Uh oh: with Rob’s graduation and then an unexpected isolation, Henry’s 15th birthday has snuck up on me. I have 10 days. His wish list is almost useless: unavailable D&D books; not-yet-published Randall Munroe book; a strong laser pointer (no); seeing a play in person (good idea but not yet); a cool watch (saving that idea for his 16th birthday); a Swiss Army knife (I don’t know about that); a fleece hoodie (harder to find this time of year; also I am not 100% sure I know what he means by “fleece”).
He likes theater and fiction-writing and cats and Dungeons & Dragons. He likes wearing rings, but he already has two, and I’m not sure how many is the right number and how many is Too Many. He likes reading, especially Terry Pratchett and D&D books, but he has all the Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams and D&D books, plus the fun rustic-looking leather journals and the mini figurines and the Unseen University t-shirt. He likes fun socks, but already has a fair number of fun socks; he likes fun t-shirts, but already has a fair number of fun t-shirts. He likes Strange Planet but we already have the books and he already has a t-shirt. There is a line in a book of Christmas short stories by Jeanette Winterson where Santa mentions that gifts were for when people had very little, but now they have too much, and I think wincingly of that whenever I am trying to shop for Christmas/birthdays.
I might pre-order him the Randall Munroe book, because otherwise he’d have to wait until Christmas, and by then he’d probably have gotten it from the library; and he might be old enough to enjoy the anticipation of a gift coming later. But ONE of his gifts this year was a trip over spring vacation to a museum he wanted to go to, so I’m reluctant to do more “not now” gifts.
And he wants a Steam gift card, which seems reasonable, but not much fun to unwrap. He likes candy! I can get him some candy! But that won’t cost much.
I beg those of you with kids of this type / in this age range: what gift successes have you had recently?
I’m planning on getting Elizabeth new bedding for her room for her next birthday (14), does that work? I’m planning on like silken or fuzzy or something fun to make it seem more like a fun present.
A set of fancy/fun dice for DND? I saw a set somewhere recently that had a tiny ship-in-a-bottle suspended in the middle of the dice. Or there are lovely hardback editions of Terry Pratchett books…we have most of them as paperbacks but my husband wanted the pretty copy of our 3 favorites. That may be a middle age man thing more than a teenager thing?
https://www.waterstones.com/book/guards-guards/terry-pratchett/9781473200180
We bought ours when we lived in the UK so I am actually unclear if these covers are available in the US. Sorry.
As a fellow Pratchett fan, I can recommend Ben Aaronovich’s Rivers of London series and the series both has books and graphic novels. And more importantly- they are available 😊
https://www.amazon.com/Ben-Aaronovitch/e/B000AP1TJQ
Second this: these books are terrific fun.
Thirding this recommendation. Such a great series!
I don’t have any ideas, but I have to say that it seems like your kids have grown into REALLY cool adults/young adults!
If he enjoys playing tabletop D&D, he might want some interesting dice?
I have a D&D loving just turned 15yo. We bought him a set of Warhammer figurines and books. Warhammer is kind of like D&D, but different. (Don’t ask me how). We also bought him the novel A Cruel and Fated Light by Ashley Shuttleworth. She’s Canadian, so I don’t know how easily available it will be in the States. It’s also the second in the series, so I recommend starting with the first. I haven’t read either but my son really liked the first and was excited to get the second book. We didn’t spend much this year because we also took him and some friends to a virtual reality arcade thingy, which was also a hit (although apparently one hour is enough). Steam gift cards are popular here, so even though it’s less fun for you to wrap, I’m guessing it will be a hit. (Could you go cheesy and wrap it with the pocket knife and a note about using the the knife to battle dragons but not siblings or something)?)
I would like to recommend a book series by Scott Lynch. The first one is The Lies of Locke LaMorra. Henry’s tastes sound similar to my family’s and we all loved this series.
These books are great and based on Henry’s tastes you described here I agree he would probably like them! Just a word of caution, it’s a planned 7 book series and only 3 have been published – it’s been years since the third one came out and it’s not clear to me whether/when the author is going to pick this series back up. I definitely still think they’re worth reading, but just wanted to mention this in case it will bother Henry to start a series that may never be finished.
I’d get him the watch/knife (probably just one), book for later, and candy. I’m all about getting the wish list wants. Maybe 1 present to surprise that he didn’t ask for. And on his bday or near I’d maybe go out together to get the watch/knife that he really wants. And maybe to lunch.
If he likes Randall Monroe, he might like the Nerdfighter/DFTBA (Don’t forget to be awesome) merchandise. I’ve also had some success with a good pair of headphones, and a mini fridge for their room (like six cans of soda’s worth.)
