cheap gifts for 7 year old boy?

[paranoidprego]

My hubby is back in school full-time (and only works 6 hours a week). so we have NO money.

our nephew is turning 7 in a few weeks and i have no idea what to get him. the problem is that he is a spoiled little kid and doesn't appreciate anything he gets. so why bother spending money on him if he isn't going to be appreciative? i would love to make him something but i am not a very creative person.
i only have a soon to be 3 year old dd and a 10 month old son, so i have no experience in this, thats why i am asking you guys for ideas. i don't even know what 7 year old boys like nowadays. this kid likes TV and computer games (yuck!)
thanks!

[ledzepplon]

Soccer ball
Silly putty
Slinky
Card game (Uno, Old Maid, Go Fish)
Matchbox cars

[delicious]

poor kid.

what about a little lego set? you can get some for like $10.

[nathansmum]

I was also going to suggest one of those little boxed sets of lego.

[AAK]

This may or may not fly with some people, but my kids would love a box of scrap wood, a jar of nails and a hammer.

I have seen "construction sets" of this nature sell for quite a bit, but if you look around for a construction site and ask, I bet they would let you have end pieces, etc. At our dollar store you can get a basic hammer. A bag of nails is next to nothing at the hardware store. I would "box it in an old crate so that it could be carried around.

Amy

[abi&ben'smom]

magnifying glass (dollar store)
marbles
bags of stretchy bugs/lizards(dollar store)

[Dena]

Another vote for legos here. Our nephews (7 and 5) love them. We got the older one Bionicles for his seventh birthday. I got two sets for under $25, and I know some of the sets were around $10. I have also seen some smaller K'Nex sets for around $10.

[abeliamama]

recent gifts we bought for 6 year old boys: (my son picked out). The kids loved them!

Night vision goggles $12 (academy sports)
spy watch $10 (academy sports)
hand crank pig flashlight $6 (by kikkerland)

[LynnS6]

I'd see if you can find a good game on sale or at a consignment store. I really like the Cranium Games. I think the Cranium Ziggity card game is about $8. Skip-Bo is another good one that sells for about $6. Cribbage is another nice game that you could get cheaply.

I just checked our local Craigslist and there are some good games/toys for around $10 there too. Reduce, REUSE, Recycle!

[4evermom]

Are you dissing my son's tastes in activities?!

Besides tv and computer games, my ds likes spy gear. He loves legos but I think they are hit or miss with kids. Some only like a certain theme and some aren't into them at all. My guy likes anything space so the Mars Mission series or the Star Wars ones would please him but the castle one, not so much. My ds likes remote controlled vehicles that shoot things and nerf guns. He'd enjoy walkie talkies (real ones can be found for $20, the toy ones don't seem to work unless you are in the same room) and binoculars. He likes his hand cranked flashlight. It's awesome for power outages and camping since it never runs out of batteries. Also, he really likes a small alka seltzer powered rocket we got from Edmund Scientific http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3102550. It is a souped up film canister. It was cheap ($6?) but shipping and an extra package of alka selzer brought up the price. Cash or gift cards are good for this age. Ds was very pleased with the $10 bill his aunt and uncle enclosed in a card for his birthday.

Surprisingly, my non crafty son chose to buy PixOs with his allowance. They are kind of like perler beads. You put little round beads on a tray in a shape, spray them with water, let dry 10 minutes, and they stay together, but they aren't cheap. He also likes modeling clay and silly putty though he mostly pretends they are plastic explosives and puts little wads on things throughout the house.

[Jes'sBeth]

does he like to cook? You could put together a bunch of recipes from the internet and print them off for him (I googled 'kid recipes' and got this: http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/YourKi...6AndUnder.aspx but you can probably do better than that with more time) and then see if you can make him a chef badge (safety pin taped to construction paper) or some such.

Or you could get him a 6 pack of diet coke/Pepsi and a package of mentos and tell him to fire them off in the backyard (you drop a mentos in the bottle of pop and you get a geyser of pop. It's pretty cool. If you use diet pop it won't be too sticky) usually people use the 2 litre bottles but the smaller mentos packages and the small bottles work too. What kid (or adult) wouldn't want to set off a pop geyser!

