Oh, now. My son still likes us. Honest!
All young men should own a quality mitt at some point in their lives.
Paint ball with his dad and few mates! If your state doesn’t allow it then go karting is pretty cool.
He got a lot of enjoyment about shooting his old man, we still laugh about it now!
And we gave him the balance in money…
Dad with a 20 year old son.
Last Christmas, I gave my son (26) a marshmallow shooter and a bag of marshmallows. He went CRAZY over it!
He used to have a warehouse job, and the Christmas before I gave him a remote-controlled forklift. I think he loved that more than the fire engine he got when he was six!
The “cool outing” suggestion is great, but I humbly suggest he be allowed to bring a friend.
A gift certificate for “Think Geek” would be brilliant, too!
~VOW
I couldn’t agree more. Teenagers always need cash. He needs cash to order pizza and go to movies and take girls out and what not. Besides, gift cards are kind of pointless. Why not just give him the money and let him decide how he wants to spend it?
I know some people get very sentimental and have a lot of fun with gift giving and receiving, but a lot of people just have more practical feelings about it. Especially young males.
yeah always bring along some friends, it replaces the “birthday parties” we all had to put on when they were younger.
NERF guns! All my sons love these from the 12yo to the 20yo and yes even the 46 yo dad get’s involved 
This thread just goes to show that there is never a right answer for things like this. There are as many different “correct” answers as there are different personalities of kids. I’ve got a 14 year old boy as well as a 15 year old boy. Some of the things that other’s kids hugged their parents for would make my boys cringe. The OP said they felt Call of Duty Modern Warfare was too violent… my youngest has been playing it since the day it came out… I have no problem with it. Neither boy is really a gamer though so I don’t know if they are even still playing it at all. My 14 year old wants anything lacrosse related. Both boys want a weight bench. Clothing is also good, but they have to pick it out. They both also love any electronic gadgets. The things I tell any relatives for gift suggestions are cash or gift cards to Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy, or Target.
Don’t laugh - just yesterday our local paper ran a story about a 15 year old getting crabs from entertaining those ladies 3 times a week at his house…
Take him skydiving!