It is often difficult to think of a good gift to give to your boy or teen for Christmas or their birthday.  This is especially true if you want to wow them with a great gift.  Here are some ideas for cool gifts for your teens and boys.

The days of electric RC cars are gone! Today if you're going to buy a RC car it might as well be gas powered, or your kid will complain about how lame your gift is to their friends. Help them 1 up their friends by getting an RC vehicle that FLIES! RC helicopters have dropped in price by tons over the years. Now you can get them for as cheap as $20! Talk about a bargain!

Honestly though, I'd advise getting one that is a bit more expensive. The $20 RC helicopters tend to break more often and have some problems that the more expensive choppers don't have. If you're really looking for a cheaper flying toy I'd suggest getting a vectron RC flying saucer. These are around $20, and they have foam surrounding them for durability. Unfortunately, they're also tethered to a base station. Still tons of fun!

If you can afford a little more than $20, go for one of the nice choppers. Your boy will enjoy hours of fun flying this thing around above his friends RC cars.

Alright, I gave you the RC helicopter already, but if you've got some extra money buying a gas powered RC car is really the way to go. These cars are much faster than electronic RC cars, which can be good or bad.

Personally, I think gas powered RC trucks are the way to go. The cars are fast, but the trucks are durable. Your kid can also take them to small dirt lots to take them off jumps. These create hours of fun, and teach some responsibility.

Responsibility? Well, these are miniature cars. What do YOU know about cars? They break down. Encourage your kid to read up on his RC car and learn how to fix it. It is a good exercise in troubleshooting, and do-it-yourself work. Not to mention, he'll have to get gas. What better way to get your kid to do chores than gas money?  Get him used to it before he gets his driver's license!

This is the last remote control item, I swear!

Does your kid play battlefield all day, and boast about how good of a pilot he is? Put him to the test and get him off that computer. Buy him an RC plane. Like RC helicopters, these have dropped dramatically in price over the last few years. You can now get an RC plane (albeit cheaply made) for $20.

Just like the helicopters, it is advisable for you to buy an RC plane that costs more than $20, as it will have more power and be more durable. A $20 RC plane will be a good start, but eventually he'll want more. This should provide hours of fun (provided he doesn't wreck it terribly) and also challenge his motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

If you're really looking for a challenge, buy two planes and challenge your son to a dog fight! This is guaranteed to be good fun (for both you and your kid).

I myself have two hoberman spheres that were gifts from childhood.  What are they?  They are cool, geometric designs that you can expand to a giant sphere (up to 4-5 feet in diameter) and collapse (down to 1 foot in diameter).  These really offer a new perspective of geometry to a young child's mind.  They challenge the inner-engineer to discover how they work, and inspire the inner creativity when expanding and collapsing these sphere.

Not to mention, they're cheap!  For $10-$30 you have a gift that will have a large box (guaranteed wonder and excitement) and provide some intrigue when opened.  They aren't very common, either, so your kid will be able to show it off to his friends.  After all, when was the last time your friend told you that they just bought their kid a Hoberman Sphere?

What boy doesn't love medieval? Let yours learn a bit about it, and practice hand eye-coordination. Idea 5 is a bow and arrow kit. These also can be relatively cheap, but you may want to spend more (as usual) for a quality bow and arrow.

Setting up a target is easy. Search around for a bale of hay (look near the barns or horse ranches) and purchase one. Set it up in your back/front yard with a target on the front.

Draw the bow and have fun (safely). Bows are great fun. They're also less dangerous than bee bee guns (because most kids identify a giant arrow as deadly and you can buy harmless arrows).

Bows provide hours of fun, and a great alternative to video games. Challenge your boy to practice and improve his accuracy. Buy a bow yourself if you want to have competitions (hint: let him win if you're better!).

If you're really looking for safety, you can always buy nerf.  These actually might be even more fun, as you can run around and shoot eachother!