Gift help Boys 12, 9 and 3

[mcppalmbeach]

Please help.

My kids have everything and nothing. Most of the big kids wishes are not in the cards this year. Play station, $$ gaming computer. I have bought them hardly anything. I need some surprise ideas.

My 3yo is also tough. Third boy. We have every outdoor thing imaginable - bike, trike, scooter, plasma car. One of those driving toys. He wants cars, dinosaurs and army people. If I told you how much of both we had you would die. Is there anything néw that fits the bill that might not duplicate what we have?

[jinkies]

My 12 year old is getting:

Universal yums subscription (basically the only thing he asked for)

Clothes from American eagle

An inflatable kayak. We don't have room to store a regular one, but he has really enjoyed kayaking with his aunt, and a friend of his is getting the exact same one so I'm hoping they can go together.

Taco goat pizza card game

Stickers for his dirt bike

a good desk chair

A book

Hot cocoa bombs and a funny mug

[jinkies]

I also have a 9 year old. The digging kits seem to be really big this year. She asked for a gemstone one, but there are ones where you dig out dinosaurs or other small toys. may be good for your 9 yo or even the 3 yo.

Last year she asked for (and got lol) a fishing magnet. We spend a lot of time hiking at local streams and she wanted to "fish" for metal objects that people dropped into the water. I think she had gotten the idea from youtube.

Which also reminds me that my kids have had fun with our metal detector too. Both in our yard, and also we usually take it to the beach with us.

[mrsGreeko]

My 9 year old DS is getting:
- a fly fishing rod (he’s super passionate about fishing)
- the game circuit maze
- a huge science kit
- clothes (flannel shirts, lined jeans, PJ pants)
- a martial arts belt display board with his name on it

My parents are getting all my kids a trampoline for the backyard.

My FIL got him a hoverboard.

My 11 year old (girl) is getting:
- a 3D pen
- the game gravity maze
- airpods
- a phone
- a bath tray (girl loves taking long baths with a snack and a book and currently steals my tray regularly)

FIL got her a doorway pull up bar (she wants one desperately), but might be an option for your 12 year old.

No help on the three year old. Maybe room decor stuff (bedspread, curtains, etc). My 9 year old is my 3rd, but he’s the first boy. It was still difficult to buy for him at that age. He got a lot more practical stuff really because we had so many toys.

[mrsGreeko]

Dec 12, 2020 12:38:35 GMT -5 jinkies said:

I also have a 9 year old. The digging kits seem to be really big this year. She asked for a gemstone one, but there are ones where you dig out dinosaurs or other small toys. may be good for your 9 yo or even the 3 yo.

Last year she asked for (and got lol) a fishing magnet. We spend a lot of time hiking at local streams and she wanted to "fish" for metal objects that people dropped into the water. I think she had gotten the idea from youtube.

Which also reminds me that my kids have had fun with our metal detector too. Both in our yard, and also we usually take it to the beach with us.

DH bought 2 fishing magnets a few months ago. My 9 and 11 year olds love to do it with him. They definitely got the idea from YouTube. Haha.

My 9 year old also has a metal detector. He uses it sometimes. It would probably be more fun at a beach, but we are landlocked.

[mcppalmbeach]

Dec 12, 2020 12:38:35 GMT -5 jinkies said:

I also have a 9 year old. The digging kits seem to be really big this year. She asked for a gemstone one, but there are ones where you dig out dinosaurs or other small toys. may be good for your 9 yo or even the 3 yo.

Last year she asked for (and got lol) a fishing magnet. We spend a lot of time hiking at local streams and she wanted to "fish" for metal objects that people dropped into the water. I think she had gotten the idea from youtube.

Which also reminds me that my kids have had fun with our metal detector too. Both in our yard, and also we usually take it to the beach with us.

Oh my 9yo has gotten dig kits every year since he was about 6. He’s done gemstones, dinosaur, all sorts. This year I did get him a cheap one from 5 Below. I feel like he might like a fishing magnet lol.

[macmars45]

I have a 4.5 yr old DS. I understand drowning in toys. We have so.many.vehicles.
Last Christmas the vehicle playdoh toys were a huge hit with my DS. LEGO Jr (vehicle) sets were also a bit hit.

Books about vehicles, dinosaurs or army guys? Melissa & Doug have great puzzles. A coloring and/or sticker book?

