15 year old DS! Argh!

[timeou]

Apart from an Xbox game he doesnt want anything! He doesnt 'play' with anything any more - won't do anything craftlike. I am struggling to know what on earth to get him. He's not into clothing brands or designer things.

Any ideas? He likes science and geography - likes magic trick type things and unusual things. Ideas - especially stocking filllers would be most appreciated :)

Lots of teens here, have got the following down through the yrs

Speaker pillow
Batman converse
Personalised chocolate spread
Bluetooth speaker
Beats headphones
Unicycle
Subscription to loot crate
Cards against humanity

T - shirts on red bubble
Retro sweet selection

What XBox games does he like?

I think I'm even going to give up on 'stocking filler' presents this year, there's only so much Lynx you can buy - everything else just gets looked at and put on one side until I collect it all up and take it to the charity shop at Easter. I might as well give the money straight to charity .

If I ask him what he wants he usually just says 'cash' and to be fair he then just puts it into his savings account.

I'm in the same boat although I can usually conjure up enough stocking type stuff it's the main present I am struggling with for 15 year old DS - 14 year old DS always has a list as long as your arm - he's great, knows what he wants and even ranks it in order :)

Some good stuff on here but I need a main pressie of up to £500.

I'll give a list of previous birthday/Christmas gifts that may be useful for someone as well as eliminating them from any suggestions you may have :)

He got half the pieces for a gaming PC last year and he paid for the other half - it doesn't need upgraded
He has a decent screen/tv and an extra side screen
he has an xbox 360 (barely uses as uses PC all the time and doesn't want an xbox one or ps4)
he has a laptop with enhanced graphics for gaming
he has all the PC peripherals such as gaming mouse and keyboard
he has a graphics tablet for the PC
he has software for doing graphic art etc
he has a fancy office chair
he got a double bed and his room done up
he got an architect drawing board and all the kit/art materials to go with it
he got a lightweight tent
a Biolite stove that can generate power to recharge a phone while you cook and burns anything
he has a decent phone
he has a gaming tablet

He is sitting with loads of money in his current account that he got for birthday and Christmases and his pocket money - he rarely spends any of it.

he isn't into labels or clothes or anything like that
he has a decent bike and a scooter and a dirt scooter
he doesn't want a camera - i've asked :(

The only thing he really wants is a bigger bedroom which he cant have.

I could give him money but he'll only just put it in the bank and then have nothing to show for Christmas.

Experiences are really a no go as are the young driver lessons etc as there is simply nothing in a reasonable distance to where we live that we haven't already done.

My list for him so far is:

Books - always wants books (has an ereader but doesn't use it)
A nice watch - thinking maybe a swiss miltary type as he likes Scouts and is doing dofe etc.
some chocolate/treats
some caribiners as he likes attaching stuff to other stuff.

Yes, I'm definitely getting young driver lessons! I found a shop today in my local shopping centre called 'Tiger' it had lots of really good little items that would be great stocking fillers. Head massager, book light, phone accessories, juggling balls, little lava lamp type timers, notebooks, unusual sweets etc, all just a few pounds each.

Yes, I've heard of tiger- nothing like that round our way but we will get the usual pop-up shops and I think Tiger do on-line too.

An account at your local bookshop? I know Amazon us cheaper, but it would help it, and they get things through fast on order these days.

A you are going whether you like it or not experience. Could be useless/introducing new hobby or skills, Eg a one day cookery course. DS protested but has been using his skills ever since. Italian. We've also done driving. Ditto protestation.

Trip to somewhere. Eg to see the team if his choice.

Decent binoculars or telescope.

Speakers and decent headphones. Self interest there.

Voucher from you to spend a day with him . Need not cost anything. But your day. together. " I promise you that on x day, or no later than, we will spend the day together. " he will always remember it.

If he loves books, a trip to a lecture in his subject.

Fitbit

A promise to buy festival tickets?

Thanks for the suggestions (if they were aimed at me :) )

He is borderline aspergers so a day spent with me would be completely the opposite of what he would like! His dream day would be spent by himself on his PC for 24 hours with his favourite meals supplied on demand :o and a vat of crisps... 'tis a lovely idea though :)

Not interested in Sports/Music/Movies - we've been to see a few people at the Book festival but that was when he was younger - it's really difficult to tell what he enjoys tbh though he is very compliant and will basically go along with whatever is suggested.

