Gift ideas needed for three children I don't really know very well

[BurningBright]

12 year old boy
9 year old girl
8 year old boy

They are siblings, budget is about £10 to £12 each.

I could probably think of something for the girl, but I'm totally rubbish at presents for boys and 12 year olds are an anathema to me, so double whammy there.

Any idea? Please?

My 8 year old DS would love Lego (also hexbugs), DS1 who is 12 would love an ITunes/amazon voucher (he also loves anything to do with batman but I think that is just him rather than the average 12 year old)

I'd suggest Amazon voucher for the 12 y/o (safer than Itunes - dd isn't at all into music yet, and nor are either of her bfs, one male, one female).

(PS, 12 year olds are quite nice, honest!)

nerf guns for all of them?
lego?

Joint present? Family board game? Ticket to ride is a good family game. Pictionary. Cranium also good.

Books - try the book people - TWINKLE gets extra 15% off if used today. How about the new David Walliams for the youngest, Roald Dahl box set, The new Wimpy Kid book etc etc

My DS actually rather likes it when people give him clothes - they tend to do it a lot for girls but not so much for boys. TRy somewhere like Zara for a 'cool' tshirt. He also likes drawing stuff (as do the girls) - how to draw cartoons is a book I have bought him this year.

Ooh, replies. Lovely! Some good ideas in there. Thank you.

Takver - I'm sure most 12 year olds are absolutely lovely. The one I need to buy a gift for is, in fact. But they are distant relatives and while I'm fond of them I don't see them very often and don't really know what they like.

Go to Waterstones and choose them each a book. Include the gift receipt so they can change it if they want. Then add some christmas chocs (eg M&S net bag of christmas santas) in with the book.

or how about a christmas mug with net bag of santas and £5. I did that last year for all my nieces/nephews aged 5-12 and it went down well! It's hard to get something when you don't know what they like or what they already have.

or christmas slipper socks and amazon gift voucher?

I recently bought gifts for 3 boys I didn't know aged 7,9 & 1, not Xmas but because they were visiting and I thought a wee giftie would make them happy and help them feel relaxed (and make them like me!)

• Guinness book of records 2015
• Ripleys Would You Believe It 2015
• Simpsons annual with Lego annual

All went down a storm! All from morrisons £10 each the first two and £3.99 (I think) for each of the annuals I'm going to get them for DD as stocking fillers as she was

That should say 11!

Nerf guns for all of them is a fab idea, sanfairyanne, would definitely go down well here.

They will have the David Walliams/Wimpy Kid/Dahl books already probably

There is a newish Wimpy Kid Game that looks very fun and all 3 might like.

Can you ring their parents and get some guidance?

Nerf guns could be great.

Chocolate! You can get some lovely novelty chocolate gifts - like chocolate pizza.

Lego annual went down well with my 8 yr old godson recently (under £4 in tesco).

We also found a chocolate bottle of champagne (ie it looked like champagne, but was just a hollow chocolate shell) that was popular with cousins aged about 12 and 15 (see, I don't even know how old they are!). Think it was thorntons.

But yes, search chocolate pizza on amazon.

Get them each a pack of magic choc (it's chocolate you can make models out of) and add a £5-10?

Ive just bought my nephew some story cubes www.storycubes.com and I think they're rather lovely and unusual :)

Mine would all love nerf guns.

Books are fab but in our house tricky as the dc have so many!

Board games that mine enjoy - monopoly, battleships, guess who, rummikub. If you know they have a Wii/XBox/PS then you could get a game they can all play together eg mine all have a scream with Wii Just Dance.

Chocolate and sweets are always a hit too.

Cinema vouchers?

You could get them a onesie each. They always seem to go down well. Asda currently have Adventure Time ones which have a reversible good so you can be each of the main characters for £12, lots of kids like that programme. Everywhere seems to do onesies as well so you should easily find some good ones within budget.

Popcorn popper has been a big hit recently. about £10-15 on Amazon or ebay, and it comes with popcorn kernels. You could add some flavourings and a few cheap DVDs as a joint present for all of them.

Swingball!

Loads of great ideas. Thanks.

I did think about asking their mum, but she'll just say I don't need to bother.

I like the idea of the annuals plus some chocolate. I always worry about buying books because you never know what they already have, but gift receipts are also a great idea.

Thank you all!

Creampie - Where can you get Magic Chocolate from?

They've got various sets on amazon, search for magic choc. I've also seen it on eBay in the past

You can get Hollister thirsts in sale section for £10, or hideously sweet but soooooooooo use trendy Hollister body spray 3 for an eye watering £24 but in budget. I had to buy 6. I had a hot flush!