ETA: what I got my 4.5 yr old DS this year (stocking & under the tree)

DS is obsessed with construction vehicles (if that was unclear )

-2 vehicle t-shirts (monster truck & excavator)

-1 small lego set

-1 bigger lego set (snow groomer)

-construction vehicle coloring book

-a book about construction vehicles

-construction vehicle cookie cutters

-small drone (H bought this)

-vehicle bandaids

-playdoh tow truck set

-the big gift is a ride on excavator

[ohgillian]

I have various ideas, but I'm sort of torn based on your post. It sounds like you guys are drowning in stuff. Can you just go small this year? Or if they play digital games, give them money to make in-app purchases?

Barring that, I will say that DH strongly suggested we do consumable stuff for my 10 YO. Partly for the same reasons, and partly b/c it wasn't clear what he would want. Between Christmas and Hanukkah, this is what my 10YO boy is getting:

3 shirts (2 are under armour, one of which is secondhand but he didn't notice; 1 target)
4 minecraft pencil cups that DD and I made him from this printable tutorial: www.redtedart.com/minecraft-desk-tidy-diy-printables/
3 dig kits - this is what DH meant by consumables. www.amazon.com/Discovery-Interactive-Archaeology-Paleontology-Kids/dp/B08HX8M7TL
Some chocolate
A few things to dress up his scooter: bell, light, vinyl wrap.
1 medium lego set
1 small lego bag set -- you know, the small ones with less than 100 pieces

I think that's it? He is set for books or I'd have done that.

[nicolewi]

Does the three-year-old like Paw Patrol? They had some new PawPatrol toys involving dinosaurs this year. Food sets are always good for that age, too. I like Learning Resources’ grill set a lot, or picnic, stir fry, or whatever. I also love Playmobil.

My nine-year-old just turned 10 this week. He got some “ Snap Ships,” which I had never heard of until this year. They are really cool and he’s been enjoying building them. He also got some of the Jurassic World dinosaur toys that are more realistic looking. He likes those a lot as well. They might fit the bill for one of your boys.

[mcppalmbeach]

Dec 12, 2020 13:24:57 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

Does the three-year-old like Paw Patrol? They had some new PawPatrol toys involving dinosaurs this year. Food sets are always good for that age, too. I like Learning Resources’ grill set a lot, or picnic, stir fry, or whatever. I also love Playmobil.

My nine-year-old just turned 10 this week. He got some “ Snap Ships,” which I had never heard of until this year. They are really cool and he’s been enjoying building them. He also got some of the Jurassic World dinosaur toys that are more realistic looking. He likes those a lot as well. They might fit the bill for one of your boys.

Here is where the toy manufacturers make me scream. He got the paw patroller plus all pups and vehicles last year. He hardly plays with them even though he loves the show. The ones I bought last year are not compatible with the new play sets. I mean you can play with them together obviously but the tracks seem meant for the smaller cars. I do not want to have multiple dogs lol.

[sparty04]

Do you have a step2 roller coaster? I also have 3 boys (youngest is 3) and he likes that. His absolute favorite thing though is a ride on John Deere tractor.

He’s basically getting more dinosaur and cars stuff to add to the millions we have, a more compact Hot Wheels set, some Leap Frog abc thing, clothes, playmobile stuff, and Ninja Kids (YouTube channel) stuff. Oh and a firefighter costume/tools complete with firefighter rainboot.

Kinetic sand, Playdoh, Nerf guns, Laser tag game, learning games from Lakeshore Learning are constantly being dragged out.

[dcn]

My 8 year old is getting:
Snap circuits expansion set
Garmin Vivofit jr watch
Instax camera
Hardy boys book set
Robe
Bluetooth speaker

My 5 year old is getting:
Nerf target
Robe
Picasso tiles expansion set
Lego set
Disco ball lights (for dance parties)
Mathlink cubes
Stepping stones. Stepping Stones for Kids Balance... www.amazon.com/dp/B07SKJQ4NW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

His bday was last week and he got an outdoor bug explorer set

[waverly]

My 10 year old is getting Star Wars Legos, sports jerseys, and sports clothing, and non-fiction books. I got the kids a fort building kit as a group gift. 

[expectantsteelerfan]

I know you said you have all the outdoor toys, but do you have a Ninja Line (and do you have trees to hang it from?). That is a gift that all could use in some way (get a swing for the 3 year old) if you have a place for it.

[expectantsteelerfan]

My kids are both getting hoverboards, a big lego set, and a coding toy (sphero for ds, boxer for dd) and some clothes, and they are sharing the hoverboard go-kart attachment that will be attached to ds's old hoverboard. I wasn't originally going to get him a 2nd hoverboard, but that was really all he asked for, the new one goes faster, and this way we can leave the old one attached to the go-kart instead of constantly taking it off.

