My nephew is 13, and does not have a wish list, and says he likes to be surprised. I, in turn, would like to be The Cool Aunt Who Knows Just What To Buy Him—like my OWN cool aunt, who used to thrill me each year by buying me the same thing she bought for my cousin, her daughter who was four years older than me: a bottle of perfume marketed to teenagers when I was 9; a very thin gold bracelet when I was 10; a hot turquoise button-down shirt with a poppable collar and a thin belt when I was 12. And I SHOULD be able to transfer to this gift-giving model!! I have a child who is four years older than my nephew!! It should be PERFECT!! But my aunt is stylish and glamorous and doesn’t overthink things, so maybe we should all play to our own strengths.
My nephew likes to know a lot of facts, and he composes electronic music and also plays bass in an orchestra, and he is the youngest cousin of seven and DOES NOT want to be thought of as the youngest. I think if I were choosing One Most Important Thing about gifts for him, it’s that they should err on the side of OLDER.
Let me show you some of the ideas I have so far, and maybe you have a 13ish-year-old on your list and can share some of YOUR ideas, and together we’ll make a little catalog of ideas.
A band t-shirt for Marceline’s band, in Adventure Time:
(image from Amazon.com)
If none of those words make sense to you, don’t worry, you are not having a stroke. Adventure Time is a whimsical surreal cartoon for teens/adults, and Marceline is a character in that show, and she is a cool vampire who is in a band. So this is a pretend concert/band t-shirt for that fictional band.
(image from Amazon.com)
Maybe a mini-fridge for his room? We got one of these for Henry a year or so ago, and it has worked well. It’s the really eensy kind that only holds like six cans. (Definitely I would check with parents before buying this sort of thing.)
(image from Amazon.com)
Storey’s Curious Compendium of Practical and Obscure Skills: 214 Things You Can Actually Learn How to Do. Maybe this is too textbooky/educational? But it really has so many interesting things in it. It INVITES you to pick it up and page through it. I’m sort of leaning toward this plus another thing—like maybe this plus a t-shirt.
(image from topatoco.com)
Meow Meow Meow shirt. But we have at least two of this shirt in our household, and I’m not sure where those shirts are in the handmedowns process. It would be a real bummer to get, as a gift, the new version of shirt literally already in your drawer—or worse, one you rejected from the handmedowns bag!! But I mention it in case YOU have a 13ish-year-old to buy for. (I strongly prefer this version over the other version, which says “Pay attention to me” instead of “Meow Meow Meow.”) Similarly, I recommend this Dogs: They’re Good shirt.
I wonder if he would like a subscription to The Onion. It’s a physical newspaper once a month, and it’s funny. But it might be aimed too old: I got it as a gift for Paul, and HE’LL get the jokes about senators, but maybe a 13-year-old would be puzzled. Or maybe a 13-year-old would appreciate having their news literacy overestimated?? Henry suggested getting him the book Our Dumb Century instead:
(image from Amazon.com)
But that was published in 1999, and I feel like it might end up having too many That Was a Different Time kind of moments. Even humor from, say, 2014 sometimes hits different now. What larks we used to have, making fun of both sides!
(image from Amazon.com)
LAST year, when he was merely 12, he wanted a Strange Planet daily calendar. I could do that again. But sometimes when you see something every day for a year you’re kind of DONE with that thing. I had a Pusheen day-to-day calendar this year, and I liked it a lot and was glad I’d bought it, but for next year I’m getting The Art of Flowers.
(image from oldnavy.gap.com)
This feels almost too boring to consider, but maybe my aunt would have felt the same way about the thrilling turquoise button-down: I could get him the same flannel shirt and/or pants that Henry recently chose for himself.
(image from etsy.com)
A couple years ago we got Henry a black ring with his initial on it, and he wears it constantly along with another ring made out of a Japanese coin on his opposite ring finger, and it looks pretty cool (his mother thinks). I think this is too Henry-specific an idea for my nephew, but perhaps for your similarly-aged child.
(image from Amazon.com)
When we have a family get-together each year, I bring one of these big sticker mosaics, and my nephew likes them. But…maybe it’s more event-specific, like, this is GREAT as a group activity but not something to do by oneself. And also, each year that goes by I wonder if THIS will be the year he doesn’t like big sticker mosaics anymore.
I am very much hoping you will have more ideas.
With the obvious caveat that I don’t know your nephew or the kind of things he likes, this strikes me as a great list of ideas—I think you struck a nice balance between “wants to feel older” and “still actually a kid though.” If his parents are cool with it, I think I’d go with the mini fridge because I remember wanting one badly at around that age.
I got the Curious Compendium book for my mom a couple Christmases ago, and it is indeed a very fun book. I’m not sure if “my retirement-aged mom liked this” is exactly a ringing endorsement for a gift for a 13-year-old boy, but I could see it appealing to lots of different age groups.
This is a bit of an odd suggestion, but I wonder if he’d like a leather wallet? I had one when I was around his age, and it made me feel very cool and grown up.
My son just turned 13, and OMG this is the hardest gift year yet. All he is into is video games, and he already has all he needs for that (a headset so he can talk to his friends while he plays and controllers). I managed to find things like a Bluetooth beanie and a charger for his phone, and soft pajama pants. He’s really skinny and wants to start putting on muscle so I’m getting him barbells. I’m at a loss, so I’ll be watching to see other ideas.
