for apple, xbox, DQ, etc. He showed interest in socks with bright patterns like donuts and ramen.

 

[mmbrad02]

I have a girl, but she is turning 13 this Saturday so we fall in this age group. Her big birthday present was an Oculus - and she is in heaven. Her cousin (male, 15) got one last year for Christmas and she instantly decided she needed one too. We told her if she saved half, we would put the other half in for her birthday. I admit they are really cool! And they also just released a new model (we did not get that).

I also agree with any video related gift cards and so forth. My girl also got a Spotify giftcard that she really liked - apparently Premium is a great thing in terms of being able to skip what you don't want to listen to.

Also, maybe just take basic gifts and make them more fun - like wrap a gift in 5-10 nested boxes so he has to open each one to keep going to his gift. Or a scavenger hunt where one wrapped box gives him a clue to another place in the house to get the next clue. My MIL once wrapped cash around every single crayon in a box of 64 crayons for DH and I and we had to unroll it all to get our "gift"

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Ramen-themed stuff

what is ramen themed stuff? I thought Ramen was just soup. What else is there?

 

[barkley]

anyone considering an occulus-i highly suggest getting extended warranty coverage (through best buy or whomever you buy from) b/c there seems to be an issue with newer manufactured ones-

#1 purchase worked like a charm for 3 years
#2 purchase died out in less than 3 months which best buy replaced under their extended warranty (dh is avid participant on the occulus boards and people have complained relentlessly about getting no response from manufacturer on issues/repairs or shipping it off for repair and hearing nothing for months on end). #2 just died (less than 90 days from purchase) so it's back to best buy where we plan to get yet another and pay for another extended warranty (the supernatural exercise app is exclusive to occulus so there's no other option). lots of complaints on occulus boards about the identical breakdown issue we've had, the newest/best is too new at this point for dh being willing to upgrade.

 

[tcufrog]

My son saved up money and built his own custom computer keyboard. He's going to get a new pair of headphones. He wants a bass guitar and lots of other music stuff.