Ideas to help you find the perfect gift for teens
The Holidays are rapidly approaching and a great many of us are scrambling to find that perfect gift and shopping for teens can be pretty tough to say the least. I remember as a kid my parents would always ask me what I wanted for Christmas and I would run off a list as long as my arm, but as I moved into my teen years the answers were more like I don't know or I don't care. If this sounds eerily like your conversations with your teen then you are in good company.
Remember the time when your children would come down on Christmas morning and open up a room full of gifts and each and every one made their eyes light up? Just a few short years later you it is impossible to simply make them smile at your choices for gifts, and for Grandparents it is far worse. You can never find the answer for what do teens like these days. Well I have a list of the top 10 gifts for teens this year and how to choose the perfect gift that will bring that smile back to your teen's face.
- Video Games/Movies: Let's face it this is the age of technology and entertainment, If you have a teen then you are already aware of that. Video games or movies make great gifts as stocking stuffers, but are expensive and can become old news once the kid gets bored with it. A good idea to try this year is a subscription to a rental site like Gamefly for video games or Netflix for movies. Gamefly offers all of the latest video games for rental or sale, the way it works is you can choose a plan for one or two video games a month and you are allowed to play it as long as you want. Once you return a game you can then be sent another one from your list of games. Netflix is pretty much the same way only with movies or TV shows. Now they even stream movies straight to your TV set through a Wii, XBOX 360 or Playstation 3 gaming system. With plans starting at $5.95 for Gamefly and $8.99 for Netflix it is a great way to give a teen multiple choices on your gift.
- Skullcandy Accessories: Never heard of Skullcandy, don't feel bad, it is one of the coolest accessories for teens who love their iPods and gaming systems. Skullcandy now offers a large line of headphones, apparel and accessories geared towards teens who like to snowboard, ski, skate, bike or are simply just in to music like DJing. This fashion line will be sure to put a smile on your teens face and will probably earn you some cool points at the same time.
- Roxio Creator 2011: Is your teen always on youtube watching videos or do they love to make videos of themselves and their friends? Then this is the program that is perfect for them this holiday season. Roxio Creator 2011 is the #1 selling media editing software on the market. With this your aspiring teen will be able to edit movies, photos and even music. This version even offers 3D editing and includes glasses for viewing right on the computer or TV. One thing that I really love about this gift is that while a teen will get hours of enjoyment from using this program, it can also springboard into a career choice for someone who really loves doing this kind of work.
- Digital Camera: Growing up my sisters would take pictures of everything, I bet if they could they would have recorded their whole lives in photographs. While this is not only my sisters, but many teen girls love to take pictures and share them with their friends. While many teens have cameras on their phones they are not really great for taking pictures, unless they have one of the newer smartphones. If they already have a decent digital camera a good choice to go along with the camera would be Canon's Selphy Photo Printer a great way for them to share the photos with their friends or to wallpaper their rooms with.
- Design their own project: Have you got a creative teen who is into fashion? This is the ultimate gift for the aspiring fashionistas. Fashion Playtes is a website where girls can design their own clothing and accessories. They can choose to design shirts, skirts, dresses, pants (even jeggings), denim jackets and even accessories like hats, headbands or purses. With prices for garments starting at $10 and increasing as you add embellishments. Something they can cherish for a well past the new year.
- Kindle Reader/eReader: Most teens don't like to read books, however there are many who love reading. The Kindle eReader is a great way for your teen to discover new books and store up to 3500 of them right on the device. The Kindle store even has textbooks for their eReader and the price is usually a few dollars cheaper than hardcover books. The other great thing about Kindle is the books that you purchase are auto archived and can be re-downloaded free including any notes made in margins. A great way for readers to experience new books.
- iPod Nano: The new iPod Nano sports 16 GB is only 1.6" and clips anywhere. This 6th Generation iPod features a touchscreen, FM Radio, a pedometer and a cool new feature, you shake it and it shuffles the songs for you. This is a great new iPod for the gym or any type of physical fitness
routine. Add the Nike + sport kit to record and track fitness progress. Comes in six exciting colors. - Laptops/Netbooks/Tablets: Laptops, Netbooks and Tablets are all great gifts for students who are now being asked to use the internet to complete assignments for school. One suggestion is if you are going to buy a computer for your teen and they are close to heading off to college, get a good one. This way you are not buying a new one in a couple of years. Since Tablets are still considered new technology I would steer clear from them for more than two years use.
- Fan Gear: With all the changes that took place this year in sports, it's likely that a new jersey will get some smiles. Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos has the #1 selling jersey for the NFL , last season the NHL's #1 jersey was Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and for the NBA it was Kobe Bryant of the Los Angles Lakers. LeBron came in a close second, but since then he has changed teams.
- Video Camera: This is a great gift for kids who love to preform. One of the top rated cameras is the Flip HD Video Camera. Now on their 3 Generation, Flip is quickly becoming the go to camcorder for shoot and share. It's simple and easy to use makes it a great choice for new users and at under $200 a pretty reasonable choice as well.
Shopping for a teen is never an easy job, be I hope that this list of gift ideas helps to make your holidays a very happy one. If you have any suggestions for more gift ideas please feel free to share them with our readers through the comments section. Thank you and Happy Holidays.
