Gift suggestions for a 7 y.o. boy.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Our son’s 7th birthday is coming up in April.

He has given me a long list of demands:

Transformers
Xbox
Playstation
Yu-gi-oh
Pokemon
Hot Wheels
and a few others.

The only one I am cool with is Hot Wheels.

I caved in nearly two years ago and got him Pokemon cards after watching him week and week in his class be excluded from the conversation with other boys and their dueling. It took nearly 7 months for me to cave in. He ahd yu gi and pokemon cards coming out the wazooo, thanks to Ebay! and garage sales.

He still loves his trains, but the rest of the boys (and girls) in his class say that Thomas is stupid and for babies. It is really starting to bother him even though tell him that it is ok to like things that no one else likes and you are learning how to be respectful of other peoples interests.

I don’t want to have him lose who he is as a wonderful kid to cave into materialism and constant consumerism, but I know what it is like to be left out the pack because of never having the cool stuff. It doesn’t help that we don’t live anywhere near his guy-friends and playdates are nearly non-existant for him. (And they are mostly one sided, with kids coming over here but him never or rarely getting invited over there. It’s not him. All the mom’s like him. It’s everyone is too busy and school gets out at 4:15 here. it sucks.)

He loves space stuff and I have been trying to guide him towards castles or pirates or even robin hood ( because I could then live vicariously through him and return to my childhood.) but he would rather read his Magic School Bus books or play on his computer. He does love books and he still plays with his trains, though I think he is going in the closet, so to speak.

He has an assortment of games, all non-violent games, and I would like to add to the computer game department as well as board games. We have monopoly, scrabble, checkers and chess, upwords, and , to his dismay, Pretty Pretty Princess.

What was a big hit for your 7 year old.

I was thinking of taking him and 7 friends to a ceramic painting place for his birthday. We did this a few weeks ago and it was something he brought up that he wanted to do for his birthday. I don’t mind the driving of the boys and supervision of them for two or three hours.

Or I was thinkign of buying up a buttload of hot wheels tracks (you know the straight orange ones of our ute) and set them all up in the basement for the boys to just go apeshitmad for the duration of the party. And that would serve as his big present from us and the source of entertainment for the kids.

I’m rambling.

Any links to really awesome and cool toys to play with is appreciated.

2

What’s wrong with Transformers? It’s two toys in one and, even at 23, I still think they’re awesome.

Does he like legos? Do they still make K’nex? I loved both of those well into my teens and wouldn’t mind having some again, actually.

3

Legos!

Legos! Legos! legos!

A whole lot of legos!

Best toy ever invented. And if he loves space stuff, you can get him the SPACE LEGO PIECES! or Pirate Legos! Or dinosaur legos!

I loved 'em when I was a kid, and I still love 'em. You can’t go wrong with legos.

You can even get motorized legos! And remote control legos! He can build a remote contol car out of legos!

Did I mention I like legos?
Now, I know he didn’t ask for them, but I absolutely gurantee you that if if he frowns when he opens the present, within a week they will be his favorite toy.

Slight aside, what’s wrong with transformers? It’s a car - it’s a robot, what’s wrong with that? Please tell me your not one of those moms that forbids her kid from playing with army men. If you are, you’re stunting his intellectual and emotional growth.

4

It’s one of those things that all kids have. Transformers. Last year he really,r eally wanted rescue heros and had I not scored a score off of Ebay for dirt cheap I would be really pissed that he didn’t play with them as much as he does something else. It’s all commercialism, in my mind. I’m being petulant, I know.

5

I see me and Aeserian think a lot alike.

But… um what’s K’nex?

6

Nah, not petulant. Just thrifty. That crap can get expensive. Glad to see you’re not the type of mom I feared.

Did I mention that you should get him some legos?

7

Lego is fantastic for kids of any age (including grown-up ones); I was brought up on it, but I’ve also recently discovered K’Nex - I bought a pile of it on eBay for a quick fabrication job on a robotics project I was tinkering with, but my kids stole it off me and have had great fun with it; it’s good for making large, impressive structures.

8

If your son is “left out” from his peers because he doesn’t “have cool stuff,” then maybe they’re not the kind of peers he should be having.

