If you want to go beyond the usual useful, but boring, stuff, this list of presents is just the thing you need. If you wish to give him more than a gift, and share with him instead, a memorable experience which he will never forget, this is the way to go.
A digital camera:
Complete with a photo album for when he eventually prints his best shots. The reason that this is a lot better than a conventional camera is that he has the option of deleting the unfocused or less-than-perfect images he will invariably take while learning to operate a camera. He will certainly be able to develop the craft quite quickly as he can immediately see what works and what doesn't in the world of photography. This is a present that he won't put down or get tired of in the near future, it's worth 3 or 4 smaller presents put together. If a digital camera is out of the question, I find that even a normal one will bring him a lot of pleasure as he hunts for things to photograph. A trendy alarm clock:
Not just any old alarm clock, but a novel one that will take his fancy, maybe with a picture of his hero or his favourite sport's personality. Giving him a clock says that you're ready to hand a measure of responsibility of his own time management over to him. It will fill him with pride and cultivate a good habit of setting his alarm every night before he goes to sleep, in order to wake up on time the next morning. This present is not only about a tangible gift, but is a tried and tested way of putting children on the road to beginning to take on their own responsibility. A musical instrument:
He doesn't have to know how to play it yet. This is to encourage him to develop a talent. Who knows in 20 years' time he may be saying on TV, “My granddad gave me my first guitar.” You could also pay for a term's worth of guitar tuition. Or buy a book from which he can teach himself to play. In the future this additional talent would serve to add a new facet to enrich his personality. It's a talent which will give him confidence in himself, thus enabling him to further advance as a young person. A radio or boom box with his favourite music:
Listening to the radio teaches us so much, yet it's a dying pass-time these days. Giving him a radio will help him to discover another world in which his friends may have never stood. He can also play his favourite music on the built-in CD player, as you can give him couple of CDs to start him off. They don't have to be brand new, just music you think he may like. The music of "Shrek" were all songs we'd previously thought too old to take our kids' fancy, but we've found that they love singing along to them.An old-time voice recorder:
on which he can record voices and sounds. This will take up hours of his spare time as boys will always find sounds that emit from the body quite funny. He can be very creative with this as unlike a DVD, there is nothing to see. This allows a massive scope for a world of imagination and wonder.Sports equipment:
. Cricket bat and balls, a skate board, Squash or Badminton rackets with ball. If he's not into sports, a funny sports DVD will still entertain him for hours. Regardless of his feeling of sports, you could pay for a term's tuition of a novel sport, (like Wrestling, Baseball in England, Gaelic Football in the U.S, Curling in Asia, the possibilities are endless). This is something he'll have to boast to his friends about, boys love to boast, especially about something nobody else possesses or has done.A watch that does everything:
Just imagine his little fingers searching button after button, and his hungry eyes, just eager to learn everything his watch can do so he could show his grandparents, friends, aunts and uncles. Boys like watches that not only tell the time, but that can serve as a compass while playing a tune and letting you know what time it is in Japan, at the same time as it can calculate how many sweets he can buy with the pocket money he has.An afternoon at a climbing activity centre:
Boys love to climb but are always getting told off for doing so for fear that they will hurt themselves. Going to a climbing activity centre means that your little one can do what he likes best with abandon. There are trained professionals there, with safe climbing equipment. Your little one will have the best time of his life, climbing, falling (safely) hanging from a harness in mid-air, going back up and finally getting to the top. Even better than the best fun ever, if you take a couple of his friends with him, he'll have something to tell the rest of his class for ages. A little pet hamster:
If you're not the parent/guardian, obviously you need to get permission from the parent before doing this. It gives him the opportunity to take on some responsibility for another creature other than himself and fills him with pride and confidence at his new-found power. Having a little tiny creature depend on him, creates his awareness of how important he is and how dependent we all are on each other. It heightens his sense of life and death (as you will make him aware that a hamster only lives for about 2-3 years). He will have his first love affair, and it will be good and pleasant. This is especially worthwhile if the boy is an introvert, extremely shy, or has some early developmental issues. See his vocabulary make strides as his pet is always something he is ready to talk about. It's the common ground whenever he feels uncomfortable or unsure.
All in all, a little hamster or gerbil works wonders for any little boy. A hamster is very easy to look after and cheap to maintain, not to mention loads of fun.A ride in a fire engine:
. No boy would ever turn down a ride in a fire engine, especially if it comes with a chance to slip down the fireman's pole as well. A lot of Fire Departments now cater for this kind of activity, if you donate to a charity of their choice (or there may be a straightforward payment). It would be possible to share the event with a few friends, then everyone gets a pretend fireman's hat at the end of it all. This is a day your little lad will never forget.
So for that special birthday or upcoming holiday, get the little boy in your life something he will always remember.
