MM Help: Christmas Child

hoffse · November 2015

Hey everyone,

H and I are each donating clothes and toys to a couple of kids our respective offices are sponsoring this year. My child is an 8-year old boy who has asked for clothes and toys. The clothes I'm good with - they gave us sizes and everything. The toys I'm unsure about. What do 8 year old boys like these days? Literally every other kid on the angel tree asked for a tablet. I don't know if it was for school or entertainment, but I picked the only one who just generically asked for toys. Now I'm wondering if I should just get him a tablet since that's what the other 8 year olds asked for

H and I are going to put together a list and see if we can knock it out around Black Friday/Cyber Monday to stretch our budget for them a little bit. Any ideas?

TIA!

AprilZ81 · November 2015

I think Mindcraft is pretty popular with boys of that age.

smerka · November 2015

My boys aren't quite there (5 and 6) but I would still say Legos. Star Wars is pretty huge and Minecraft.

CuriousKiddosMama · November 2015

Mine isn't that old, but based on talks with other moms you would be good with mine craft stuff, Legos, or STEM toys (from what I understand sciency or building type toys).
Have fun shopping!

blondie42107 · November 2015

Ditto Legos!

I'm not anti-tablet but I'm a fan of hands on toys. Toy R Us and Amazon both have a great selection of STEM toys. STEM is really big in our local schools.

maple2 · November 2015

In my neighborhood boys that age are really into things they can ride on the street--scooter, rip stick, unicycle, roller blades, etc. Last year every boy had a perplexus in his backpack at school, but they seem to have fallen out of favor this year. Star Wars related things are also big with the movie coming out soon. I'm sure most of the kids I know would love a tablet too, but their parents limit their screen time, so that may be why these other things are so popular.

simplyelise · November 2015

Legos are huge. Wimpy Kid books are good. If you're looking for a STEM toy, snap circuits are a good choice for that age.

I have an 8 year old nephew and I am getting him the board game Pirates versus Pirates which is $20 on Amazon.

Marquettefan1 · November 2015

I don't post here ever but have an 8 year old son. His big Christmas requests this year are Legos and Pokemon cards. My 8 year old nephew really wants a rip stick.

hoffse · November 2015

Thanks everyone - we're thinking of doing a really awesome Lego set and maybe a couple of board games or something like Jenga that can be a solo or group game (there are 2 kids in the family, not sure of the age of the second). Also some books. I was turned off by the tablet idea too. We can find tablets in our budget, but it doesn't seem as educational.

I would love to get him a scooter, but the card said bicycles weren't accepted (not sure why - all of them said that). So I assume scooters fall in that same category.

We're going to buy a lot of clothes too. We don't have any other kids we buy for right now, and we are not exchanging gifts with each other this year. We're trying to keep it low-key with our families and friends, so we are willing to set a pretty high budget for these kids. They probably won't be getting any other gifts this year. I'm kind of excited to shop for them TBH.

I think H is picking up his child's request card today, so I may have more questions depending on the age and sex he selects. We are way super out of the loop on toys for anyone past the infant stage.

formerlyGDaisy09 · November 2015

First, this is so generous of you and your H, what a lucky little boy!

I think the legos and/or games sound like a really good idea. I know in my family, when my brother was around 7-8 we got really into playing dominos at family game night, and still play as after dinner entertainment when we're all together.

The tablet idea would turn me off too.

julieanne912 · November 2015

This is awesome for you to do, I used to do this when I had a better income. They probably don't accept bicycles/wheeled things because they don't have the storage for them.

I'm not a lot of help with little boys. H has a nephew that age but he's really artsy so he likes art supplies. I wouldn't do that if I didn't know for sure if the kid was into that though. I think the other ideas you got are great though.

hoffse · November 2015

Thanks everybody.

@julieanne, that makes sense re: bikes. Too bad though. I wish these kids had a chance to play outside more and get some exercise.

I looked up a perplexus mentioned by a previous poster. Not going to lie, I kind of want one for myself, lol.

julieanne912 · November 2015

Oh, one other thing I Just thought of was maybe some sports stuff? Like a football or basketball or soccer ball?

BlueBirdMB · November 2015

Mindcraft- yes I hear about that all the time from my elementary school boys. But in general, not much has changed with that age group in a long time. They still like legos, video games, and Star Wars anything.

dragonstarjk · November 2015

So, I totally just hung out with my cousin's 8-yr old son today and I asked him what he was hoping to get for Christmas. He said anything to do with Minecraft.

MM Help: Christmas Child

Re: MM Help: Christmas Child

Choose Another Board

Search Boards