B-Day Present for 13 Year Old Boy?

[RockStarMom]

Needing ideas! Thanks for any suggestions.

[karne]

We've been giving gift cards recently. I-tunes is always popular, or one to a store they like. The other recent gift was a very cool and complicated puzzle that served as fun and a real challenge at a recent party.

[joyluc]

My 13 year old DS loves:
- The Hunger Games trilogy
- Posters of his favorite bands
- Designing his own Converse on their website
- Xbox and computer games
- Music - iTunes and CDs

[nd_deadhead]

Gift cards.

Though we gave my nephew a yo-yo and instructional video when he was about that age, and he loved it.

A boomerang might be fun too.

[bestjob]

Definitely ask the parents! The right gift card can be either fabulous or a total waste of time.

On the other hand, there are a few safe standards that seem to work well... iTunes, Starbucks, Tim Hortons (Canada and Northern US), Chapters, Borders, Microplay, EBGames.

If you've got a hobby that you think might interest the child, you could offer a special day out, with admissions paid to the event (it can certainly be free because it might be an event he'd not be able to attend without your help) a nice lunch (either bagged or bought, but with the child's tastes in mind), and maybe a souvenir if you can afford it, but if you can't, just be honest beforehand.

When dh was 13, he had an adult friend in the neighbourhood with a sportscar. His best birthday memory ever was being invited by the neighbour to go to the nearest race track. The neighbour drove the car and dh had the very special honour of being chief polisher! Maybe kids these days aren't so gullible. Or maybe they just don't have enough poor parents with neighbours with super cool cars.

[jillmamma]

Cool remote control car? DH is almost 37 and still loves these.
New wallet?
Watch?
New headphones for his ipod?
Tickets to a sports event or concert?
Gift card to a movie theater?
Cash?
DVD?