I thought this year would be the same, I thought this year would be as easy as all the others, but I was wrong, this year was tough. They have outgrown a lot of “toys” and finding the exact presents for them becomes harder and harder. Below we give you a good list of items that your 11-13 year old boys might like, let us know if you have any more ideas.
Note: Items listed as Sample Provided were provided Free of Charge
Sports Equipment: This is a new time in Holiday Gift Giving! Your children will be happy to receive some sporting equipment and there is a ton you can purchase. Around this age you can probably buy them a glove that they will have through high school and the Wilson A2000 or A2k series of gloves are like heirlooms. Finish up your baseball player with a new BBCOR Bat that is just right for Middle School. Also this Personal Pitcher Pro we just ordered is a great tool for that budding baseball player and also allows you to play some fun hitting and fielding games. Have a ping pong player, the iPong Robot is a great choice. Have a swimmer? They have these really neat gold version of the Speed Socket googles from Speedo.
Dromida Rally Car: There are toy R/C cars, and they are good for what they are, toys. Once you want to step up your game to the RTR R/C Cars there is a lot out there. A great car that comes at an amazing price point is the Dromida Rally Car from Hobbico. It is a fully assembled car which has a great finished body and it can really stand up to some abuse with the foam front bumper. Believe me we abused it. It has a brushed motor with speeds up to 30 MPH and a low suspension which makes it easy to handle. Look, there is not enough room to say how satisfied I was with this car or that fact that our 11 year old was loving driving this around the neighborhood so you just have to jump on this one. Since our neighborhood still has houses being built, we ran this thing over empty lots, big piles of dirt, off of the porches of unfinished houses and it still kept going with no issues, even if we had to dump some rocks and dirt out of the body after a few of these runs. It is a 1/18 scale 4WD car that can pretty much go anywhere with a nice 2-channel radio system that has an LED for monitoring the battery level and it is a waterproof to boot. It has some great features which include both throttle and steering trim, but the other item that makes it great to switch between a beginner and an expert is the steering and throttle dual rates. This allows the car to grow with you and it has so many high end features like oil shocks, ball bearing equipped and more so a total bargain. The battery life of this car had us out there having fun for over 30 minutes as we moved around to different types of material and different housing lots (not continuous). Also stay tuned we got some really rocking video of this car that will appear on our YouTube channel real soon. (Sample Provided)
Air Hogs Helix Sentinel Drone: Your kids want a drone and you don’t want to take out a loan (see what I did there) the Air Hogs Helix Sentinel Drone is a great drone for your kids that won’t break the bank. The case that it comes in keeps the ‘copter safe and allows you to transport it to some great destinations without it breaking. While there are some things we would like (longer flight time) the best part about this drone is the FPV (First Person View). At the end of the day if something is fun and brings the whole family together in that fun than I will consider it a great product. (Sample Provided)
Skylanders Imaginators: Our kids have grown up on Skylanders and it holds a special place in their heart as well as ours. It its a game that keeps evolving and being relevant for all ages of kids. We still remember the launch party our kids were so small! The newest game play ideas revolve around creation which fills a great need in the series. You can now create your own Skylanders with different combinations of abilities, phrases, and powers to really make them your own. Once you have this creation you can also have your Skylanders travel to your consoles anywhere with Creations Crystals. Using the Skylanders Creator app you can also bring your new Skylanders Imaginator figures to life by getting a 3D printed figure. They arrive in full color on a base in a protective dome, this is just so cool. There is a new story line and game play so make sure your kids get to play as this is the evolution of gaming. (Sample Provided)
Thinkfun Clue Master and Circuit Maze: Thinkfun is one of our favorite game companies and they always produce games that you feel good about letting your kid play. This year they have some new ones that are fun while at the same time help improve problem solving and logic skills. Clue Master helps your kids deduce information based on things they can’t see directly, this is a great life skill and it is also very fun to play. This is a single player game that has 40 different challenges for different abilities. Your child probably does not know enough about electricity and this logic game helps teach electricity and current basics. Also for some reason when things light up it just makes the game more fun to play. You can never go wrong with Thinkfun games we have a full closet full of their great games. (Sample Provided)
Beats Wireless Headphones: Listen we can go on and on about sound quality and all of that, but at the end of the day the 11-13 year old boy is saying that they want the Beats Headphones. Now with the new iPhones that have a lightning connector in the place where you used to be able to plug your headphones in (yes we do know about the adapter) the wireless headphones are even in more demand. The Powerbeats are the choice here and as your children start running and working out for sports these will come in handy.
ZeroLemon Lightning Cables: When is comes to cables ZeroLemon has been our source of new cables for our lightning devices. The price is great, the last a long time and one of the best things about them is they make a 10 ft. lightning cable. Yes 10 ft. This is great for car rides or for their rooms to be able to charge while in bed. A great stocking stuffer and they come in all sorts of neat colors.
Flip City Board Game: We love card games and we love city building games, so Flip City brings us the best of both. Your turn consists of 2 different phases the Card Playing and the Building Phase. During the Building Phase you can use the coins from the cards to either buy or upgrade. A game is around 30 to 45 minutes and like all card games it is something that is easy to bring with you when you go to a friends or on vacation.
Nerf Rival Khaos MXVI-4000 Blaster: When it comes to Nerf the boys just love the Nerf Rival line of blasters. We have enough Rival Ammo around the house to protect us against an invasion of … well enough to be able to play without always having to look for ammo as you may be lucky enough to find some under the couch during a battle. The best thing about the Khaos 4000 Blaster is the ability to hold 40 rounds at once. This makes for less reloading and more fun, just make sure you have enough D batteries around.
AmazonBasics Mid-Back Mesh Chair: A comfortable chair as your child does their homework, or sits down at their desk to draw (they do have their own desk by this age right?) is something that may be a bit utilitarian as a gift, but I can tell you it will be something that they really appreciate. The mesh chair design give their desk that cool factor and it matches most desks.
PlayStation VR Launch Bundle: VR is coming quickly now and it is available for the masses at a decent price point if you already own a PlayStation 4. The look of wonder your kids have when they put on that headset for the first time and delve into these imaginary worlds will be worth the price of admission to the new world of VR.
Divoom Aurabox Bluetooth speaker with Pixel Art Creation: So you say another Bluetooth speaker? We already have a ton of those so why is this different? Well the coolest part of this device is the ability for it to “show” you the notifications from the phone as well as the ability to create your own drawings and animations via the app. It also has a temperature sensor and intelligent timer clock.
Pokémon Sun and Moon: With the popularity of Pokémon Go a new 3DS game was going to be something that was high on everyone’s holiday list, we all love to see what new Pokémon have been cooked up and then go out and try and catch them.
Make sure to check out our other Holiday Gift Guides where you can find a bunch of other cool ideas for kids of many ages.
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