I agree that a swiss army knife is a good idea (one with lots of the gadgets). Maybe paintable figurines for D&D, or do they have one-shot D&D and dinner things in your area you’d be comfortable with? We did one of those with friends hosted in a private room of a local restaurant, and it was super-fun!
I bet they have one-off D&D games with professional DMs online.
If he likes TP and DA as well as DnD, he might enjoy the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. It’s urban fantasy with a hint of social commentary. Along the same vein, but with British tones, is the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka.
As for the theatre interest, if he is truly interested in the backstage side of things, “The Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac” is one of the best basic books to be given. If he likes the onstage stuff only – is there a cast recording or video of his favorite show?
Does he like to be warm? I got my tween a Poler Napsack last year and it was a huge hit – I found ours secondhand on eBay but here are new ones: https://poler.com/collections/napsacks
Could he use a nice wallet? My almost 16 year old was still using a Velcro Star Wars wallet until I got him an “adult” wallet for Christmas. Maybe put the Steam gift card in it?
I LOVE the idea of a wallet, with some gift cards in it, and maybe $15 in cash just for fun. I wish someone had done this for my husband, who was still using his childhood velcro soccer ball pattern wallet in college. At some point I got him a plain leather one at Marshalls/TJ Maxx- they usually come in a nice gifty little box.
Yes to the wallet, esp. if he will soon have a Learner’s Permit to store in it! (and gift cards are a nice touch)
Came here to say some d&d dice, but I see others beat me to it. They also have a lot of dice rolling tower things in cool interesting designs, if he might be interested in one of those (google D&D dice tower).
Yes! Came here to recommend dice and a dice tower! I bought one for my husband on the advice of a friend and now we use it for all of our games that involve dice. They just make sense!!
Do any local theater companies near you have outside plays during the summer where you can bring lawn chairs/picnic blankets and safely socially distance- like a Shakespeare in the Park kind of thing?
Or maybe an experience like an Escape Room? Where I live you can book them for a group and not have outside people join you. That way you could be sure everyone in his group is vaxxed and/or masked for safety purposes.
Yes! I came to make the same suggestion of Shakespeare in the Park or other outdoor theater experiences. If there aren’t any in your town, could you look in a nearby larger city? That could make it a more special outing, too, if it involves a short day trip.
There are also many theaters with strict COVID protocols around masking, vaccine requirements, and negative test results.
Do your kids have kindles? Our local library has a GREAT selection of books available on kindle. My oldest got one last Christmas, and it has been a huge hit!!!
What about a subscription to broadwayHD where he can watch Broadway shows? It’s pretty cool and a lot of different types of things.
I was going to suggest this. It’s $11.99/month and you could get him a summer-long subscription and let him binge all the theater content he wants.
Dice bag? I am not what the price range on this kind of thing is, and it’s definitely not a unwrap-in-10-days thing, but a friend used to do commissioned portraits of D&D characters which seems like it could be something special.
Is there a specific reason you are worried about him having a swiss army knife at 15? I think all my male friends had pocket knives at that age, so I’d think without a history of questionable decisions (or maybe forgetfulness and taking it places it could get him in trouble) it would be fine.
My husband recently got me into reading the Rivers of London series, which is the kind of thing that someone who likes Douglas Adams might like but not know about yet. There are some adult relationships, but the kind you might want your 15 year old to read about and not super graphic. There’s also Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which is excellent (but slower paced….good for the kind of kid who could get into Jane Austen or J.R.R. Tolkien, but not one who leans towards the action adventure kind of fiction).
My husband also says Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere, American Gods, Anansi Boys)
I got my first pocket knife for my 8th birthday.
My son loves D&D and always wants more dice, even though I question how many can he really use? He still loves all the different colors. Also, this can be pricey, but he loved designing his own figurines at heroforge.com.
I know that this is a very pre-covid idea, but I recently got my kids playbill binders (just search for playbill binders with sleeves so you don’t have to buy/find the sleeves separately). This falls under “something I wish I had started when I was a teenager.” I found some things I”d been saving to start them out and put in the binder….1-2 Broadway playbills, a school performance program or two that they wanted to remember and some concert booklets (I wish I had my old concert tickets, but now all of the tickets seems to be digital but sometimes there are little books handed out). I thought it would be good to have a set place to keep these kind of things. One child is much more into theater and concerts, but the other is much more into organization so they both appreciated for different reasons. Also, my kids at 15 seemed to start wanting to go to Starbucks, Panera or local ice cream place (anywhere with an outside eating area) with friends. They liked those gift cards.
