Present suggestions for a 12 year old boy?

[gwendolyn]

We're not birthday present people around here, but have some kids in our lives that are going through tough times, and birthdays seem to be a good opportunity to show support from afar. Any suggestions for a 12 year old sporty boy? (I'm tired of the SO getting him NFL branded sweat-shop apparel...)

[Stella]

I have a bunch of preteen boys in my life and I give them all cash. I know, it's not creative, but they love it. :)

[mtnlaurel]

My son (8) got this sports water bottle with mister and just loves it.....
http://www.amazon.com/Mist-Sip-Hydration-Bottle-Colors/dp/B004OJIDZ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332888220&sr=8-1

He got it with a foamy indoor soccer ball that he can practice his footwork on inside, kind of like this (I'm ok with this as long as he avoids 1 specific room in the house)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000IY0KGC/ref=asc_df_B000IY0KGC1954187?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B000IY0KGC&hvpos=none&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1723074412129408968&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=

If you purchased some sports lessons for them, is there someone to take them?
Or a Kids Day at one of local minor league teams in their area - if you pre-purchased passes, could someone take them?

Sports Illustrated for Kids - Amazon description says 8-14
http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Illustrated-Kids-1-year/dp/B00005R8BH

Could you offer to help sponsor them for a team sport they might want to try?
Assist with a youth YMCA membership, if it has good kid program?

Sports helped me tremendously as a child/teen and can make little people with big loads to carry feel very good about themselves.

[Zoebird]

i'm with mtn laurel on this one -- what sorts of sports do they like, do they do, what do they need for those, etc?

[AmeliaJane]

I give gift certificates to the comic book store. When I'm near enough, I take the Birthday Dude comic-shopping myself and out to lunch at a Birthday-Dude-friendly restaurant. You can also buy monthly subscriptions to comics--Marvel has them online--and I found a couple of different titles that were all-age appropriate that I thought he would like. Everyone likes getting fun stuff in the mail...

[Rosemary]

My nephew is about that age. Some recent gifts have been books (he's a reluctant reader so I look for books that will really draw him in), sweatshirts/t-shirts from local universities and teams (he really likes hockey, so I look for that first), and board games (not from the local discount store -- look online for reviews of a much larger variety of games).

[gwendolyn]

Unfortunately I don't know much about this relative other than his sports activities. That's the thing -- I don't think sports should be the only option presented to boys for entertainment, nor do I want to encourage emulating professional sports stars. (He plays football -- talk about beating up boys! I heard something like 90% of Pop Warners get serious injuries.) So, in describing him as sporty, I was probably describing what he's been limited to, in terms of the usual gift lists. Looking to branch out now. Board games are good, and books. I do think he likes Harry Potter, though he's not known as a reader. I'm not familiar with other new young fiction -- any suggestions? WE love bananagrams, I'll check to see if he has it...

[Rosemary]

I haven't read any of his books, but I know that Rick Riordan's books are popular with boys in that age group - fantasy/adventure stories in several series. Also check out books by Tom Angleberger - I was looking at his "Fake Mustache" book as possibly being entertaining for my nephew. Brian Selznick's books are very popular as well; they are filled with illustrations, so although they have a very high page count, they shouldn't be too intimidating.

Other games:
Ticket to Ride
Carcassone
10 Days in (Asia, Africa, the Americas, etc - different versions)
I often find games by looking up games we like at Amazon, then reading reviews of games that are listed as "you may also like..." There are some websites that are devoted to reviewing board games.

[mtnlaurel]

Qwirkle is super fun game. It says ages 6 and up, but my husband & I love playing it just as much as our son.
We're nuts about Risk too.

Although a little too old for my son, he needs real supervision doing it...... He is getting into Rocketry, http://www.estesrockets.com/
My son's a real 'rules' kid though, I wouldn't necessarily recommend getting this for someone else's kid without their approval.
To a mom that only has a sister (no real little boy experience until now, learning on the job :) ) - it looks like you could get hurt if you didn't follow instructions to the nth degree.

Rosemary - I just looked up Carcassone.. that looks totally cool. Right up our alley!

[gwendolyn]

Carcassone - that's the winner! THANKS everyone, and especially Rosemary. :cool:

[maribeth]

Carcassone is a really good game. I hope he is happy with it!

[Miss Cellane]

My 12 year old nephew really likes Rick Riordan's books--the first series is the Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

I've given boys about the same age Backyard Ballistics--the book has directions for a potato cannon, a rocket fueled by a match, that sort of thing. But I'd only recommend that if there's a responsible adult who would be supervising.

A book about a famous sport hero might be good--there are some good role models out there.

Gift cards to Game Stop are usually a big hit.

[Tussiemussies]

On a thread about kites some posted a link with some really neat ones. Also on Amazon.com there were some unusual ones, don't know if he is too old for that now, but I will be getting my sports only nephews these kites for Easter and one of them is close to 12, but has the younger cousins he plays with.

Good luck!