As a fact lover from a young age, learning unusual skills would highly appeal to me. In fact, as someone who has lived for four decades, I would still love to receive this book.
YES. Ditto. I feel like learning about funky skills is the most universal sort of “interesting facts” thing there is?
I have a 13-year-old son. He wanted stuff for his 3D printer – some filament but other things that upgrade it. He also wanted new paddles/sticks for his X-Box controller.
He still likes Lego – mostly Technic and the cars. Walmart had a few of the $50 ones on sale for $25 recently.
Something I bought that he didn’t ask for, is something I saved earlier in the year after seeing it online somewhere: FerroFluid Display Toy Bottle, on Amazon.
Oh and all my three teens are getting hard squishes: Schylling NeeDoh Gumdrop or the same brand in an ice cube. The 19 year old asked for that one.
Last year my husband got me one of those desk calendars that you peel off once a week and it reveal a 3D image over the year. Mine is Hogwarts. My son has been mildly interested in that and so that could be a good calendar gift. Seems they are called “Time Piece Calendar”.
My 13yo really likes the “What If?” books (as do I). He’s also getting a very fancy balloon pump (and upgrade from a small handheld version) and skinny balloons because he wants to start doing balloon art as a side gig.
Because you had the sticker mosaic as a possibility, would he enjoy a 1000 piece puzzle? I particularly like the ones from the magic puzzle company. The art is fun, they generally don’t have big blobs that are all one color, the pieces fit well together, and the “magic” at the end is fun.
My son is almost 13 and also a “likes to know a lot of facts” sort of kid who plays in an orchestra. Here is some stuff on his wishlist:
The New York Times “Headlines in History” page-a-day calendar and the History Channel “This Day in History” calendar. (Yes, he wants both. He had both this year and I guess he reads one page in the morning and one in the evening.) I know you already did a page-a-day calendar, but maybe he’d enjoy a different topic.
Novelty socks. He specifically wants ones that look like bookshelves and ones featuring funny food items.
Shape-shifting fidget boxes
A tee shirt featuring his favorite podcast
A nice bathrobe (seems weird for a 13-year-old, I know, but he likes to just throw a robe over his PJs and lounge around like that on the weekends)
He also still likes LEGO and Star Wars Micro Galaxy ships, so he has requested some of those. He has very specific LEGO wants at this point, though, and probably wouldn’t be thrilled by just a random set.
A gift certificate to his favorite candy shop (we have a great one in our town full of old-fashioned stuff and weird novelty candies). He also requested a gift card for the convenience store so he can walk over and buy himself all the icees and chips he wants. Basically, like all 13-year-old boys he wants non-stop snacks, and I think part of the appeal is being able to walk to the store and get stuff by himself.
I think the mini fridge is a great idea and he’d be all about that if I’d let him have one in his room.
Oooh, my almost 13 year old would love a This Day in History calendar– what a great idea! Just put one in my cart for him :)
If he likes to compose electronic music, would he like this mini synthesizer? (Not sure if this is out of your price range.) https://www.amazon.com/Dubreq-DU05151-Stylophone-Retro-Pocket/dp/B000SKHSRU
Is it feasible in location/family dynamics to have his 4yr older cousin (or an older older one) take him to a concert or convention or other such event? At 13 wanting to be older I would have died and gone to heaven to do something like that. But older/responsible supervision may sell it for his parents.
(That said, this was almost 30 yrs ago, and Canada so views on safety may have been v different)
Our 14 year old loves snacks and was very excited to get a Korean snack pack containing sweet and salty snacks as well as drinks. Or a subscription to receive monthly packages with assorted candy/snacks. My sister took him and his cousins to see a mentalist show and he really enjoyed that as well. For Christmas, our son had asked for tickets for a cart racing track.
I have a 12 yo and am struggling with him! I think your 13 yo would love the mini fridge. I also grabbed this, a cologne sampler set (I got it on sale!), see https://www.ulta.com/p/holiday-scents-him-pimprod2048044?sku=2630579 since he’s still trying to figure out what he likes.
The fact book ideas are all awesome! I live in western NY so I default to hoodies vs t shirts, but your mileage may vary. Good luck, sending cool aunt vibes your way!
As the mom of a 13 year old boy, these seem like great ideas, especially the fridge, the ring, and the Henry suggested book! My own kid has mostly asked for music-related gifts, but one more universal thing was adult-style work boots.
My 13 year old girl is having a big year, gift wise, because her older sister is going on a trip to Europe next summer and HER older sister has gotten a car this year and $1000 of Apple Car Play so we feel like we have to kind of pour it on for her, gift wise. She wants a tv for her room and a new Chromebook so we are combining them and getting her a Chromebook on which she can play Roblox with her friends AND watch repeats of the Gilmore Girls in her room. She also filled a Shein cart to give me ideas of the shirts and bracelets she wants. For her birthday, I got her some nice Nike socks which look super long to my Gen X self but which I guess the kids are wearing now? We also got her a small karaoke set which comes with two microphones and that was a big hit. Ha ha, this is my 13 year old specific, but she recently read/watched The Outsiders and she fell hard for Matt Dillon, so she also got a blanket with his face all over it. She is very into being cozy and has a cute robe and loves a throw blanket. Oh and she has a mini fridge, she loves it, and it’s so small that I don’t even think it affects the electricity or anything. I wish she liked books more, but she did love the Outsiders so I got her a copy of S.E. Hinton’s Tex and That was Then, This is Now.