Oh also…if he likes D&D, does he have ALL the board games? Seems like once you commit to being a D&D person, getting board games for every birthday thereafter is just part of the package.
I also think the knife is a good present at this age, and would get a Leatherman with lots of gadgets and tools and one with a small knife (1in, good for opening boxes).
If he likes theatre and writing, does he like Stephen Sondheim? Sondheim wrote two really great books (Finishing the Hat and Look I Made a Hat) where he breaks down all the lyrics for his shows and goes into much of the backstory of the shows. It’s a fascinating glimpse into his mind and craft.
Just another vote for the Swiss Army knife! My kiddos are younger (8 & 11) and have the Cabela’s in-store brand (cheap!) version of a Swiss Army knife – and they looove it! For a 15 year old you could definitely buy the expensive version!
I also love the idea of the outdoor theatre (as Bethann28 suggested), if your local area offers something like this (and it is within your comfort zone to attend)…
Fully understanding the COVID sitch y’all have BEEN THROUGH…but FWIW in the Chicago area, all the Union theatres and tours have been very strict with their COVID protocols for audiences – vax cards or negative tests, and audiences masked – regardless of local numbers. Pretty sure it’s an Equity or SAG requirement. So you may be ready for in person theatre sooner than you thought. 💕
Does he like Magic the gathering? My sons (13 and almost 15) are OBSESSED.
Same. 17 and 14.
Also Dice. Backpack and shoes are also on both wishlists this year.
Universal Yums subscription box? They send a box of (sweet and savory) snacks from a country outside the US each month. There’s trivia and info about the country and snacks, too.
We have this at my house and call it “Universal Yucks” but LOVE IT. Even though we are “meh” to “oh gross” on at least half of the items in each box. Recommend. Super fun to taste things you wouldn’t normally even when they’re not good.
Subscription boxes have been a big hit in my house. My 13yo daughter has gotten Tokyo Treats subscriptions twice. We would definitely do it again. My 10yo son waits every month for his KiwiCo box. I think there is probably a subscription box for every interest you can think of these days. It may be worth it to do a search for “[area of interest] subscription box” just to see what’s available.
How about some cool, fan-made art/accessories of the stuff he is into from Etsy? My daughters (18 & 15) like that for the books/musicians they are into. And during covid, my 15 yo and I were watching The Vampire Diaries and she got me some super-cool fan-made replicas of jewelry that characters in the show wore. I’m not sure how this would translate for his interests but it is amazing the cool fan-made art/accessories for pretty much any interest out there!
Are there any open air theaters near you that would have shows this summer? Would that be in your comfort level? I know that would be another not immediate gift, but it would be sooner than the September book release at least. A Broadway HD subscription could be another option, they have lots of great pro-shots available to stream.
Pocket knife is a great grift. Don’t go too big if you are getting a multi tool because it gets to heavy for a pocket. I highly recommend having his initials engraved.
If he likes crafty things I was going to suggest the D&D miniatures you can buy and paint. There’s a box of 28 for $25 on Amazon.
Sugarwish is a site where you send someone a virtual gift card and they choose their own candy for the gift box. Kind of a fun way to let them be part of the process and get what they really want.
DnD minifigures and a paint set went over very well at Christmas for my DnD loving 13 year old. Also, you can check out the selection at dungeoncrate.com- they have lots of pre-written campaigns to make the DM’s job easier as well as lots of accessories. Keith Ammann writes books with tips for DMs and players that my kid also devours.
Agreed that a fleece hoodie is tricky to acquire at this time of year. My 15 year old lives in the shearling lined hoodie I got him for Christmas from Abercrombie. It was quite spendy but he wanted literally nothing else.
I got my son a worldbuilding workbook for fiction writing. He is working on writing a video game world but is also into fantasy sci-fi and dungeons and dragons. The workbook seemed a little lame but he had LOVED building a world for his fiction. Here is the one I bought https://www.amazon.com/Days-Worldbuilding-Step-Step-Fictional/dp/1838327363/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?keywords=World+Building&qid=1653176010&sr=8-7 but there are others, as well as a few other fiction writing workbooks in the series.
What about a nice/cool/nice quality set of D&D dice?
Two suggestions from my D&D loving 15 year old who seemed like she had everything D&D already. Dice trays – they come in sets and are handy when playing with friends and you don’t all have easy access to the perfect surface. And a gift card to hero forge where you can design your own mini fig and they 3D print it for you.
Dice sets, dice bags, dice trays, and dice towers are all great options. We are also huge fans of a D&D-based comic book series Order of the Stick (https://www.giantitp.com/Shop.html), which is hilarious and epic and a surprisingly moving story.
