Gifts for Tween Boys

I may not survive these tween years of my older two boys. Middle school is rough. Hormones are rough. The fact that my kids won't say what they want but then will mope that they didn't get want they want to drive me CRAZY. I didn't sign up for hormonal 16-year-old girl versions of my boys.

As my oldest birthday approaches, I am at a loss for what to get him. Everyone says cash. He already started babysitting and have saved quite a bit and really doesn't spend it so I don't feel for him that's a good choice.

I have three boys and two are nearing that tween age range and I am running out of options for gifts.

My kids don't have phones and are not getting them anytime soon for a variety of reasons. I keep searching Pinterest for ideas of what to buy my oldest soon to be 12 year old for his birthday since the only thing he asks for is a phone.

Here are some non-electronic - maybe slightly electronic ideas that I am working on.

I won't give any Endgame spoilers away - mainly because I haven't seen it because someone had to stay home with the toddler. But this find is going to be pretty spic in my house. It is the newest version that just came out in April 2019 right before the movie. The Marvel Encyclopedia will give my kids plenty of reading material and new ways to argue over which character is the best.

We are fairly frugal in our house but I do have 3 boys to keep clothed on a teacher and a non-profit salary so we don't always buy the brand name stuff.

I bought three pairs of shoes I know are way more hip (don't tell him I used that word) than the ones he currently is wearing.

He gets to keep one (maybe 2). I did this for several reasons. He hates shopping with a passion and if I do take him if they don't have what he wants he will just buy something and then never wear them because it wasn't what he wanted. The three choices is a teacher trick, but it works with my own kids too. I know he likes all three styles and brands and he will walk away in new shoes a happy camper.

I also might have to throw away his current pair...

My oldest is still into Legos but mostly because he has two younger brothers. I bought him some avenger lego sets and some mini sets that he might like. I didn't want this to be his big gift though because even though he says he wants them he is definitely starting to outgrow Legos a little. Now he just wants to build and display them.

There are so many great stem kits and subscription out there these days that any hands-on activity would be great. We did learn the hard way that my kids can not share such kits. My sister bought them a subscription to share last Christmas and one of my kids want to experiment with his own building and the other one want it to look exactly like it is supposed to with no deviations or experimenting.

We are still fighting the cell phone battle and we are currently winning. We did break down and buy Relay's. My kids love these walkie talkie devices. Plus they are not reliant on me being within range of them. I can be at work and see where they are on the gps tracker. Since my kids walk to and from school this is a great feature. It also notifies me when they are in range of the house or have left school based on some of the criteria I set up. The kids find them easy to use and the app in our phones helps connect us without having to have our own relay device. It's about 9.99 a month after purchasing the device. You can cancel anytime so no contract signing. You can buy them at Target!

One of the gift I included this year for the holiday season was a $25 gift card to their favorite restaurant with a note saying this for a night when if dinner had not yet been made they would get to choose dinner for the family for the night.

Last year we bought the kids season passes to Great America - Little did we know the world would shut down before we could use them. They were so excited to look forward to something that they knew we would do because we had the passes.

Another great gift is to plan and schedule a day with your child. I have 3 kids with 3 very different interest levels.

My oldest loves soccer games. He got a jersey and tickets to a game. My middle is into baseball and got a tshirt and tickets. My youngest (not a tween) got an adventure to a dinosaur exhibit.