Ha - you had me laughing at this: "Young men in high school like black stuff, leather stuff, and canvas stuff, depending on their personalities. They also like very stupid socks and strange T-shirts with yetis on them." Great concrete ideas you share! We often use birthdays for buying "extensions" for their hobbies such as electronics replacement parts for RC planes. new pellets for their airsoft, a few more months on the rock climbing pass, whittling tools, watch repair kits, and the ever expensive role-playing game books. My daughter (18) has been especially thankful for Starbucks giftcards, because she likes to go with her friends but loathes spending the extra money.
And of course books and stationary are always a hit too :)
Aged daughter has gotten or already has everything on your list recently, right down to the volleyball set. And lots of sweet smelling lotion. She also loves squish mallows and sleeps with four of them.
Water bottles/ cups are very important right now and they have to be Stanleys. Just yesterday it was hydro flasks and tomorrow it will be something else.
And my high school aged daughter loves chocolate truffles!
I and my friends are huge into board games, so I always like gifting board games to kids. For one, it gets parents away from the dreaded task of playing Snakes and Ladders or Candyland over and over (and over... I got into board games when my kids were little simply because I couldn’t handle the thought of playing Candyland once again lol). My favorite go-tos for younger kiddos have been Dragonwood (collect suites of cards and roll dice to win monster cards and victory points--bonus, it’s math practice!) and Escape From Dinosaur Island (a co-operative game where you have to work together to collect dinosaurs and get them off an island before the island explodes...this one is simple enough that when my kids were 7 & 4, they could play it on their own once they knew the rules.)
Now that my oldest is 10, we’ve been venturing into more complex games that take much longer to play (and set up.) Current running favorites are co-ops King of Monster Island and Pandemic (been sticking to more co-ops lately as my youngest is still learning how to lose gracefully.)
And of course, since I am an avid D&D player and host games twice monthly at my house, both of my kids are champing at the bit to get their own dice and character sheets. That one takes a bit more prep work, but I’m hoping to carve out time to start a game with them soon!
This is a great list, Dixie. Thank you for including that some teen girls will also enjoy the multitool and boys might enjoy the cooking implements. My older LOVES baking/cooking/food prep of any kind. And when I was a teen, I have picked Star Wars over makeup and perfume every time. Still might! People are diverse in their interests. :)
I have a few little boys for whom I buy Christmas presents each year (two are young cousins and one is a good friend's baby), so this list was very helpful! I don't have much experience giving gifts to boys, because I don't have any brothers, so I learned a lot from your article.
One helpful place that I've found is Kiwi Co. They have different crates covering a variety of interests (arts and crafts, science, baking, etc.) for all different ages. If I'm stumped on what to give a youngster, I usually go to Kiwi's website and see what they have. Just wanted to share it in case anyone else may be interested!
Love the book suggestions! I almost always give books (former teacher here) and usually use the booklists for each age level from Read Aloud Revival as a jumping-off point.
Great ideas here! We are big fans of giving books and trying to give ones that they will actually enjoy rather than “should” enjoy. What a great idea to pair it with junk food, too.
Oh my goodness, Dixie, my 10yo is currently very into both electronics and clay (inspired by Tasha Tudor, he just made clay-and-paper-clip marionettes for a St. George and the Dragon Christmas puppet show) and has a birthday coming up this spring, and now I am all set! Ha, thank you!
Ha - you had me laughing at this: "Young men in high school like black stuff, leather stuff, and canvas stuff, depending on their personalities. They also like very stupid socks and strange T-shirts with yetis on them." Great concrete ideas you share! We often use birthdays for buying "extensions" for their hobbies such as electronics replacement parts for RC planes. new pellets for their airsoft, a few more months on the rock climbing pass, whittling tools, watch repair kits, and the ever expensive role-playing game books. My daughter (18) has been especially thankful for Starbucks giftcards, because she likes to go with her friends but loathes spending the extra money.
And of course books and stationary are always a hit too :)
Thanks for this fun start to the day!
What a great list! I need to save this! Thanks Dixie
So funny: my middle school
Aged daughter has gotten or already has everything on your list recently, right down to the volleyball set. And lots of sweet smelling lotion. She also loves squish mallows and sleeps with four of them.
Water bottles/ cups are very important right now and they have to be Stanleys. Just yesterday it was hydro flasks and tomorrow it will be something else.
And my high school aged daughter loves chocolate truffles!
I and my friends are huge into board games, so I always like gifting board games to kids. For one, it gets parents away from the dreaded task of playing Snakes and Ladders or Candyland over and over (and over... I got into board games when my kids were little simply because I couldn’t handle the thought of playing Candyland once again lol). My favorite go-tos for younger kiddos have been Dragonwood (collect suites of cards and roll dice to win monster cards and victory points--bonus, it’s math practice!) and Escape From Dinosaur Island (a co-operative game where you have to work together to collect dinosaurs and get them off an island before the island explodes...this one is simple enough that when my kids were 7 & 4, they could play it on their own once they knew the rules.)
Now that my oldest is 10, we’ve been venturing into more complex games that take much longer to play (and set up.) Current running favorites are co-ops King of Monster Island and Pandemic (been sticking to more co-ops lately as my youngest is still learning how to lose gracefully.)
And of course, since I am an avid D&D player and host games twice monthly at my house, both of my kids are champing at the bit to get their own dice and character sheets. That one takes a bit more prep work, but I’m hoping to carve out time to start a game with them soon!
This is a great list, Dixie. Thank you for including that some teen girls will also enjoy the multitool and boys might enjoy the cooking implements. My older LOVES baking/cooking/food prep of any kind. And when I was a teen, I have picked Star Wars over makeup and perfume every time. Still might! People are diverse in their interests. :)
I have a few little boys for whom I buy Christmas presents each year (two are young cousins and one is a good friend's baby), so this list was very helpful! I don't have much experience giving gifts to boys, because I don't have any brothers, so I learned a lot from your article.
One helpful place that I've found is Kiwi Co. They have different crates covering a variety of interests (arts and crafts, science, baking, etc.) for all different ages. If I'm stumped on what to give a youngster, I usually go to Kiwi's website and see what they have. Just wanted to share it in case anyone else may be interested!
That balance disc!! Gonna put that one the list for our boys.
Also, I discovered Willa Cather in the last few years.... love that you put her novels on this list.
Love the book suggestions! I almost always give books (former teacher here) and usually use the booklists for each age level from Read Aloud Revival as a jumping-off point.
Great ideas here! We are big fans of giving books and trying to give ones that they will actually enjoy rather than “should” enjoy. What a great idea to pair it with junk food, too.
Oh my goodness, Dixie, my 10yo is currently very into both electronics and clay (inspired by Tasha Tudor, he just made clay-and-paper-clip marionettes for a St. George and the Dragon Christmas puppet show) and has a birthday coming up this spring, and now I am all set! Ha, thank you!