I also really like the hammer, nail and scrap wood suggestion

[columbusmomma]

The biggest thing with my DS(almost 7) and the boys his age here are Bakugan's. The "balls" especially, if not only! Yhey are these magnetic balls that when thrown and land another another magnetic surface, open into a figure type thing. There are scorecards with points, I don't really understand whatever is going on with them but DS LOVES THEM! They fly off the shelves at Target, walgreens, toys-r-us, and walmart(not that i shop there). I call every couple of days hoping to call when a shipment has come in, and go get one or two if I can. The best part is they are $4.99!! DS would love most of all the above mentioned ideas too!

[zeldamomma]

How about giving him an "experience"? You could take him to the zoo, or a museum, or to a movie, or for a hike...

ZM

[mommyinIL1976]

How about a wiffle bat and ball....just saw a set for $7 at Wally World.

[gingerbread_ca]

Sidewalk chalk
Coloring books & crayons
Puzzle
Book
$5 gift card for ice cream

All of these things can be found for $5 or less. Check yard sales too. You may find some awesome puzzle no one ever opened REALLY cheap.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by columbusmomma

The biggest thing with my DS(almost 7) and the boys his age here are Bakugan's. The "balls" especially, if not only!

Yeah, they are pretty cool. And he can exchange for one he doesn't have if you give him one he does have.

And I just wanted to add don't be surprised to get an unenthusiastic reception to something a 7 yo considers mundane or boring (bubbles, crayons, chalk, socks, wooden Waldorf toys that cost $100, etc). They aren't as easily pleased as 3 yos and not always as mature as one might hope about pretending to like something they don't.

Jes'sBeth, the soda and mentos idea is great. My ds would love that! He also likes those wolf pack snappers, little twisted up pieces of paper that make a tiny explosion when you throw them on the ground. There is a store around here that sells them for 50 cents a box though they are probably hard to find most places when it isn't near 4th of July.

ETA I think the soda thing would work with club soda or carbonated seltzer water, too.

[lawgrrl]

Originally Posted by zeldamomma

How about giving him an "experience"? You could take him to the zoo, or a museum, or to a movie, or for a hike...

ZM

If your nephew lives close to you, accompanying him would be great for him, and you. If you live far apart, then tickets or a gift certificate to a place near him would be an excellent idea.

My ds 6 also has lots of stuff [it wasn't intentional; but over the years it just accumulates] so when relatives or friends ask about gifts, I suggest something like tickets, gift certificates to places where we have memberships (to renew) or where ds could take an art or music class. I remind ds of the gift giver when we use the tickets, certificate etc. and we talk about our gratitude. If the gift giver lives away and can't join us for the outing, I take a photo from our day and send it with a thank you note.


Can I also add, to the OP, that your post makes it sound as if you don't much care for your nephew because he is "spoiled" and "doesn't appreciate anything he gets" in your opinion and/or because he in into "tv and computer games" which you deem "yuck!" for a child of 7. As the mother of a 6 year old son, let me tell you that 6-7 year old boys are a real challenge, and like a mix of a mercurial toddler *and* a sulky adolescent. Perhaps you can find it in your heart to look beyond what may be a phase of your nephew's life, or even a by-product of the environment in which he is being raised, and to see him as a whole person, someone who is part of your family and who you will know all of his life. Even a kid raised in a parenting style with which you vehemently disagree may some day turn out to be a free-thinking adult like yourself, especially if he has a free-thinking aunt that's part of his life.

[Eliseatthebeach]

Do you have to give him a gift or anything at all?

I squashed all gift giving to and from nephews and nieces a few years ago, and honestly the parents were thankful too. It just gets harder and harder and the kids won't notice at all! Why don't you talk to the parents and ask if they would also consider a "no gift giving" rule? I dunno, but to me it makes birthdays a whole lot easier and cheaper, lol!

[chaimom]

My twin boys are 6.5 and they've been bugging me for a construction kit for quite a while-- the wood, hammer and nails is a great idea! My boys also like lots of cardboard and duct tape to make things. You could wrap that up and label it, "Invention" supplies, or something. Plus, there's a great paperback series my boys love, called "Cardboard Genius" that you could attach.

Those little lego kits are great. You can get car kits for $4.99 at Target. Knext are about $8.99. I just picked up some pretty good remote control cars at WalMart for just $6.

I don't think a 7yo would particularly like getting chalk or coloring books, but I'm just basing that on my own boys.

Along the line of experience... if tickets are too expensive, what about a treasure hunt. My boys LOVE it when I create an elaborate treasure hunt. I give vague clues about where the next clue is, so it takes them many tries to find the next location. At the end of the line something as simple as a cupcake makes them enormously happy.

HTH,
Chaimom