As for unavailable books, sometimes gaming stores carry them when Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other mainstream bookstores don’t.
For our 15 year old I did cash, a giant box full of his favorite soda and fizzy water, a blanket that was the same as mine that he was always trying to steal, sneakers, and a comfy. I may have mixed in some Christmas presents there accidentally.
What about a dice vault or some other role playing accessories from https://wyrmwoodgaming.com/ ? We have bought several things from them for ourselves and as gifts (hexagonal tabletop tiles, dice vaults, etc) and they’re lovely.
If he likes subscriptions, maybe get him one to awesomesocks club. It’s one of Hank Green’s endeavors and all profits go to building a health care system in Sierra Leone. The socks are good quality and really fun prints (not sponsored lol just really like them)
Echoing the recommendations for something by Neil Gaiman (and perhaps the family could watch an adaptation of something together after he’s read the book?) and a monogrammed knife or leatherman.
Does he play Munchkin? There are four billion special card packs.
Has he read the Every Heart a Doorway series by Seanan McGuire?
Has he read The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (or The Blue Sword, ditto)
Has he read John Scalzi?
Has he read Nnedi Okorafor?
I definitely recommend dice for a DnD loving 15 year old and I have a friend who makes dice! She is just starting a small business and does all kinds of cool dice with fun things in them! (Skulls! Easter chicks! Steampunk gears!) Here is the link to her site: https://tiffaniestreasurechest.square.site/
I also recommend the game Here to Slay. My 8 and 15 year old play together and I also really enjoy it!
What age is driving age in your state? Around here, it starts at 15. Could you give him a keychain with an Airtag or Tile finder attached, so that he can make them make a noise if he loses them?
I would also give him the watch, mostly because 15 can be as good as 16 for that, plus maybe next year would be the year for theater/etc.
I don’t do a wallet anymore, but just have a sticker pocket thing that attaches to my phone case– he might like something similar if he has a cell phone and doesn’t already have one. The advantage for me is that with my driver’s license, health cards, and a credit card attached to my phone, it gives me less to forget/lose. I use a stretchy pocket– I tried a stiffer leather-looking one, but didn’t like the bulk.
Would he be at all interested in any of the Masterclass offerings? It was on a list of corporate rewards I could pick from a year or so ago and it looked really interesting. He might be interested in seeing Big Names in different fields talking about their things. Neil Gaiman has a series of classes there, as do others. (I was tempted to pick Masterclass as my reward, but: pandemic + daycare-aged-kid = not enough minutes in the day to make the subscription worthwhile.)
Do you already own Thing Explainer? I love that Randall Munroe book, and I find it’s not as well known as the others.
Along the same lines as the Sondheim books, how about books of lyrics or behind-the-scenes for shows he likes? The best ones we have are Hamilton: The Revolution and In the Heights: Finding Home, but even the full book of a musical is delightful to follow along with a soundtrack.
Has he seen the anime cartoon Demonslayer? We all watched it as a family, and it was a big hit, despite being prettttty violent and also season 3 seemed to maybe have some implied-concubines in it? Possibly we shouldn’t have let your 10 year old nephew watch it. La la la! He’s fine!
Here’s a link to the show so you know what it looks like:
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Slayer-Kimetsu-Yaiba-Blu-ray/dp/B08C79ZFVX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3KQY1BU322RXY&keywords=demon+slayer+season+1&qid=1653330634&sprefix=demon+slayer+season+1%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-1
Anyway, the show was a hit, and since we finished Season 3 the kids have been wanting to walk down to the library almost every day to see if the Demonslayer manga they’ve put on hold is IN, but we haven’t received notice yet. There are many books of the manga, and they’re pretty popular in our town, hence the holds.
Here’s a link to the (wow! pricey!) manga:
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Slayer-Kimetsu-Vol-1-5-Collection/dp/9123860448/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3MFWLFSJ592B4&keywords=demon+slayer+season+1+manga&qid=1653330731&sprefix=demon+slayer+season+1%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-3
I have a kid with similar tastes and an aggravatingly small wish list. We got him a drone for Christmas, it wasn’t on a list or even mentioned, I just went on a whim and prayer that he would like it, and it was a HIT. He still gets it out and has talked about wanting to upgrade or get additional batteries or accessories, so I feel like it also opened up a new world of future gift giving opportunities as well.
He usually gets a relatively inexpensive gaming headset and/or ear buds for his birthday, as he’s constantly breaking them or losing them, but has yet to prove he could be responsible for more expensive versions.
