The twins are turning twelve. I still haven’t figured out how to make it easier to find the gift-idea posts.
My parents are giving them both pogo sticks:
(image from Amazon.com)
The fun thing is that my parents gave Henry a pogo stick for his birthday last month, and the twins have been sneaking turns on it when he’s not around.
(image from Amazon.com)
Qixels. I expect these to result in a brief period of frenzied play, followed by total lack of interest and little weird cubes scattered all over the house. But Edward pines for these every time he sees them at the store, so FINE.
(image from Amazon.com)
Martha Stewart glitter markers, one box each of warm tones and cool tones. Elizabeth’s aunt and uncle gave her these for Christmas, and they’re GREAT, and she uses them all the time, and so some of the colors have run out of ink.
(image from Amazon.com)
Circuit Maze. Edward saw this demonstrated by one of the YouTubers he follows. I think of anything by ThinkFun as a pretty good bet.
(image from Amazon.com)
Paint by Sticker. Elizabeth wanted this, but now I’m worried I should have gotten her the one for kids. She can get a little door-slammy when frustrated. [Update: Thanks to Kate for mentioning that the non-kids one was a little door-slammy for grown-ups, too. I gave Elizabeth a kids one instead and it was JUST RIGHT. It might be too easy for a 12-year-old who was chiller about things going wrong.]
(image from Amazon.com)
Water balloon pump. We got this for Edward last year, too, but the balloon-tying part finally broke off, so we’re replacing it; he can use the broken one as a back-up water supply. I also got him a pack of something weird I found at Target: a clump of water balloons that attach all at once to the hose, and they self-seal—so you can fill a whole bunch very quickly.
(image from Amazon.com)
A dinosaur costume for Elizabeth’s cat.
(image from Amazon.com)
Hexbug remote-controlled fish. I made Edward look at all the “It broke in a week!” reviews with me, but he still wanted it, so he’s getting one.
(image from Zazzle.com)
Zazzle has custom earrings now, so when they were having a 50%-off sale I made two pairs for Elizabeth. We have three cats, and one of them is her favorite, so I made one earring of each cat’s face, and then I used a different view of her favorite cat’s face for the fourth earring. I did the stud earrings because she doesn’t wear dangly ones yet and because they were cheaper, but the images are Very Small; if I were doing a pair for myself, I’d go with the larger, dangly ones.
The bunch o balloons are AMAZING but expensive. My kids go through them in like two seconds but they are super fun to fill quickly and then ambush them while they’re all playing in the back yard.
Also, my oldest is 8 but he has Gravity Maze and Laser Maze and he likes them but my husband will play them long after the kids have wandered off.
I was just coming here to say that Simone got Laser Maze (looks similar to Circuit Maze, also by Think Fun) for her birthday and she likes it fine but *I* am COMPLETELY OBSESSED WITH IT, and would say it definitely belongs on any Gifts for 37-Year-Old Women list you may make.
I have to admit, I bought this Paint by Stickers book for myself https://www.amazon.com/Paint-Sticker-Masterpieces-Re-create-Artworks/dp/0761189513 and it was more frustratingly-hard than pleasingly-hard. And I’m 36! And pretty crafty. So maybe you could also get the kids book and give them both to her? Or maybe she’ll love it and I’m just bad at stickers.
This is very good to know. I have put the book I got her aside for some other occasion, and I bought her one of the kid ones.
Do they have different levels of kid ones? Because I came here to say the opposite! We’ve gotten the kid version before and it was perfectly easy for my then 5 and 7-year-olds. Probably too easy for a 12-year-old? Unless you’re looking for something along the line of most adult coloring books – not HARD, by any means, but something easy and shut-your-mind-off meditative.
I can’t believe the twins are twelve! Time flies.
I want those Martha Stewart Glitter markers for myself! Added to wish list :)
My 10 year old son LOVES the Qixels! We have done about four different refill packs and he still enjoys it. I don’t have trouble with the pieces getting all over, but I do have trouble getting them put away – the pieces fit in little cube holders but they don’t have tops, so if you are trying to pack them up to put them away it is messy. Maybe small plastic ziplock bags would be easier, or if you don’t mind mixing them up, one big ziplock.
TWELVE?!!??!?! Stop. I feel like they are 8, but since my oldest is almost 8, I suppose you MUST be right and yours are 12. Wow!!!
A new pack of markers is such a satisfying gift and I say that as a 46 year old!
“Door-slammy” is just about the most perfect description of tween girls under duress!!
“Door slammy”….hmmm, this could describe me some days!!
I’ve seen that bunch of balloons thing in action, it really does fill up a bunch of balloons quickly; perfect for water balloon fights.
Happy birthday to the twins!
Just use the balloons right away. The longer you wait, the more water they lose.
My oldest is 12 today! He is getting a bike because he is participating in an I Can Bike program, to finally learn to ride from some experts, since we have never been able to do it. Happy birthday to the twins, 12 years old seems super old to me, I can’t believe it. I love those earrings, I’m going to do that for my nine year old next year. Thanks!
Love these posts. Wow, twelve! I am remembering one of your posts when they were toddlers and chuckling – dirt or something messy, I forget, was poured out all over the ground inside for some reason? Oh, toddlers.
I will only buy Bunch o’ Balloons now. I get them at Costco in packages of 8 clumps and they are worth every single penny to me. Every one. I could only tie about 20 by hand before my fingers hurt; with a tying thing, it was about the same number before I lost the will to live. These things? I can fill 100 balloons in 2 minutes, it lasts the kids a long time, and that means I get more time to myself in the hammock with my book!
Happy birthday to the twins – I can’t believe they’re 12 already!