What are your best 'pile' gifts for older kids? (Best books, board games etc)

[WWGD]

My kids range from 9-14. I am looking for a few gifts in the £10-£20 range to suggest to family and others that also look 'presenty' under the tree (so not gift cards or experiences).

Would love to know the books your kids have loved, the board games that have gone down a treat, art stuff that is appreciated, etc. Or toys, though mostly I think we are past the toy stage.

For a great family game I always recommend Soundiculous. It’s a very simple concept - you have to make a sound and everyone else has to guess what it is, but it’s actually hilarious.

For younger ones I also gifted these books that you have to ‘destroy’ - I think it was called Wreck this book or something similar! It comes with loads of activities that you do with the book and by the end of it all, the book will be very well battered but they’ll have had fun doing it.

Big box of sharpies
posters
Throw Throw burrito game
Walkie talkies

Shamelessly following, some great ideas here already!

I bought a board game callled 'Ghost Castle' for my granddaughter for Xmas she is 6. It has really good reviews and I think from about 6 upwards. I managed to get it half price from Smyths and I think Amazon have it half price at the moment for about £12.50, it looks good.

My boys - 10 & 12 - have both loved the series of Percy Jackson books. Also the skandar the unicorn books. And Harry Potter before that. Got box set of Percy Jackson for the house (might be slightly out of budget, but might be a deal on prime day or black friday) They then loved the series on disney plus. Throw throw burrito is good. They also like taco, cat, goat, cheese, pizza and variations of this. Can be 2 to 5 players and is sort of a crazy version of snap. And very easy to play. Is small though. Labyrinth is a good board game - and can sometimes get that within budget.

How about some novelty food items to share - like the massive bars of chocolate or metre long Box of jaffa cakes that come out around Xmas? Could join 4 or more different tubes of pringles together to wrap (like a massive pole)?

The Roar book series by Jenny McLachlan is great.
My 14 yr old is enjoying The Inheritance Games series and has enjoyed The Hunger Games and Maze Runner books.
The new Wimpy Kid, Tom Gates and Bunny Vs Monkey books are being published soon if your 9 yr old likes those.
The Scarlett and Brown series by Jonathan Stroud.

My 11 and 14 yr olds like playing Really Loud Librarians, Taco, Cat..., Ransom Notes, Pictionary, Exploding Kittens, Bears Vs Babies. They like longer, strategy games too but these might be out of budget - Wingspan etc. My 14 yr old and his friends play endless games of Diplomacy!

Dart board?

Following

I'm going to get mine a game that looks really good called think words. Basically the alphabet in a circle of letters you can push down. You choose a theme like boys names/football teams/food whatever and you all choose one starting with that letter until there are no letters left. I've seen cheaper version of the same thing with different names too. Will see if can find link

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/387275613885?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=d14xl0qbsee&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=&var=654521463164&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Bop it
Exploding Kittens

So that's a cheaper version. Seen them on Tiktok shop for under £7

Herd Mentality and Exploding Kittens have been big hit.

Cherub series for DC about 11-13 ish. Ali Sparkes for 9-11ish.

my 14 yr old still lives a wimpy kid- it’s like his duvet day read 🤣🤣

poker set- Texas hold em relatively easy to learn and a good family game. Or good old monopoly.

Authors for 9-11:
Ali Sparkes
Katherine Rundell
Elen Caldecott
Liz Pichon

Books for 12-14 (if they like fantasy - that's all mine reads!):
Hunger Games
Here there be Dragons
A Single Stone
Loki (by McKenzi Lee)
Eragon series
Howl's Moving Castle

Games:
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
Sleeping Queens
OK Play
Dino Dump
Bohnanza

Other:
Hover balls
Light up pop it game
Slime
Gravitrax (the starter kit is about £50 but you can get loads of add ons from £10)
Acrylic paint pens

World of books are really good selection of stuff, always good price too.

Games- One Night Ultimate Werewolf (need a mobile phone app) or Throw, throw burrito

Books for y7-8 dystopian fiction: the fifth wave series
For y8-10 (teen psychological thriller/ possibly aimed at girls) anything by Karen McManus

Other- bubble tea kits, anything from Japanese shop Kenji, hard kandy earbuds, football rebounder, LED strip lights for bedroom