Just saying, is all; I know it’s hard to get a youngster to accept this idea.
And I’ll be true to form and toss out a vote for Transformers. One nice thing is that it’s got a lot of opportunities for your son to play with his friends (assuming they also have Transformers as well) – “I’ll be Optimus, you be Hot Shot, and Joe can be Megatron…”

9

You can’t go wrong with Legos, but they’re very expensive compared to action figures. I still treasure the Transformers and other figures I had when I was 7. I’m 26 now, and I still buy action figures, including the occasional Transformer! If he grows out of them or loses interest, that’s only normal, but hopefully a cool Transformer can keep him happy and entertained for a while. Plus, those toys have been around (with few changes, for the most part) for the last 20+ years, so they aren’t passing fads like Pokemon and Yugioh might be.

However, I can’t see a group of 7-year-old boys having a very good time at a ceramic-painting party. Girls maybe, boys definitely not.

10

Another idea is old fashioned army men. You can pick up a pack of fifty at the everything-for-a-dollar-store. It’s cheap, he’ll dig it, and boys have been playing with them since they invented plastic - so it isn’t a passing fad.

The added bonus is that kids can’t really play with army men unless they’re playing with another kid.

11

Please allow me to be the first to say: Legos.

Seriously, when I get a gift for a young child, the first thing I want to know is whether or not they have a chalkboard. It is my belief that all children should be issued chalkboards, chalk, and erasers by four years of age. They’re cheap, good for boys or girls, and stimulate creativity. I had one and I used it every day for years, and you see how I turned out!

12

Another vote for K’Nex and Legos. K’nex even count in the dreaded “educational toy” category, according to my 12 year old son, since the Detroit Science Institute has a huge interactive display table of them.

For my boy and nephews/friends kids, Bionicles are the answer. They combine the glories of Legos and action figures and have their own stories and characters for all that coolness, plus all of the pieces/sets fit with all the others. My kid makes up his own crazy impossibly huge characters all the time with pieces from five years ago.

I think boys could totally enjoy a ceramic painting thing, especially if they get to paint something gross or gruesome. :slight_smile:

13

I vote Legos. If there’s a particular toy franchise he likes, you can find them in either Lego or Mega Blocks…but after the fad wears off, he’ll still have good, serviceable toys that demand his imagination.

I love Transformers, but when I was growing up, I had lots of Gi Joes. Still recommend them. High replay value for both.

Also, The FP Imaginext line looks cool, though not as good as the great Adventures line it replaced. We still have the GA Castle (both), Pirate Ship, about 50 knights and 40 pirates, along with assorted monsters, waiting for when my 3 year old is ready for them. their are also well-nigh indestructable- the only things the GA toys are not proof against are fire and chewing.

14

Get him Comic Books! Subscriptions!
Literacy and fun!

15

Interconnecting plastic rods of varying lengths and snap-on ends that you can build tons of stuff with. Just as fun as legos.

http://www.knex.com/

16

I’m really surprised nobody has mentioned Legos yet.

:smiley:

The Boy is turning 7 on Monday. I’m going to get him some Chess software that DDG mentioned in a recent thread, plus one or two Gameboy cartridges, maybe a couple of books. Mine loves boardgames, especially ones that deal with money (for his “I have a dream” essay last month his dream was to become “a Tycoon, so he’d have lots of money and could take care of his mother when she gets old”). He’s also a voracious reader and has read through a lot of the stuff I got for my nine year old, plus whatever we get from the library.

One thing I try to do each year is to spend some 1:1 time with them for their birthday. It doesn’t need to be on their birthdate, but sometime near, we go have lunch or play some video games or go to a park or a movie together. Usually it’s both kinder together, so this can make it feel like a special time for them. They get to pick where and what to eat and what to do, although I “influence” the decision. I also do this sometimes when it’s not their birthday, but it’s harder to get the solo action for when there’s not an excuse.

17

My younger boy turns 7 next month too, but he’s already well supplied with both Legos and K’nex. I’m thinking about an RC truck this year, but I’m not sure. He hasn’t asked for anything really, so I don’t know what he’s leaning toward.

18

I’ve got a seven year-old boy, and I know what he likes (tempered by what I want to give him).

If you’ve no idea, do what my mother did for him - ask another little boy. My seventy year-old mum walked into a toy shop, found a kid in there and simply asked of him, “WHAT’S COOL?”

He told her. It was some plastic crap I forget now. Mighta been Yu Gi Oh. It was received very well indeed.

19

A marble run from Quercetti would make you happy, make him happy, and if you want to use it for the party, that would work too. We have a daughter who turned seven in August, and in all respects beyond genitalia could pass for male at this stage of her life. The marble run was very well received.

20

What about sports equipment? My nephew just turned 8 and we gave him a cricket set for Christmas (bat, ball, stumps, etc.). He loved it. Some friends of ours have an 8 year old who got a soccer ball and some sort of cool goal net that he really liked.