[1yeartogo]

My son really likes to build things (10) he loves things like kiwi crate, eureka crate, Annie’s young woodworking kit which are sent on a monthly basis (for as long as you subscribe).

We typically take advantage of the Black Friday or Christmas deals and either do 3-6 months of his preferred kit that year.

[wavepool]

Dec 12, 2020 16:02:20 GMT -5 expectantsteelerfan said:

My kids are both getting hoverboards, a big lego set, and a coding toy (sphero for ds, boxer for dd) and some clothes, and they are sharing the hoverboard go-kart attachment that will be attached to ds's old hoverboard. I wasn't originally going to get him a 2nd hoverboard, but that was really all he asked for, the new one goes faster, and this way we can leave the old one attached to the go-kart instead of constantly taking it off.

This sounds really cool! Have you used the go kart part yet? My boys would love that.

[mcppalmbeach]

Dec 12, 2020 14:51:06 GMT -5 wavepool said:

This might be mean, but my almost three year old boy is getting some of his brother's hand me downs, wrapped up. We also have so many trucks, etc. that we don't need a single one more. There are some he hasn't ever played with since there are so many, so we wrapped them up. We also have hundreds of kids books, and we wrapped up some of those!
My older son (7.5) got boxer the AI robot (Amazon). We got both of them big joe chairs. The younger one got a foam pogo stick, maybe thats something you don't have?
Younger one got a character shirt of one that his brother was never a fan of.

Lol! I have no issue with this 😂 we gave him his brothers train table as his 2nd birthday gift lol.

[mcppalmbeach]

Dec 12, 2020 16:02:20 GMT -5 expectantsteelerfan said:

My kids are both getting hoverboards, a big lego set, and a coding toy (sphero for ds, boxer for dd) and some clothes, and they are sharing the hoverboard go-kart attachment that will be attached to ds's old hoverboard. I wasn't originally going to get him a 2nd hoverboard, but that was really all he asked for, the new one goes faster, and this way we can leave the old one attached to the go-kart instead of constantly taking it off.

Please explain to me how the attached to go-kart part works. Ds has a hover board but doesn’t get a ton of use out of it.

[ny96]

This is a very unusual year for us as we normally don’t go this big. 

My 7 year old is getting a Loog electric guitar, a Nintendo Switch with 4 games, and a bunch of books

My 3 year old is getting Magnatiles, a Paw Patrol toy, a playDoh toy, and a bunch of books

[mcppalmbeach]

I think I’m done in case anyone else needs ideas.

12 yo - sports team blanket, sports team personalized cup, baseball hat, animal crossing and just dance for switch, led lights, random drawing kit I saw at aldi, and a bunch of bike accessories like a light, water bottle and phone holders (so thank you to those who suggested that), baseball themed shirt and a flywheel (he’s seen them on tv and thought they looked cool ), the Rubik’s cube game.

9yo - sports team blanket, Minecraft for switch, headphones with mike, switch controller, random k’nex kit because he’s a tinkerer, snap circuits at his request , dig kit, soccer rebounder goal, monopoly speed game.

3yo - a whole bunch of random crap he doesn’t need but I know will make him excited on Christmas morning. I have mom guilt that since he has hand me downs he doesn’t have the joy of a big gift like bikes or scooters that his brothers used to get.

I also got Pictionary air because our elf usually leaves a family game for the kids to play on Christmas.

Ds1 I usually buy more for and then hold a few things over for his January birthday

[isabel]

DS2 is 3. He's getting a big Paw Patrol vehicle thing plus all the various characters and their individual vehicles, the vehicles and characters from PJ Masks, Kiwi crate stuff, and a garbage truck (kid is obsessed with all of these things). He's also getting books, a rechargeable electric toothbrush, pajamas, and lots of bath stuff (bath bombs, color tabs, and spray foam).

He really loves the Melissa and Doug ice cream shop we have. Matchbox cars are always a huge hit.

Like you, I get the mom guilt about him not really getting new stuff very often because a lot gets handed down from his brother. We try at Christmas to make sure he gets new stuff that is just for him, which seems at this point to generally be related to whatever hit tv show he's into at the moment.

