Birthday gift ideas for a percocious ds11

[freethinkermom]

Ds10 is truning 11 in two weeks and I am clueless. Dh and I have been racking our brains. Ds is no help. Grrr to having a child with a birthdau so close to Christmas.

So here is the deal. He is mature for his age. He is not interested in toy type stuff anymore (ok, never really was). He has outgrown Legos, K'Nex etc. We have an Xbox 360 and a Wii with I think pretty much every good game out there. He also has a DS, a PSP and an Ipod Nano (although not a video one). His computer is decent and is set up like a little home theater in his room. That sounds seriously spoiled, but it is not as crazy as it looks. We get a lot of gadgets and video games as perks from dh's company.

I asked ds if what his ultimate day would be. He said driving up to Portland and getting to spend as long as he wants shopping at Powell's books with a decent sized budget to spend then going out for a big sushi lunch. Sounds like fun and we might do it, but it would be so much nicer to do when the weather is better. Portland is a 4 and half hour drive with clear roads, but the roads out of town will be icey and if it rains there may be roads closures. I would rather stay home for his bday, and plan a nice day trip to Portland when it is warmer and drier.

We do not do parties. Birthdays are family time. We are not outdoors people, and there is very little around here and none of it is open until Spring anyway.

So any magnificent gift ideas? Budget is about $200-300

[Jennifer in MI]

What are his hobbies (besides reading!)? Does he like to work with wood? We bought my 11 yo ds a scroll saw for Christmas and he loves it! Would he like model rocketry? My same ds is going to work for NASA one day and makes model rockets all the time. There are some good starter sets out there.

[*LC]

nt

[Deece in MN]

You could get him The Dangerous Book For Boys.
Or you could find some books on creating things with duct tape and get him a variety of different colored duct tapes.
How about letting him have an on-line book shopping spree?
Does he like outdoors activities? A nice archery set could be fun.

ETA: Opps! I misread the part where you said you are not an outdoorsy family. Sorry.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I asked ds if what his ultimate day would be. He said driving up to Portland and getting to spend as long as he wants shopping at Powell's books with a decent sized budget to spend then going out for a big sushi lunch. Sounds like fun and we might do it, but it would be so much nicer to do when the weather is better. Portland is a 4 and half hour drive with clear roads, but the roads out of town will be icey and if it rains there may be roads closures. I would rather stay home for his bday, and plan a nice day trip to Portland when it is warmer and drier.


Oh, I know what my kids would like if they were to ask for something like this. An IOU. Something small to commemorate the day ($10 or so) plus cake and a big fuss, but giving him the bulk of the gift as a date on the calendar to go to Portland, spend a chunk of $$ on books, and a big sushi lunch. And with that budget, I'd consider an inexpensive hotel room in Portland for the night before or after so that you could manage the day without rushing.

Mine would totally go for what they wanted with a delay on it. Sounds like a perfect gift, and he wouldn't have to be merely polite while thanking you for it.

[freethinkermom]

You could get him The Dangerous Book For Boys.


Has it already :)
Digital Camera & Photoediting software
Has that too along with access to all of mine.

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I am not fond of IOUs. My mom would give them and never follow through. I know I am not her, but it is a big hurt from my childhood. The IOU idea did give me another idea  I am thinking as one gift I will make him some coupons like “get out of school free” , “lunch at McDonald’s”, “Pick the next three movies in the Netflix Queue”. Easy to implement things that would make him feel special.
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What are his hobbies (besides reading!)?
Cooking, video games, more reading. I am waiting to here back from the culinary school to see if there is room in any of the Spring community classes. We have done that before and he loves it. The school has changed directorship recently and is now giving me a hard time about bringing someone under 16. Before it was fine as long as dh or I took the class as his partner. There is another local boy, about a year older than ds that would frequently take classes with his dad too. Both boys were always very well behaved and just as capable as the adults, sometimes more since they had a passion for it.

[Karenciavo]

His idea for the day sounds like fun. My oldest ds is also precocious (although he despises that term, he's not a child :p) Anyway, one year we got him an Asian food basket with a Japanese cookbook, really nice but authentic, chop sticks, various sauces, seasonings, oils, and vinegar, and a sushi rolling mat.

[CaringParent]

Play orijinz with your child

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