Gift Ideas for a 15- or 16-Year-Old Boy

I’m combining Rob’s birthday gift ideas with his Christmas gift ideas.

The most surprising success among Rob’s presents this year was this:

(image from Target.com)

(image from Target.com)

It’s just a green quilt! Not even  particularly awesome one! My mom and I were at Target the day before Christmas Eve to buy some Play-Doh to go with one of Henry’s gifts, and we walked through the children’s bedding aisle and they had this quilt at 50% off for $15 (the site says it’s not available in stores, but in a store is where I found it), and Rob’s favorite color is green and we could use a couple more spare blankets so I just bought it. Later I decided to wrap it so he’d have more to open: one of his gifts this year was a phone upgrade, so he didn’t have much to open. What I am trying to say here is that I would have bought the quilt anyway, so it wasn’t REALLY a present. But he snuggled up in it for the whole gift-opening session, and he’s snuggled up in it many times since, and he is practically making a Beloved Blankie out of it, so in short it was a fun and unexpected success.

 

(image from EBay.com)

(image from eBay.com)

Because one of his gifts was a phone upgrade, he needed a new phone case. That’s the sort of thing he might want to choose for himself, but so far he hasn’t been opinionated, and I wanted him to have something to put on the phone right away in case it took him a couple of years to care about a case. I found cases on eBay in the $2-4 range; I got him a solid green, a solid black, and this argyle one just for fun. I also bought him a Google Play card, which is a gift card for buying apps on an Android phone.

 

(image from Amazon.com)

(image from Amazon.com)

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. This may be a little SPECIFIC to be a good gift idea, but I still like to see what people got as gifts even if it’s not an idea I can use for anyone I know, and perhaps you feel the same way, so I’m soldiering on. This book was Paul’s idea: Rob wanted to read this book (in English) because of his interest in math, but this year he’s ALSO gotten interested in Latin and is on the Latin team at school, so Paul’s idea was to combine those two ideas. It started as “How about if we get him a book in Latin?,” and led quickly from my ideas of Winnie Ille Pu and Harrius Potter and Hobbitus Ille to this book instead.

 

(image from Amazon.com)

(image from Amazon.com)

Prismacolor colored pencils. I don’t know if you’ll remember, but quite awhile ago Rob wanted to learn to draw anime and I asked for advice. Lots of people recommended Prismacolor, and there was a special manga colors set, even, so my parents bought him that. Anyway, he’s been using those on and off ever since, and this year mentioned he’d like another, bigger set: some of the frequent-use colors are getting used up, and also his set had 24 pencils so there were a lot of times he didn’t have a color he wanted. We got him the 72-color set, along with a sharpener.

 

(image from Amazon.com)

(image from Amazon.com)

Melodica. I had never seen one of these before. It was my brother’s idea: he’s interested in music and so is Rob, so he asked if Rob might want a fun/unusual musical instrument, and I thought it was a good idea, and this is what he chose. It’s like a mouth-powered keyboard. And, unlike his regular keyboard, it’s something he can carry around or bring to get-togethers with friends.

 

(image from Amazon.com)

(image from Amazon.com)

The Art of the Fugue and The Well-Tempered Clavier. Music books specified by Rob. Good thing, too, because there is no way I could have picked something out for him.

 

(image from Amazon.com)

(image from Amazon.com)

Archives Manuscript Book and The Big Book of Staff Paper. Also specifically mentioned by Rob. He wasn’t sure which he’d prefer, and I thought he’d like trying both to compare. But his favorite is a Piccadilly Music Journal, given to him by a female friend. (My brother tells me it is sexist to say “female friend” or “male friend” instead of “friend.” I think, however, that there are times when the adjective is not sexist but rather IMPORTANT EYEBROWS-UP INFORMATION, which is how I intend it here.) It really is a great book: hardcover and spiral-bound. I’m sure that is why he likes it so much.

 

(image from Amazon.com)

(image from Kiva.org)

$25 Kiva gift card. We get a monthly newsletter from William’s middle school, and one of the regular topics is how it’s common for middle school children to develop an interest in charitable pursuits, and how the middle school tries to support that interest with various projects and programs (recycling, collecting winter outerwear, collecting canned goods, etc.). I’ve definitely noticed that happening with William: he’s in 8th grade this year and has become increasingly interested in bringing things in for food drives and clothing drives and so forth. Recently William got very interested in my Kiva account, and started a Kiva account of his own. That’s what got Rob interested, and he added a Kiva gift card to his wish list so he could try it too. If you’ve never done Kiva, it’s a micro-loan thing: instead of giving money to people who need it, you loan the money to people who need it—and you get to choose WHICH loan to help fund. That person gradually pays the money back, and then you can choose a new loan to fund.

12 thoughts on “Gift Ideas for a 15- or 16-Year-Old Boy

      1. Matti

        He knit her a scarf?! And he takes a little mouth keyboard to get-togethers with friends?!
        DELIGHTED eye brows up. Rob is turning out wonderfully. Well done Swistle and Paul!

        Reply
  1. HereWeGoAJen

    I like these posts because they have such good ideas for presents.

    Also, that is pretty much the exact quilt I am looking for to put in the new guest room. I want to do a green and white theme with some fancy colorful pillows. I shall take myself to Target and check.

    Reply
  2. Lawyerish

    The impression I get from this gift list is that Rob is very smart, talented, interesting, and thoughtful — and it’s somehow poignant that he appreciates a good, cozy quilt.

    Reply
      1. Swistle Post author

        Oh, and I should do an update on that sometime, because that all tidied up too! He has a nice social group now.

        Reply
  3. shin ae

    I love these gifts!

    Also, my eleven-year-old son saw the melodica and said, “Those things are SO cool,” so I popped that right onto his Amazon wishlist. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. JCXIII

    How nice to hear your kids are interested in Kiva! I’ve been using that site for a few years now, ever since the vlogbrothers started sponsoring it, and I love it! I used to be very hestitant about charity because of all the things you hear about corruption and overhead costs but with Kiva it’s so clear where the money is going: it’s very good for my conscience.

    Reply
  5. Ali

    How funny! My oldest got the same quilt….only he’s 2! Haha! He was less enamoured of it than rob…but we needed a new quilt and I figured it was one extra thing. :)

    Reply
  6. velocibadgergirl

    One of my piano lesson books in high school had a piece from The Well-Tempered Clavier! I really liked it, ended up finding a CD of the complete book for super cheap, and then forgot all about it once I quit piano. Then I dug out my classical CDs when Nico was a baby, and at age five he still listens to disc 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier as he’s falling asleep every night.

    Reply

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