[imojoebunny]

So my 11.75 year old is getting his dream gaming computer, but only because he has been saving up for it for the last 2 Christmases and doing extra chores for a year, every weekend, and has taken online python coding classes for adults and been super into creating games, proving that he is into the extra computing power. His most used thing, though, is a Kindle Fire. He can read on it, though our library system and watch netflix and amazon prime shows, and listen to audio books, again, through our library, as well as, podcast. He had one he had had for a few years, and broke the screen to the point it didn't work, and he has been limping through for the last couple of months, with a 6 year old glitchy one, with a cracked screen covered in packing tape that he uses all the time, so he will be just as happy with the new fire from his grandfather, as he will be with the gaming computer, if not more so. Otherwise, he is getting pants that fit, a pez dispenser, and cookies.

[dochas]

I also recommend the digging stuff. My son has been loving Treasure X the last few years, so I got him this big one

www.amazon.com/Treasure-Treasure-Adventure-Dissection-Discovering/dp/B084NXXRKR

I got our 2 nephews the dino digging ones that have 12 eggs in a pack at Target. They had $10 off $50 in toys yesterday.

[expectantsteelerfan]

Dec 12, 2020 17:28:55 GMT -5 mcppalmbeach said:

Dec 12, 2020 16:02:20 GMT -5 expectantsteelerfan said:

My kids are both getting hoverboards, a big lego set, and a coding toy (sphero for ds, boxer for dd) and some clothes, and they are sharing the hoverboard go-kart attachment that will be attached to ds's old hoverboard. I wasn't originally going to get him a 2nd hoverboard, but that was really all he asked for, the new one goes faster, and this way we can leave the old one attached to the go-kart instead of constantly taking it off.

Please explain to me how the attached to go-kart part works. Ds has a hover board but doesn’t get a ton of use out of it.

This is the one mine are getting: www.target.com/p/jetson-jetkart-hoverboard-attachment/-/A-76465628?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012767052&CPNG=PLA_Sports%2BShopping_Local&adgroup=SC_Sports_Local&LID=700000001170770pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=g&device=c&location=9005950&targetid=pla-844447977285&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1248099&gclid=CjwKCAiAlNf-BRB_EiwA2osbxbryI4xH8DG9ZinoyXcjfcn2hGFzJHRC-eLtWGz4ELzjeeiuBKPRShoCKGIQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

There are others that you can buy that come with a hoverboard, but the hoverboard ds got last year is a Jetson.  
wavepool, we haven't used it yet as it's what they're getting for Christmas, but my bff got it for her kids as a Hanukkah present and they love it so far.

[notsopicky]

I have a 9 y.o. boy. We got him a Moon Pod ($$$ gift)--he begged for it for reading in his room. The rest? Books, a marble run game, 2 card games, underwear/socks/tee shirts (Santa), Pokemon cards (Santa) and a V-Bux card (Santa). He wants a PS5, but he's going to have to wait until his birthday. He did say something about a Switch game (some expansion pack thing), but I didn't get enough information, lol. He also wants a trampoline, but H said no.

[magic]

Do your kids like animals? Can you make a donation to heifer international or something and tell them they own a goat/cow/chicken etc?

ETA: for the three year old, what about funny foam or even some bottles of shaving cream? Something he can entertain himself with in the bathtub. 

[CloudBee]

Google: "MakeDo Cardboard"

They sell kid safe cardboard saws, screws, and screwdrivers. You can buy the pieces individually, or as a set. We gifted our 7 year old with a set last week and he's been using it non-stop. All parts are reusable and quite solid.

[pierogigirl]

CloudBee Thank you for the MakeDo idea. My 9 yr. old would go bananas for that.

[ellipses84]

My boys are 4 and 9 (and 20 - they get even harder to shop for later!). Snap circuits are great if you don’t have them. For my 9 year old I got a book light because he really wanted one. A magic 8 ball and other Rubik’s cube like puzzle games are good. We also have a giant plastic magnifying glass we got for a party prop and it seems to get endless play. For the youngest you could get things that need to be replenished or replaced over time like art supplies / outdoor toys/ bath toys. I saw a cool bath play set that was like a mad scientist lab for kids to mix potions. My 4 year old loves character masks, like Star Wars or Spider-Man to wear when he’s running around playing games with the bigger kids. I also got him a little remote control car (the one from Toy Story).

Hats, pajamas, clothes and sunglasses (I don’t buy a lot of character clothes so they are excited when they get their favorites to wear). They are getting lots of activity books and other books this year. Metal water bottles and water bottle stickers - you can get cheap lots of 50-100 of different themes, like super Mario, Pokémon, baby Yoda, etc.