We also got him a commuter style scooter – he’s a year younger than Henry so a ways off from driving himself to school, and over 6 foot, so the old Razor just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
I don’t have time to read all the comments so maybe everyone has already said this, but I would definitely recommend giving him the swiss army knife. I got one from my parents around that age (may have been 13 or 14), and 30 years later I still have it and use it. It always comes with me on trips, whether camping or city trips or whatever, and is always useful somehow. They come with many (or few, depending on which one you choose) functionalities. I recommend getting one that has a big knife, a can opener, a bottle opener, a cork screw, and tweezers (unless he specifically asked for other things to be included). Almost everything else it may have is superfluous, and anything less means he’ll often need the knife AND some other tools/utensils.
I came here to mention the D&D dice. Misty Mountain is highly recommended. https://mistymountaingaming.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjw4ayUBhA4EiwATWyBruWLR8DMFVsM2cj866Rs6KVEwjj5KnJBYb__xtHrHTcs5tQ6Op4KwBoC6s8QAvD_BwE
Concert tickets to his favorite band or one that is age friendly. Sometimes, just a dinner to a nice restaurant with just you and father, no other siblings. If he likes rings he may like a really nice chain necklace. Oh, and sunglasses!
Dice, the perennial gift. You always need more dice for D&D. (I’d Google something like “glow in the dark d&d dice” or “starry dice” or “element dice” or metal dice. Because of how brains work, some dice will inevitably become the “lucky” dice.
You can also get miniatures of monsters and maps to map out combat — I think Paizo is putting out a lot of adventure-specific stuff.
If he plays in person, a good DM screen, if he plays online, a decent microphone/headset. Also, props: fancy parchment looking paper, nibbed pens, sealing waxes, envelopes, online sets of sound effects.
I have a son the same age who’s also into D&D- but also Magic the Gathering, board games (Carcasonne or Duel), and recently enjoyed the Illuminae series and the Dante and Aristotle books by Benjamin Saenz. He also does a lot of reading on the Kindle with books from our local library.
Many people have voted for the Swiss Army Knife and I came here to do the same! I got a Swiss Army Knife as a gift from my parents when I was 17. They are not outdoorsy. I am not outdoorsy. But still, they gifted it to me and had it engraved with my name.
31 years later, I still travel with it everywhere. It has a lot of cool attachments and over the years has come in handy for so many things.
It sounds as if you have suggestions well in hand. I just came here to say I got stuck on he has ALL the Terry Pratchett books. Aren’t there over 80 books in that series? That’s dedication.
Ha, yes, we do not have that many; it would be more accurate to say he has all the Terry Pratchett books he wants!
Make a steam gift card more fun to unwrap by wrapping it up in something silly like a tea-kettle for the pun! Just use whatever kettle you already have because that’s not the gift. Or maybe wrapping it with a little train toy from the dollar tree.
I definitely think that’s a fine age for a pocket knife.
Our local theater offers gift cards, which could allow him to pick the show he wants to see at the time you’re comfortable with- although that’s another “not now” gift. The Broadway HD subscription is a great suggestion above.
Coming back to say I just finished A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking and it was very like Pratchett and Adams. I loved it.
Adding a closing tag
Here for this as I have a pending 15 yr old too! He told me last night that his number one ask is a practice butterfly knife. Which I would never have guessed and am feeling not thrilled about. Looking forward to reading the comments for better suggestions!
I’m all for the Swiss Army knife, but have to agree on the not-thrilled about a butterfly knife. I remember they were *the* thing for a little while for guys around that age at my school (and I also bought a cheap one on a class trip – the 90s sure were a different time).
But – to my knowledge – they serve no purpose other than do twirling tricks with an object that also has a sharp edge and point. And since “tricks” usually segues neatly into “trying to impress others”, that’s a combination I’d happily run interference on by non-compliance with a gift wish, if I had kids.
Has he read Piers Anthony (Xanth OR Apprentice Adept OR Incarnations of Immortality)? Or Robert Aspirin (Phule’s Company OR Myth Adventures)?
If he’s a theater geek, has he gotten into juggling yet? (My theater teacher husband says don’t go to Amazon for this. Get Higgins Brothers or G-ballz juggling balls if you go this route.)
Oh, but—as someone who put both of those authors on her NO list in the 90’s— find out ahead of time if you’re good with their approach to female characters in whatever books you’re contemplating getting. I had major issues with both Anthony and Aspirin back then. Don’t know if they’ve gotten better, but I would not recommend the things I read.
How can tiny baby Henry be 15? What is happening? And yes, I am AWARE that I am writing a cliché, but SUCH IS LIFE. Things are clichés because we all feel them.