Best Teen Boy Gifts

{our son, Jackson}

In honor of our son Jackson’s birthday today (Happy Birthday buddy!), I’ve assembled a list of awesome gifts for pre-teen and teen boys. This gift guide covers everything from the practical to the silly and range in price points for small gifts for holidays to major birthday milestones. I actually interviewed Jackson and told him that if the sky was the limit, what would you want? We covered items from sneakers to hats, games for indoors and out, tech gear to books and everything in between. If you have a young man in your life from 13 to 18, here’s a gift guide filled with ideas that are way cool. Will they love you for it? “YAAASSSSSSSS”

BEST TEEN BOY GIFTS

1. Money / Gift Cards – Either one of these will always be on the top of the list and they are available in most supermarkets. Sometimes, I buy several gift cards to GameStop or iTunes and stash them away, I like having them on hand and it saves me from making a special trip.
2. Clothes – Hoodies & Sweatshirts by Under Armour, Adidas and Nike, a Bluetooth Beenie ($27.99 via Amazon) or this funny Here I Am t-shirt.
3. Sneakers – Sneakers or high tops by Adidas, Nike, and New Balance are popular brands that will put a swagger in their step.
4. Gaming – XBox & PlayStation are great video game consoles and there is a wide range of games that are made to work with either or both. The top games are Minecraft, Just Dance, Lego games, and a wide variety of racing and “shooting” games. Your teen will want multiplayer games, which means you’ll need to buy a good quality headset with a mic. Turtle Beach Ear Force X12 is highly recommended. As my son says “It doesn’t glitch out Mom.” Roger that.
5. Board Games – The Game of Life is a an oldie but goodie, and Sequence is a lot of fun too (even adults like this).
6. Outdoor Games – KanJam ($34.00 via Amazon), Frisbee Ring 2 Pack ($14.97 via Amazon) and Spike Ball.
7. Smart Phone – iPhone 6S tops the list, but make sure you get an OtterBox to protect it!
8. A Monthly Subscription – Loot Crate is a monthly mystery crate for gamers, geeks and fans of pop culture, delivering cool (and often exclusive!) items like collectibles, t‑shirts, gadgets and more. There are a few price plans starting at $11.95/month but they claim that there’s a $45+ value in every crate.
9. Books – Our son loves reading book series and when they are well written, they pull you in and build excitement for the next book. Book series are a wonderful way to foster a love of reading. There are so many great books for teens, here are just a few of our favorites: The Harry Potter series, the Hunger Games series, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Fault in Our Stars, The Hatchet, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Maze Runner series, the Divergent Trilogy, Wonder, The Hobbit. If you want a longer list of ideas, I’ve included a link to NPR’s website, click on the link for a printable list from Top 100 Teen Books. NPR conducted a survey and 75,000 ballots were cast to come up with this list.

Best Teen Boy Gifts