There really isn't a lot available like the things suggested where we live - there is the opportunity to try just about every sport you could tink of (believe me we have tried most of them too!) but not a lot else, the things that are there usually end at age 12 or 14 too. he goes to Coder dojo which he enjoys but uses the laptop for that and doesn't need anything else.

He has some cool and some funny t-shirts but doesn't need anymore. I suspect he'd quite like a canoe but it's not safe to use it where we live and it's a fair distance to any other suitable water.

Brill ideas here.

DS is 18 in December. I promised him a leather jacket years ago so I need to deliver on that.

I am so going together the t shirt folder.

(I'd like to buy him an insert to his memory and a permanently attached key chain fixed to done part of his anatomy. )

But since we got ddog, he hasn't really wanted anything.

Other than a coffee maker.

Mine quite fancies a fridge for his bedroom but as we have a no food or drink upstairs rule (water is allowed) it would be a waste and DH also says no (not that there is a lot of room anyway even for a mini fridge)

Ah.

Could you take him for a weekend/ day canoeing, with you promising to read a book?

There used to be done quite good adult create your own game courses, which would again mean you acting as chauffeur / chaperone, but could you do that? And you and DS 2 go off somewhere?

Does his room have a mini fridge and kettle ? Or do you want him to spend less time in it?

Like the idea of subscription. If near AS and not sport interested other than canoeing, how about eg the economist, natl geographic if want to widen interests, game magazine if not?

Money in bank, with token, and interview session with bank manager or broker?

Ah. X post on fridge.

Hammock?

Decent Swiss Army knife, plus whittling kit.

Head lamp torch.
Hoodie with integral headset.

God we've got DS1's 16th in November and his brother is 14.

What I learned last Christmas us not to buy small novelty things just so they get more. Waste of money, better to just give them the cash.

Don't know what they want for main presents but getting some good ideas on here for smaller presents, e.g. cool t shirt (TBBT) cinema vouchers etc.

He'd probably like a hammock but we don't have trees in the garden - we do however have an invisible trampoline!

He does game making and stuff with coderdojo - DS2 is also interested in that stuff, I've been looking for a gaming convention or something that we could take them to but nothing so far.

he's had a couple of magazine subscriptions but I am never sure if he reads them or not - i've just signed up for a trial of geeky monkey to see if that is of interets and I'd be happy to carry that on. He used to be into Manga but again not really sure if he still likes that - it's honestly like getting blood from a stone. Didn't realise how bad he is until DS2 really started to get interested in things like Politics etc and he will happily debate etc.

We all had a nice game of Monopoly this afternoon though as it was pouring and I think he enjoyed it but as soon as it was finished he juts wanted to get back to his room again.

DH regularly takes them away to do outtdoorsy stuff and he does things with scouts and he also volunteers with younger Scouts as far of his dofe so I think that side is probably pretty well catered for.

he could do with a decent head torch and a set of binoculors might be good too.

he can just about manage to pay in a cheque at the bank but doesn't really like speaking to people so I keep making him do it anyway and also to order his own meal when out.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

he has this knife:
www.amazon.co.uk/GERBER-Bear-Grylls-Scout-Knife/dp/B00HYATAY6

as well as a multi tool things and a survival kit/fire steel etc. He is very well supplied as he has been involved in Scouts since he was 6 and DH is an outdoor type guy too.

It could be a bit naff but you can get hammocks on stands...

Good luck.

thanks Cape Wrath - the hard thing is that he would be disappointed if he didn't have presents to open on Christmas morning but wont tell me what he wants!!!

i know loads of teenagers would be happy with a wad of cash and some chocolate but he wouldn't as he doesn't know what to do with what the money he already has.

I asked him the other day if he had any idea of what he wanted to do after school and he said "No" so i said jokingly "do you just want Mum and Dad to choose something for you?" and he said "yes, as long as you choose something you'd think I'd like" !!

Also re Hammock - we are in Scotland so maybe we would only get to use it a few of times a year so it's maybe not worth getting something that needs to be stored for 360 out of 365 days. :(

Wipe do you know of www.playexpo.net ?
Not great timing as a Christmas present, but I went with DH one year & we stayed at The Lowry and drove the 10 mins each day to it - the Expo was conveniently located right next to The Trafford Centre, so I could go off shopping quite happily & we could meet up for meals etc.
might work as a whole family trip for a present?

Thanks Jessica - just away to look at that now - doesn't want to load for some reason but probably just my PC.